Stories to read

Here you can download and read some examples of my short fiction that are available on the internet at the moment.

Most of them will be fairly digestible at less than a thousand words, though I might throw in a few longer ones at some point, just to keep you on your toes.

David's haircut

A deceptively simple story about a boy going for a haircut with his father, which tries to say something about growing up and holding onto love. It's hardly the most sophisticated story I've ever written, but since it was published online at East of the Web the story has taken on a life of its own.

A number of schools and education authorities in the USA have asked permission to use it (particularly as the barber shop is an important venue in African-American culture apparently), it's been adapted as a short screenplay, it's been on the curriculum of a Swiss finishing school, it's been translated and used - illegally - in a number of Chinese magazines and websites, it's been adapted for use as short fiction to be transmitted via mobile phones...

I've never made a penny from it, but I do know that thousands of people across the world have read it, which is compensation enough. Kind of.

Read David's Haircut on the East of the Web site.

Quote:

"The only reason for being a professional writer is that you can't help it"
Leo Rosten