A Christmas Truce
Just our luck to be in the front line on Christmas Eve. And a colder, wetter, filthier Christmas Eve I had never known, nor hope to again. "Ruddy perishing perishing ruddy...." Barrie muttered. He'd been trying to strike a match for the last...
A Major Calls
We'd have gone anywhere for Captain ffox. The whole bloody lot of us. Anywhere except...well, I won't repeat what Barrie said once. Very crude, that boy. I was worried at first, when I learned I was being transferred to ffox's platoon. He...
Bentley's War
Bentley Pringle ffox was woken by a kiss. He lay with his eyes shut, holding on to the sensation. The rough bristles against his cheek. The taste of tobacco. Gradually, he became aware of dampness seeping in through his...
Northern Lights
Flink's snowmobile bumped over the ruts as he followed Krister's tracks. The vibration made his arms shake and his teeth rattle, and the icy wind stung his cheeks. With every bump he was afraid he'd flip the machine and kill himself. This was supposed...
Christmas with Krister
"Driving home for Christmas, we can wait to see some faces!" Krister sang, tapping the wheel with his paw. Flink peeped sideways at the carolling malamute. In the shimmer of passing headlamps he let his gaze rest on Krister's blunt muzzle, his slight...
Freshers’ Week Friend
Sitting on the narrow bed, I performed an inventory of my new home: - Four off-white walls, awaiting posters. - One desk. - One chair. - One bookcase. - One washbasin. - Two suitcases. - Three cardboard boxes, two containing books, one containing...
An Ecstasy of Fumbling
Bentley Pringle ffox was not enjoying himself. Shivering at the side of the pitch as the spectators yelled and stamped their feet around him, he had little interest in the game playing out before his eyes. As the crowd yelled, whooped and waved their...
Teaser: Lines
"You were on the phone, weren't you?" Iga asked, her voice carefully neutral. "Let's not do this now." I wanted to roll away but her sinuous body was locked around me, and the contact was suddenly cloying. I shuddered from neck to toes. Iga just...
Teaser: The Painted and the Plain
In the cool of the hut, Pep lay on her bed of grass and stared up at the ceiling. Light sneaked through cracks in the walls to make dancing patterns. The grass was fresh and didn't smell comforting yet, and it felt weird after a year of big city beds...
(Quite A Long Way) After Housman
Loveliest of dogs, the husky now Is barking loudly bow wow wow, And jumps about where he is tied Waiting for a winter ride.
The Countdown
FIVE, brayed the voice of Control, making her ears prick and the fur rise along her spine. A mission FOUR the sake of all furkind, the media had called it. At the boom of THREE she braced in the launch suit, giddy with pure oxygen, and tucked her...
Teaser: A Blacker Dog
Contrary to legend, the black dog doesn't come looking for you. It's already there. Most people just don't see it until the right moment, but I'm not most people. I often wish I was. "What do you reckon, Hunter?" My partner gets down on all fours to...