Shameless Self-Promotion, 4th and last. Honest

[Lomax]

OK, this is what I've REALLY been working on. In what is almost certainly an appalling display of hubris, I have self-published a collecting entitled Quicksand Tales. Twenty-five pieces - some of which have been seen before either here or in another place - but a significant proportion of which are never seen before, and written specially for this work. A process, incidentally, which I thought would take two months, but ended up taking eighteen.

Anyway; it is available (e-book open) on all good Amazon sites for £1.98 or $3.09. Possibly other currencies are accepted elsewhere, I'm not clear on this.

Kudos, incidentally, if you know which famous work of art I bastardised for the cover.

[Lomax]

Contents -

1) Bar's Game. Bar is a sadist who makes people play a "game" in which he hunts people over his domain, with their life as the stakes. Nyla is desperate enough to try to wade through a bog to escape. But pursuit is nearer than she knows.

2) Lazing on a Sunny afternoon. Two trainee barristers take a break from city life and picnic by an isolated Fenland lake which one of them remembers from her childhood. But the sands have shifted since then.

3) Forbidden Fruit. New. A tale of stone-age lesbianism, as two clan members experience unfamiliar desires. The alpha male is having non of this, however, and pursues them to the river-bed.

4) Hinky Punk. A student goes back to the Cornwall of her childhood, and takes a walk on the moors. She is still there when night falls, and the wandering lights come; and she finds out that there is more truth than she supposes in folklore and old legends.

5) You Can't Actually Drown in Quicksand. New. Inspired by a request posted on QSF by Snake (back in February, embarrassingly). A woman to whom the fates have never been kind, breaks down in the desert and finds that nature has one more peril in store. Unusually, in this tale, the laws of physics are obeyed, and she doesn't drown. But there are other ways of dying.

6) Poe-m. A cover version of The Raven.

7) A Toothsome Morsel. New. A tale of vampires and their desires - and the victim they draw to themselves. Features a walk=on appearance by a father and son from on of the darkest episodes of American history.

8) Show me the Way to go Home. Two hikers in Bavaria take an ill-advised short cut. A story I was challenged to write entirely in dialogue.

9) Lights...Camera...Quicksand. A struggling actor gets a part in a film with a quicksand scene, and finds that he rather enjoys being in the pit. Resolving to sneak back for a private session, he finds he was not the only one with that idea.

10) Wartime Incident. A tank crew in 1944 find that anti-tank guns are not the most dangerous hazard they will face.

11) On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine. New. Two members of new Zealand's drugs squad pay a clandestine visit to an isolated island where a wanted felon is rumoured to have set up an operation. But we all know what can be found on isolated islands.

12) Beowulf's Daughter. Mock heroic verse starring one of Grendel's less celebrated relatives. He still lives in a mere, though.

13) A Speck of Dirt. New. Another WW2 story, this one set during the Guadalcanal campaign. A US Marine tries to find a way round the flank of a Japanese position, only to be faced with natural and human enemies simultaneously. Which will prove the more deadly?

14) Of Graves, of Worms and Epitaphs. An homage to H P Lovecraft. Something nasty lurks beneath the marsh...

15) Time and Tide. New. Frightened by the unwanted attentions of a teenage boy, Hannah runs off to be alone. But ignoring the warning sign proves to be a mistake.

16) Xanadu. Coleridge-inspired doggerel.

17) One Unfortunate Step for a Man. New. In the far future, man has colonised another world; in a system where it is necessary to mine asteroids for raw materials. In order to claim ownership of an asteroid, a corporation must send "Rock-Jocks" to set foot on it and stake a claim. But there are strange things out there in the void.

18) The Testament of Brother Simon. England, 1216. The King is dying, his treasure has been lost in the quicksands of the Wash. But from a village nearby comes the rumour of a case of demonic possession. Two monks are sent to perform an exorcism - but what powers exactly are they contending with?

19) Bully for Me. New. Two twelve-year-olds are enjoying a stolen can of beer on some wasteland, when they are set upon by the local bully. Fleeing deeper into the wasteland - where he gets rather stuck. Some hours later, after dark, someone approaches with a torch. But is it rescue or something worse?

20) Not the Hippopotamus Song. A parody of Flanders' and Swann's most famous work.

21) Can't a Guy take a Mud-Bath in Peace. New. Chris likes to go sinking. In an ideal world, he'd like a sinking companion, but where exactly do you look for one. Possibly in a bog?

22) Sometimes, one Day can last a Lifetime. Set in a pseudo-mediaeval world, an impoverished nobleman rescues a slave from summary execution. He finds his life-story strangely compelling, and other things more compelling still. Unfortunately, they are being hunted.

23) The Forest of Nizhni Kalita. New. Inspired by an account in Agricola's Germanica, which tells of a strangely brutal method of execution practised by certain ancient tribes.

24) Sonnet. Yes, I'm afraid so.

25) Delete as Appropriate. Generate your own tale.

[PM2K]

I remember some of these when they were posted a few years back. They were quite good, as I recall. Good luck with your work!

[Fred588]

Some of us here are dinosaurs who do not have e-readers. I think, but do not know for sure, that ebooks can be viewed on a computer using something such as Adobe Reader. Can you confirm this?

[QuicksandMania]

You can get a free Kindle reader for your PC or smart phone:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/fiona ... pc_mkt_lnd

[Lomax]

Some of us here are dinosaurs who do not have e-readers. I think, but do not know for sure, that ebooks can be viewed on a computer using something such as Adobe Reader. Can you confirm this?

Er, haven't a clue. The thing about e-books is that I don't have to persuade a publisher that I'm not certifiable. Which I am.

[kham]

Kindle's are not. Spend the couple hundred bucks max for whatever version you like best from Amazon, just make sure it's the wifi/3G model; that way you'll always be able to purchase and download books. Well worth it

[Lomax]

Well, it doesn't look as though I'll be troubling the Times best-Sellers list any time soon; but my thanks to the (small number) of you who've downloaded this.

I might add in passing that, for various health reasons, none of which I intend to bore you with, I shall be around sparingly for the foreseeable future.

[Mynock]

Sorry to hear man, good luck.

[MadMax359]

Well, it doesn't look as though I'll be troubling the Times best-Sellers list any time soon; but my thanks to the (small number) of you who've downloaded this.

I might add in passing that, for various health reasons, none of which I intend to bore you with, I shall be around sparingly for the foreseeable future.

bummer... hope it all works out