44 Acorn Grove and Other Stories

An anthology of short stories from author Steve Howrie. Each of story has an unpredictable twist in the tale - see if you can spot them! Despite the huge popularity of novels today, short stories remain a wonderful way to put across interesting and thought-provoking ideas in just a few pages. Here¿s a line or two about each one:

44 ACORN GROVE. Inspired by Ian Rankin¿s detective novels, this story includes Rankin himself in a cameo role. In fact, this short story won first prize in the Unpublished Writers category one year at the Scottish Association of Writers Annual Conference. Ian has actually read the story, and commented that he would have preferred me to have killed off one of his rival authors!

YESTERDAY. This is the only completely true ¿life story in the collection, based on my own young experiences. I am still very much in contact with my life-long buddy Gordon Cockroft (mentioned in the story), who is a fellow writer - and an excellent one at that.

KATTJA. One of the fortnightly projects of Bute Writers was to create stories based on one of the seven deadly sins. I came across the Swedish word for lust, and that seemed a perfect title for my story. I hope you enjoy the humour of it.

THE TUNNEL. I remember encountering some very long and dark old railway tunnels when I was young. As a family, we used to go blackberry picking along the railway cuttings in Leicestershire near where we lived ¿ which was great fun. I recall my big sister venturing into one of these tunnels, and it took a great deal of courage to join her.

THE INCOMERS. This is based on one of my visits to East Midlands airport. Some social comment here.

THE ROAD TO RUIN. This is based on our Writers¿ group on the Isle of Bute in the West of Scotland, with the feel of island life. It was great fun to write this - and to read it to the members!

BRENDA. I used to holiday quite regularly in the Algarve, Southern Portugal, and this was written there during one of my visit. I remember that I was reading an article about a multi-millionaire at the time, and that influenced the storyline.

THE UNIVERSITY OF ROGER. Memories of my university days in Edinburgh inspired this one. A bit silly, and hardly a short story, but I just had to put it in.

ORGANISED INTIMIDATION. Another Bute Writers project. Each meeting, one of the members would choose the title for the next project, and one week the Secretary chose this. Some really good stories came out of that particular project.

JAMIE. I¿ve always enjoyed reading plays, and I remember studying Shakespeare and Arthur Miller at school. Reading later led to writing plays. When I wrote Jamie, I was imagining a stage play, with strong emotions in a family situation ¿ with the inevitable twist at the end.

THE WESTERN. This is probably my favourite in the collection. Again, a twist in the tale ¿ and I particularly like the zany humour in this one. It makes fun of all those unbelievable Westerns I watched when I was a kid (whilst wearing the obligatory cowboy suit).

CARVOLUTION. I have had a life-long interest in Astronomy and studied Astrophysics at University. This story is a light-hearted look at contemporary scientific theories through the eyes of a journalist. Whilst in many ways we are living in an enlightened age, I strongly feel that we are in still in the Dark Ages as regards our scientific theories. Make your own minds up about this one.

BELINDA. This is the only story in the collection that was written in China, where I currently reside. It is set in the town of Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, and refers to a writers¿ group to which I belonged. I hope it gives you a feel for at least one aspect of traditional Chinese culture.

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