In what I think will be a surprise for maybe three people on the internet, now that I'm out, I'm officially announcing that alleyalligator was, in fact, theafaye.  I thought it would be obvious to most people mainly because whenever I've done fiction under Thea, it's always been exactly the same as Alley's stuff, but in case anyone out there didn't know and was ( Read more... )

Everyone who was anyone knew that on a Thursday night The Surgeon on Tottenham Court Road was the place to be.  As the day’s work finished up for the night, the pub would slowly fill so that by the time 8pm hit, it was standing room only and secretaries would be shoulder to shoulder with builders, traders, lecturers, accountants, all waiting for ( Read more... )

“Do you think we should have gone with them?” Becky asked anxiously, as she watched the group of people running across the court and out to whatever fate had in store.

“Absolutely not.” Her father’s tone was resolute, the same voice he’d used when she’d begged him for riding lessons when she was six, to go on the school exchange when she was ( Read more... )

I’m tired.  Really tired.  Worn out.  Bone weary.  Exhausted.  In need of a break.  Did I mention that I’m just a little bit burnt out?

Well I am.

The pressure’s gotten to be a little too much.  The need to perform every week, produce something pertinent, witty, clever, something that will speak to the masses gets on top of you for a while.  But that ( Read more... )

Sometimes survival is a question of getting from one moment to the next.  You don’t worry about whether you’re jumping into the fire, you just want out of the frying pan.  When storms wrecked the Sonja Jessop, there was no time to think about supplies.  It was every man for himself and it didn’t take long before the lucky few who found themselves ( Read more... )

“He said what?”  Meg’s jaw dropped and she looked aghast at what she’d just heard.

“That there’s a coven in St. Alban’s that deliberately impregnates women according to the right phase of the moon and then when the time comes, cuts them open and sacrifices the baby before getting her pregnant again.”

“Seriously?”  Meg couldn’t help herself.  Once ( Read more... )

“Thought you could hide, did you, maggot?”

Eric cringed at the sound of Philip’s voice.  He thought he’d found somewhere private, but it didn’t matter how hard he tried, Philip and his cronies always tracked him down.

“So what have you got for us today?  Better make it good.”

Eric bent over his lunchbox, trying to shield his food, but Jason, Philip’s ( Read more... )

I was never good enough.  When I got into the prestigious local choir, the one you had to audition to get in, my mother’s first reaction was “but you can’t sing.”  When I came home carrying the essay that had won first prize for my year, my mother criticised my subject choice and told me I could have done better and then maybe I’d have come top in ( Read more... )

I never did enjoy horror movies.  I never saw the appeal of all those blood and guts and gore and for what?  So we can play guess who’s going to die next?  Put bets on how creative their demise is?  Give me a nice romcom any day and keep your torture porn, thank you very much.

Maybe if I had been a fan, I’d have been better prepared.  A virus, they ( Read more... )

You know that feeling in the pit of your stomach, that heavy, leaden weight that sits there, tearing up your insides, when you know that you’ve done something wrong and there’s nothing you can do to make it right?

Yeah.  That feeling was my best buddy, my constant companion ever since I’d agreed to deliver a certain package and then got so drunk ( Read more... )