Life Aint Pretty, is a U.K.-based collection of short stories that elaborate the darker elements of humanity, and social conflict, through a multitude of diverse characters, where criminality, wickedness, religious ideology and even delusion find a home, with a twist end. The stories are set between the late 1980’s, and early 2000.
For Bike Sake – the story follows a young boy named Dan who befriends another boy who has been suspended from school. When his friend is caught trying to steal him a BMX bike, Dan must decide what to do. In a twist of fate, the bike his father built him saves his life.
In Deliverance, a young, mentally disabled boy who is being abused by his resentful foster mother searches for help. When he meets a new care worker, he shares the truth with her and when he has the chance to save his abuser, lets her go instead.
Jailhouse Jihads finds an Afghan prisoner, Akbar, trying to help a rebellious inmate, Nathan, as they struggle to stay safe within prison walls, they turn to cult beliefs to sustain themselves.
Detriment, follows the journey of a young woman named Velcia, as she travels the underground station. She encounters an old bully, from her school days, and is caught up in a legal wrangle, when her assailant accuses her of assault. Velcia is charged by police, but her family have other ideas to resolve this.
Gin and Chronic is a story about a man named Neil, whom begins conflict when his father bribes him to keep secrets from his mother. Neil suppresses his own homosexuality, and tormented by his sense of guilt; embarks on a means of escapism by joining the army. His problems only worsen, and this leads him onto a path of alcoholism, detachment, before he secures employment in the prison service, where his problems manifest further. Gin and Chronic is written primarily for entertainment, although it was originally intended to give insight into the circumstances surrounding two characters from my novel; (Idle Among Infamy), namely Governor Neil Snider, and Lohmed Sakim. Neil Snider is a fictional character who goes onto work inside the high security prison estate. When he becomes a trusted, respected official that now holds responsibility for the inmates that he is in charge of, that power corrupts him.
