Quartet of Human Love, Human Frailty

These four short stories embrace many emotions and characters: the man who goes back to his past to find a lost love; a woman with terminal cancer who finds a miracle in Australia; a shy girl who finds a lover and deals with her eccentric grandmother; and a visit to heaven, where a woman is amazed to find herself at the pearly gates.

There are intriguing characters and unusual stories in a collection that explores human tragedy and frailty, and also love.

Pet Rapport

Pets as part of the family, their inclusion in everyday life and their mishaps or adventures are reflected in these stories. Each story is accompanied by an illustration that is personally drawn by the author from a photo received from the owner and reflects their unique character and personality. Some true and real-life examples include: A cat which was inadvertently included in a parcel (but survived), a dog that was stolen from outside a shop but was restored to her owner and a rescue dog who found a wonderful home. These are all true, but there are also four fictitious and humorous examples ‘hidden’ amongst the others, which the author invites readers to discover. Adults will find these stories heartwarming and children will like the ‘happy endings’ and trying to spot which stories are ‘made up.’ A book with stories that appeal to the heart and illustrations that appeal to the eye, whatever your age and whether or not you have pets of your own.

Next

Stories should interest you, touch you, move you. There are 134 in ‘Next’. Many, possibly even most, will do just that. ‘Youth’, ‘love’, ‘life’, ‘death’, and so much more. Stories often relevant to you, your life, past and future. Stories very readable, memorable.

‘Next’ is generous, a friend you will want to spend time with. A book to keep beside your favourite chair, beside your bed. A friend to meet up with often over the years. Rather special, rather out of the ordinary.

Nancy's Magic

From the witch’s daughter who has always known about herbs and potions.

A stone which stands tall and proud, waiting but waiting for who?

Driving ahead at full speed, searching and looking for the right road, the one which will take her far away to freedom.

To survive – an instinct bred deep inside of every man woman and child. To have the courage to go on and never give in.

Dreams which can be more real and terrifying than real life but can also be a warning of events waiting to happen.

Then there always is true love, a love which can last for many years and can never die.

Let the time fly by as you enter an emotional roller-coaster, from love and survival, witches and wizards, laughter and tears.

But things are not always what they seem, twists, and turns at every corner and at the end – who knows?

Enjoy the ride and always remember to dance in the rain.

McCreed

Ashton struggles with university. He doesn’t have many friends but fills his time with coaching and training, looking to become a professional fighter.

One day, his twin sister reminds him of an expensive event that their parents are hosting. Loads of rich and significant guests will be joining the family for food and business conversation. Gorgeous women and suited men littering their mansion.

The security business is booming.

A person can change forever in a single moment, their whole world in a series of them.

At this high-profile and heavily-guarded event, Ashton and his family’s lives are turned upside down.

Lila's Tree and Other Stories

What if you knew what was to happen in your life and so you got a chance at amending by doing things differently?

It would save a lot of guilt and tears. And if these changes were easy things, new habits could transform your future and that of those you love into a brighter one.

What if your experience and knowledge of things in life could ensure you a better tomorrow, something you would be proud of? Something to claim as being a legacy of kindness, love and respect for humanity and the planet.

It happened to older generations, it is happening to us, it will keep on happening until we learn to replace the What Ifs and Should Haves by concrete actions and a better way of living so as to ensure our beautiful world keeps being so and the human race deserving to be the one in charge.

Let’s imagine the wrong side of tomorrow and steer away from that image, starting today.

Life According to Brian

Life According to Brian chronicles 44 stories of mishap and misadventure of a scale unparalleled in modern man. Disguised in comedy to protect the seriously guilty, the story follows Brian’s escapades traversing the world and captures not only the lunacy of life but the luck involved in avoiding one’s own death.

The guidebook for the mentally impaired includes: poaching, drugs, imprisonment, kidnapping, poisonings, alien hunters, crocodile suicide and much, much more…

The sorry episodes are being played out via a game of chess. God and Charles Darwin, seeking to save mankind, are plotting Brian’s untimely demise. The winner of each play gets to choose the method of death. Constantly interrupted by visiting deities, kings, queens and E.T., the two main players are frustrated in their attempts to have some peace and play the game, with a nice cup of tea and some Mr Kipling cake.

Send the kids away, euthanise the cat, find a comfy chair, pour a pint of the finest whisky…have a reliable psychiatrist on speed dial.

