The latest of my #5MinuteStories is available now in the latest edition of the Fairy Tale Review. It’s called The Feather Dress, and it’s based on an old Chinese tale about a man’s strange obsession and a woman’s transformation. It’s a strange story of heartbreak, hope, and whether our hopes might grow wings. You can […]
What if the dead could return, for just one night? An old Chinese folktale says this is exactly what happens – but not quite as we might expect. This week’s #5MinuteStories is about love, loss, and coming home. You can download the podcast or listen below: Or you can click through the digital story […]
Have you ever met anyone who has lived two lives? Perhaps you’re one of those people, whose life seems split in two. Maybe sometimes you look back and think: I used to be a completely different person. This week’s #5MinuteStories is about how a single hour can change the course of a life. It’s about […]
Do you ever get the feeling that there is nothing new in the world? Are we all just doing the same things that have been done many times before? This week’s #5minutestories is about how our lives echo across history. It’s about origami prayers, Hong Kong moviestars, and warring emperors, but most of all it […]
Do you have a head for numbers or do they multiply your problems? This week’s story is about ants, stolen skeletons, the numerical beliefs of Hasidic Jews and the mysterious disappearance of the Neanderthals. This is a story about how we try to make sense of the world with numbers, but how they only seem […]
Have you ever felt like your passions were controlling you? And do owners really grow to resemble their pets? The third of my #5MinuteStories gatecrashes a wild party thrown by Marlon Brando in his Sixth Avenue apartment, and follows Dante Gabriel Rossetti into Highgate Cemetry to dig up his dead wife. Listen to the story […]
Have you ever wondered what might be hiding in the dark? Are there some limits to human knowledge that we can never bridge? This week’s free story is about how far we might see. It’s also about those strange and majestic creatures that rule the ocean: whales. From the legends of the earliest books, to […]
Welcome to the first of my #5MinuteStories. These are the shortest of short stories to experience on a busy commute, or while stuck in a waiting room. They are the perfect length to be enjoyed on a coffee break, or with a cup of tea (biscuits are optional but certainly recommended). They will entertain you, […]
