Author: Thomas Kelly

Nevis, British West Indies I arrived here on British Airways that stopped first in Antigua and then made the quick ten minute flight to Basseterre, capital of St. Kitts and finally a water taxi landed us onto Nevis.   I had thought that Bahrain to Dhahran was the shortest commercial flight but am wrong on…

She stood at the rail looking out to the horizon in that early morning. The West African coast burned in the rising sun. It was already getting hot and the passengers squinted through cheap dark glasses bought in the kiosks of the Liverpool docks, unused to the white searing light. The view was unnatural to…

The car slipped along the rocky track, the tyres were almost bald. The sides were shiny and slippery with oil. It was never built for this terrain, but after many years in Kabul as a taxi and having carried everything from goats to bullets through potholes and deep mud, it had form. Fast and dark…

Another first page of a novel perhaps. Cribbs looked up at the canopy, bulging above him. It was full and solid, like a half-melon and reminded him of the breast that he had kissed last night before he left for this, his last mission. The night air was cold and he counted the seconds down, knowing…

Ryan had started to sleep badly again that week and was awake. Through the curtains, a grey light pushed through, and even though it was June, he knew it was early. He glanced over at the side table and hoped his phone would ring. Anyway what time was it, two, three? He wasn’t sure, but…

The exercise was to take a passage from a favourite novel and write the next part. I chose Decline and Fall, written in 1928. Decline and Fall: by Evelyn Waugh 1928 ‘Sent down for indecent behaviour, eh?’ said Mr Levy, of Church and Gargoyle, scholastic agents. ‘Well, I don’t think we’ll say anything about that.…

I was asked to write in exactly 100 words about a current topic for a competition. I have added a photograph for good effect as well! What is it about the concept of offshore? Is it those bent palm trees, beaches with unnatural blue waters and jet-skis that skate across the waves? Is it the…

We were drawn by numbers to the line A firing squad in all but name. So in the early morning light, we had dressed And our deeds were blessed As we marched to take our place in the row, Ordained by others to deal the final blow Of sharpened lead that would rise from our…

Between the trees, we weave a path to the field; bracken brown and sodden. It is dead of night and the busy moles whisper under our feet. The moon, like a soldier with a lantern, keeps the midnight watch And small creatures who own the darkened land worry along their way.   On the far…

In my creative writing course in Winchester, we were asked to take a familiar story and change it to show another ending or time period. I have always enjoyed Albert and the Lion, especially when spoken by Stanley Holloway. So, this too has to be read in a ‘Northern’ accent! The Lion and Albert (With…