Come inside and enjoy the ride…

Leaving Behind

All his life, Malcolm Tutt wanted to be found. Now on the eve of turning fifty, he realised that sometimes life may never find you and if you wanted it bad enough, sometimes you would have to go and look for it yourself. The only problem was that he would have to die, if he wanted to live.

A young woman finds out that her husband is having an affair with her best friend. She decides to confront him, but before she does, she hatches a plan to catch them in the act of betrayal. As she gets closer and closer to discovering the truth about her husband, her anger towards them grows. Like a cheap paperback novel, her life begins to unravel until one night she commits a terrible act, and in the process, finds out what a scorned woman is truly capable of.

Leaving Behind is a collection of short stories that explores the lengths that people will go to when they are desperate, each with an unexpected twist.

Last Keeper's Lighthouse Stories

The very nature of lighthouses captures the imagination. Being marooned on different lighthouses throughout my career has produced many memorable incidents and humorous stories. Diverse locations like Lundy, Alderney, Wolf, Sark, all have something unique to offer. Rock tower lighthouses, land lights or island lighthouses, each one is different. Cooped up on a tower and being pounded by heavy seas is not only exhilarating, but frightening as well. Fog signals can play a huge part in a good duty period and the relief for going ashore is always welcomed. The characters are what makes this book such a good read. It gets your chuckle chops in overdrive, especially at some of the antics on the lights. A month’s duty is filled with incidents and the constant change in weather conditions has an effect on everything that you do. These stories will show how hardship goes hand in glove with humour whilst aboard.

Ladybirds - Tales on the Wing

As a youngster I loved getting, and subsequently owning, a brand new ‘Ladybird’ book. I especially liked the smell of the pristine pages as I turned them for the very first time. There was an aroma to their ‘inks’ that was distinctly ‘Ladybird’. What a joy! What a childhood memory!

These new tales came into being from the front covers of specific ‘Ladybird’ books, so to them I am clearly indebted. I just let my imagination do the rest once the seed was sown. They are both weird and wonderful, and abound with fact and fiction, truth and lies, deceit and lust. Very unlike the little books themselves, and if you take the trouble you will surely see what I mean. 

Lady with Edelweiss

Human ashes in a tea caddy, a baby delivered in a snowstorm, worm pie, a priest with a passion for airbrushing. How much do we know about our friends, our families, or even ourselves? This debut collection exposes the strangeness of everyday lives, embracing the light and the dark sides of human nature.

Uncomfortably honest and direct, these stories reveal the fears and passions of the mind through their characters, places and situations, an exploration of the boundaries between fantasy and reality. These are people we all know. 

A rich potpourri of character and plot in this intriguing (and sometimes dark) collection of tales from a talented storyteller.

Angela Locke. Author of Dreams of the Blue Poppy (Robert Hale) etc

Steph Newham has empathy with all her characters so presents her stories as rounded pieces for her readers’ enjoyment. Where she takes on characters from history her research is careful and enriches her stories, which range across many subjects.

Vivien Jones. Poet, author. Co-editor Southlight Magazine

Short but not sweet, Steph Newham writes vignettes that blaze out, illuminated briefly by the photo-flash of her pen. And when the light blinks out, you are left wondering as the scene presents itself again like the complexity of good wine, each time leaving a different taste.

Tony Walker. Author of A Christmas Ghost, etc and The Classic Ghost Story podcast.

These stories are atmospheric, the characters well-drawn. In ‘Unwise Words’, I felt the young mother’s regret and shivered in fear as the bonfire was lit. The sights and smell in the four Spanish stories took me to that country and I laughed out loud at the manuring of the roses in The Sand Walk. Something here for everyone.

Gwen Kirkwood. Author of sixteen Scottish novels and novellas (Joffee Books)

Journey's Bend

A poignant collection of short stories with a vivid mix of relatable characters confronting a bend in the road. The lucid prose, rich in imagery, illuminates people’s unyielding courage in challenging times.

Dealing with bereavement, displacement and renewal, the creative tales twist and turn through the vagaries of life. In the opening story, Gran absconding from a care home makes her escape in a red Reliant Robin, an epochal vehicle from her courtship days. Courageously, in ‘Wind Horse’, Maggie harnesses her wild emotions and canters on to fresh green meadows.

Using varied settings and compelling voices of all ages, Journey’s Bend celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. Tinged with humour, the touching stories will resonate with a wide range of readers scrambling through change.