One of the things I do quite a bit of in my spare time is writing. Primarily I write techinical magazine articles, but I've also been known to turn my hand to more imaginative works. Of course, having written these wonders of modern literature, it seems a shame to let them lie on my hard drive, unnoticed by all save a select few, so I've stuck them here. To lie on someone else's hard drive. Unnoticed by all save a select few.

What we have therefore, are a handful of short stories - mostly a few hundred words; some longer short stories (around 10,000 words); and a full blown novel (a hideously excessive 200,000 words!)

All of these have some sort of story behind the story, if you get what I mean, so each also comes with a brief introduction. The short stories (including the long ones) are all included in HTML format, for reading directly in your web browser. The novel is provided as a ZIP file consisting of each chapter stored as a separate plain ASCII text file.

If you want to keep the short stories for perusal at your leisure, you'll need to use the "Save" option in your web browser.

To Whom It May Concern
©1996, Xav
1,200 words - 11kb web page

A dark tale of time travel and dubiously haired relatives

Loveless
©1996, Xav
1,300 words - 11kb web page

Black comedy about the frustration and dangers of asking people out, and how easy it can be to say the wrong thing

A Christmas Tale
©1997, Xav
750 words - 9kb web page

Don't worry, no Dickens here - just another darkly comic look at life: this time it's the season of goodwill that comes under scrutiny

I'll Just Leave That To Your Imagination
©1997, Xav
1,500 words - 12kb web page

Well, if musicians can do "concept albums" then I can do a "concept story" - and this is it. At least nobody dies in this one.

Ka = δ(Ka.nT)
©1997, Xav
10,000 words - 65kb web page

This is the long short story with the weird name. A futuristic tale of a computer programmer and a naked woman. And blobs.

By the way, since most browsers seem to have trouble with the control code for the greek character delta, you may well see the title as "Ka = δ(Ka.nT)" - the "δ" string should actually be a lowercase delta.

The Lives and Deaths of Sir William Rawlings
©1997, Xav
11,000 words - 70kb web page

Another long story, this time featuring a billionaire and cryogenics.

The Bridge
©1997, Xav
1,750 words - 15kb web page

A short story, based on a philosophical conundrum proposed by Zeno of Elea.

Faster Than Life
©1998, Xav
7,500 words - 47kb web page

A science fiction story about a physicist, tachyons, and a place with three dimensions of time.

The Legend of the Boatmen
©1998, Xav
4,000 words - 27kb web page

A story about a tortuous journey undertaken by one poor individual who became a little too inquisitive. Written in the first person as he approaches death and looks back at the sins of his life.

Synaesthesia
©1998, Xav
8,500 words - 53kb web page

A piece of science fiction about a woman who has neural implants in order to improve her love life. Warning: This story is sexually explicit, and has a high content of expletives. Please do not read it if you are liable to be offended.

Not Dead Yet
©1997, Xav
200,000 words - 470k ZIP file

An epic fantasy novel, but don't let that put you off - several people who have read it have commented that they "don't usually like that sort of thing" but have been converted (see below for more quotes). The plot deals with four people on a planet with strange gravitational properties, trying to fulfil their destiny by travelling to heaven and back.

A few people have already subjected themselves to my novel, and so far only one person didn't like it. Here I've selected a few quotes and shown them completely out of context in true paperback cover style:

"I expected it to be mildly amusing, but not absolutely rivetting - which it is" - Chris Nuza

"It's like a cross between Tolkein, CS Lewis and Umberto Eco" - Chris Nuza

"Majestic" - John Otway

"Brilliant" - John Otway

"I found the first thirteen chapters on my hard drive, and had to get in touch to find out if there was any more" - Phil Smith (whom I hadn't spoken to for about a year prior to that)

"It's just not my sort of thing really" - Ian Hunter

The next quote is secondhand, but from a reliable source. Chris Nuza was originally responsible for passing my novel ("Not Dead Yet", or NDY for short) on to John Otway. Late in 1998 she went to see him live, and as he's a nice, approachable fellow, she spoke to him afterwards. This is an excerpt from the email she sent me:-

"John was asking after you, or more specifically NDY. He said he found it compulsive reading and didn't like to think of it not being published, if only in a limited edition." - Chris Nuza

And now a slightly longer quote from someone who found my short stories by a rather unexpected means...

"I woke up this morning driven to find a source for Terry's Chocolate Oranges on the internet. A quick search turned up several on-line catalogs... and 'A Christmas Tale'. [...] I've now been through everything but 'The Lives and Deaths of Sir William Rawlings' and your novel, 'Not Dead Yet', and I've enjoyed myself immensely. You have a wonderful imagination and a terrifically skewed sense of humor." - 'gaily'

And from the same person, after I informed her of some additions to this page:-

"You manage to be pretty consistent in the quality of your work, and I really enjoyed the two new stories. In fact, I liked 'The Bridge' so much, I was wondering if you'd allow me to post it on my own writers web site... it's different from any of the stories that I've posted, and I always feel good if I can put a piece of quality writing up there." - 'gaily'

If you're interested, Gaily's web site can be found by following this link.

This page is maintained by Xav. If you have any comments or quotes about any of my stories, or if you want to publish/film/rip-off any of the plots, feel free to mail me as: