The sky is blue, the sun is shining, the birds are tweeting so what am I doing inside at my desk writing this? My daughter has come to celebrate my birthday yesterday and today she has taken me in hand. You’re an author, dad, go on Twitter, write a blog, stop hiding away in a French village, get yourself better known.
She’s right. I have just had a book published on Kindle – To El and Back it’s called. It’s a collection of sixteen short stories, set in places round the world I have visited. So the settings are real, a few of the characters are also real, but the stories are fiction. Well, mostly.
This is how one of the stories starts.....
Poland, 1984
A knock on the door in the dark hours was never welcome news. I glanced at the alarm clock – 1.33 – and sat up in bed. What could I hear? Just a car accelerating away in the street, dying to silence. That knock which woke me, I decided, wasn’t made by a fist or boot. It was only four years since the murder of the priest Jerzy Popieuszko. Maybe the SB was learning a more subtle approach. I heard nothing more, no muttered voices, no impatient shuffling, so I got out of bed and crossed the room.
‘Who is it?’
‘Marisia.’
‘What do you want?’
No answer.
I unlocked the door, opened it as far as the security chain allowed and leaned into the gap to look down the corridor. What was I jittery about? Men in belted raincoats and squat hats flattened against the wall? She was alone. Her hair was long and straight and dyed platinum. The shiny plastic bag looped over one shoulder was the same pink as her lipstick. She wore pink plastic boots too. She was dressed for a fairy tale. Her eyes flickered to my shoulder and registered I was naked.
Well, that is how the story starts. As to how it ends... If you want to find out, you can download the whole book. It costs less than a beer in an English pub. I think they are great stories but I’m prejudiced.
