Meltwater - The Dark Heart of Wales

I only discovered my love of writing in 1993. It was born in a thunderstorm - as clichéd as that sounds. I stayed up all night - pouring my feelings and story into a pad. It would later be rewritten, but hell, it felt good to watch the dawn break, biro grasped in aching paw, lightening fucking the sky. That night still rates in the top three thunderstorms of my life.

So here you go. No one will ever publish it bar me. Why should they? I think my stories are good and want to share them. Other people who have read them have enjoyed them too. I would rather give them away for free than have no one read them.

So here they are, complete and uncensored. Any comments would be gratefully appreciated. Please be aware - I love writers like JG Ballard, William Burroughs and Iain Banks. I write from my own sense of absurdity and sickness. If you are easily offended, this is not the place for you.

Any stories with an adult theme will be marked with a (X) rating so you know which ones to avoid (if you are delicate) or read first (if you are like me.)

The story pages will be rather long. I recommend printing them off and reading them at your leisure. Please don't wreck your eyes by trying to read them off the monitor.

The Cancer Bandit - The first proper story I ever wrote and still my favourite. It tries to capture a story I wrote in my head many years before I thought I would ever write it. It also includes many of my favourite places on this planet (centred around the ramshackle Barry Island resort.)

Splott Boys Do It With Guitars (A Novel) - Unfortunately only about a third complete. Cardiff, pre - Cool Cymru, a band of noise makers from Splott try to be the coolest band on the planet with hilarious ineptitude. The first 3 chapters for your entertainment. It would be nice to finish it one day. Currently it stands around 100 pages and 10 chapters.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

Barrow Boy -This was my first attempt at writing which later got rewritten. It was to have been a novel, but I later changed it to a short story (got to walk before running...) Selling fruit is good for your creative soul.

Sleepless Sleep - We have all had nights like these. Inner city heat and paranoia.

Published in 'Breaking the Surface' 1994

Concrete Messages (X) - Motorcar fuelled, JG Ballad inspired story of high speed inevitability.

Day Trip To The Island - A nice day out for our gambling underclass hero. Fags, fighting and fruit machines.

Bagman (X) - Sometimes, the simplest of things can spiral into dark and deadly events.

Mr. Price - Two different generations share some precious life experiences, but then...

Published in 'Skald' No.4 1996

Barraged - Rag tag decline of a vagrant amidst rampant beautification and regeneration.

Frozen Rain (X) - Clumsy undertakers in slippery hill catastrophe. Can they get to the church on time?

Published in 'Beyond the Boundaries' 1996

Bingo Voyeur (X) - Older women are so appealing. Sex, voyeurism, frottage and bingo.

Blinded By The Light - Did they really have UFOs back then? Welsh religious fervour at the dawn of the 20th century.

Published in 'Beyond the Boundaries 1997 (6th place in the Welsh Speculative Writers Association short story Competition.)