COLIN ALCOCK

NOVELS • SHORT STORIES • FLASH

Stacks Image 138

RECENT RELEASES

The sequel has landed

Novellas by ColinAlcock
Published May 2024, 'FROM A DARK PAST' is the sequel to the well praised 'From A Dark Cell'. This latest story builds on the character, Anna Smithson, introduced in the first story. She is now a young widow bringing up her daughter, Chloé, in the beachside bungalow she bought in a small Welsh coastal town, following the unfortunate death of John Wright, her late husband. Retaining her married name of Anna Wright, over the last few years she has been accepted into the community, working in the town and schooling her daughter there.

Finding another new arrival in Graham Sowerby, she sees the opportunity for both a partner who'll become her soulmate and a father figure for Chloé. Delving into his past she soon realises there is more to his heritage than she first realised, with the opportunity to also improve her lifestyle.

But does that all tumble down when disastrous, life changing episodes occur?

Across the Celtic Sea

Stacks Image 134
A full length novel, 'WITH ONLY THE WAVES AS WITNESS' traces Paul Addam's journey across Cornwall, over to Ireland and on to the French coast, in search of his missing, presumed dead wife, Marion. A seemingly hopeless task, he finds help and companionship from the Post Office in the shape of of Kathy McDonnell who is suffering her own trials, stemming from her abusive, alcoholic, now separated husband, Archie.

Of prime interest is flamboyant Patrick Donoghue, photographer, smuggler and flatterer of women, who plies the Celtic Sea in a luxurious sailing boat. While on home shores Paul has to contend with Stella, Marion's meddlesome twin, spinster, brilliant accountant, and obsessively concerned about the loss of her sister, always laying the fault at Paul's door.

As the truth unfolds, for Paul and for Kathy, will it bring happiness or sorrow?

A diverse choice

The books I write cover a diversity of genres and are aimed simply at providing entertaining reads, rather than great literary works. Novels you can bury yourself in for escapist pleasures and compilations of shorter works that showcase a plethora of mood teasers. There's drama, there's humour, there's the joy of living, the despair of death, in the present and in the future, plus a few much darker tales that cross the line from our world to those we only imagine – or perhaps prefer not too.

 No heavy reading. Just books to enjoy.


But the books aren't the end of the story. There are tales as yet unpublished and some published elsewhere on lit-mag websites, including
The Cabinet of Heed, Reflex Press, The Molotov Cocktail, Ad Hoc Fiction, and Paragraph Planet. And while some new writing will appear first on this website, other stories plucked from my books, or previously published elsewhere, might also be highlighted from time to time.

All the titles found here are just to give you a taste of what you will find in Paperback or Kindle eBook formats direct from
Amazon, with some also listed online at Waterstones.

 Short stories or flash fiction for those whose life is a whirl.

On the Shorts page you'll find shorter works, which will sometimes be an entirely new story or one not published in any of the compilations. Or perhaps just a story from way back in the archives, that some might not have read before. It's always worth taking a look to see the frequent updates to this website.

Click or tap your way through this website to discover more.

author & publisher

Stacks Image 36

No personal information is recorded from this website, but Google Analytics will place cookies to record your anonymised visit. (Learn more)
• No user identifying information is shared and only quantitive and location information is viewed.
• FOLLOWING LINKS TO AMAZON IS SUBJECT TO THE PRIVACY STATEMENT OF THE RELEVANT AMAZON WEBSITE.