Eerie Silence and Other Short Stories

Why and How I Composed this Book

This is my first attempt at publishing a book and deep inside me I am hoping that you will enjoy what you read as much as I had pleasure in writing each word.

Why did I choose a ‘short stories’ genre as the first book I would publish?

There are both romantic and practical reasons for this.

Let us begin with the romantic, it’s my favorite. I, like you, was created to love, in every form of its meaning. When I go to bed at night, slipping under the covers for an hour or so and reading something that fills my soul with love, joy and yes, even excitement, I want to pop in a bookmark on the next story and fall asleep with peace in my heart. Starting again the next night, without having to remember what I read the previous night, as in the case of novels.

In my naivete (I cannot claim innocence, but certainly unsophistication – so I qualify for being termed, naive) I wanted to title this edition “Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups” until I was cautioned by those that ‘know better’ that the title had sexual connotations and I might be accused of misleading my readers. But all the same, I loved the title. After all, I am a grown-up and a sucker for bedtime stories.

I spend part of my day creating, with the aid of a great deal of research; certainly, I do not want any kind of reading that attempts to instruct me, however meaningful or useful it might be, just before I go off to sleep that is. No, I just want to ‘chill’ and say, ‘Aaah so sweet, how precious’, maybe shed a few tears of emotion’ and fall asleep with a smile on my face and joy in my heart. I do not want heavy crime, or non-fiction. I feel we get enough of that through our daily news feeds.

I only want to read a beautiful story, with a happy or a testy ending and then switch the light out.

The solution? I read loads of short stories!

The practical reason is simple. I have been a blogger for some two years and committed myself to writing one article each week. The result is that I have a collection of stories and poems to share with you. All so easy to read, that you will, in due course ask for a second edition. Of course, on your request, I will immediately provide such an edition. Although for the feistier among you, I am in the final stages of writing (at sixty thousand words of ninety thousand words) a novel. The genre is ‘paranormal romantic fiction, spiced with a little, not so gruesome, crime.

You may wonder how I came to be a potentially explosive author 😊. Several reasons led to this wonderful place.

Even before I could remember (at age three years) I had a remarkably interesting life. As related to me by my grandmother; when my mother, a blonde blue-eyed beauty, would take me shopping; all the ladies would ogle at her beautiful baby, with his blue eyes and blond curls. Apparently, my response to all the fuss was, “My Daddy is a Pilot and he flies a big plane in the war!” From the day I could first remember (Estimated to be about seven years old) My Father was demobbed and treated me to my first flight in an airplane, telling me that he was taking me to Fairyland. That experience is indelible in my mind to this very day. My growing up was filled with a lot of painful experiences, as was my adult life. To counter this there were many beautiful experiences, among those was my first solo flight as a pupil pilot, intent on finding fairyland, that his father had shown him all those years back.

I am not sure if the experience of pain and suffering is a prerequisite to the experience of joy and wisdom; but it certainly was like that in my life.

On hearing about the death of his eldest son, the great American author and filmmaker, Ernest K. Gann, stated, “In that moment I knew how the God of Israel felt at the loss of his Son.” I too experienced such pain at the loss of my eldest son.

Yet, after all the pain, I know it enabled me in writing stories from the heart of my creative experience, both pain and joy.

I owe, in the first instance, my creativity to someone I call, ‘Father Coach’ who is my God within, and I know, without Him, I would not be typing these words today. I refer to, ‘Father, He, Him’ but I know He is too massive to be defined in any terms of human gender. He guides me every moment of my life and my writing – no exception.

Next is the God-given woman in my life, my wife Eileen. She applied her ‘big stick’ motivation to my writing. Eileen’s big stick is a beautiful medley of encouragement, motivation, subtle pushiness, and downright tough love! In plain terms, I would not be writing this preface, if it were not for her love, care and ‘big stick’. To have someone preparing your meals, performing household chores and laundering, so you are free to write must be unheard of; thank you Eileen for your selflessness.

There were encouragements from my family, especially my Daughter, Amanda-Jane and my Granddaughter, Elizabeth-Jane, for advice, critique, and encouragement. In addition, a few friends. I say ‘few’ because I do not have many close friends. I asked myself once, why is this? and what I came up with was; I have large family, if I include the extended members, with my wife and I; we are all a close knit group. I have therefore never needed many ‘close friends’; I hope that in no way this sounds selfish, because I have a sincere love for all my fellow travelers in this life.

Lastly, I love life. I regard it as the most precious gift I have ever received. I love life so much, that I approached my ‘Father Coach’ with a request that my span will be one hundred and twenty years; and crossing the bar in ‘sound body and mind’.

Now, you incredibly special and discerning readers – enjoy.

You are welcome to buy an e-book at a very reduced promotional price. The

printed copies will only be available in January 2021

Should you need to contact me, click on ‘contact’ on the top right hand corner of the page.