More stories

The Last Footsies

Anthony lives in an isolated rural country cottage, somewhere on the edge of the Border Counties in the very North of England. A stream, shaded by mature trees, runs through the bottom of the garden. He loves observing the wild life which passes through his paradise. Many species are attracted because he nurtures them with food and treats.
One warm evening in late summer he rescues from the stream, what turns out to be, the last surviving clan of J’s which, in his own mind, he christens “Footsies.” The Footsies have no hands, nor arms, but they do have very dextrous feet.
The Footsies, a diminuative, unknown species with human speech, have been hunted almost to extinction and, now nomadic, are moving ever northward to escape detection. Their journey ended abruptly at the bottom of Anthony’s garden when their raft unexpectedly hit rapids and throws one of their kind, and their meagre belongings, overboard.
Rescued by Anthony they are persuaded to stay a while in the safety of his garden. The nocturnal J’s excavate holes and burrows in which they live, hidden during the day.
Hence Anthony’s declaration: “There are no fairies at the bottom of my garden.”

http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1539803309 


Romney Hole

Zach’s account traces the momentous events that befall two Yorkshire Dale farmer’s children: Zach aged 15 and his sister, Rachel, aged 13.
Their favourite leisure pastime is potholing in a nearby warren of tunnels and caves, an undisturbed playground paradise. A long, fine spell of dry weather has reduced the level of the underground streams and rivers, and a new labyrinth is exposed. The temptation to explore cannot be resisted. 
A previously hidden cave has become exposed. They learn that the chamber is the resting place of an advanced, alien energy form. In the chamber resides the sole survivor of a colonising probe which landed on Earth twenty thousand years ago. The alien, Tarus, wishes to pass on his accumulated knowledge and power into the minds of the two young people before his energy finally dissipates. 
A violent, overnight storm rocks the dales and the following morning they discover that their subterranean paradise has been utterly destroyed by the floods and all trace of Tarus has been buried by cave collapses.
With their combined minds forming the Interlect, they make a chilling prediction. Earth is set on a course of events that will lead to the demise of human society. Complicated decision-making processes of the world's major powers are being carried out by sophisticated computers with little and less human involvement. 
Zach and Rachel pledge to use the Interlect to jolt the civilised world into awareness, determined that Earth will not follow in the self-destructive footsteps of Tarus’s world.

http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1540516954

And the Cow .....

A short story of hope for children exposed to the horrors of cancer in a family. 

Samantha has been invited to stay at Uncle Joe's farm in the country for a while. Everyone thought that mum would get better quicker if she could recuperate in the clean country air. Sam's mum is recovering  her strength after a big operation in the hospital to cut the cancer out of her tummy. While Sam was waiting for her to arrive in the ambulance she wandered into the cow shed and started talking to the dairy herd of beautiful, golden, Jersey cows.
One cow, in particular, took a great interest in what Sam had to say and looking into the cow's big, soft, brown eyes she knew that Amber understood every word.
What she didn't know was that, thanks to the cow who had jumped over the moon, her mother would make a full recovery. 

REVIEW
Sharon Dormer On And The Cow ...
This is a very well written story aimed at children. It combines just the right amount of fact and magic to keep a child's interest and the sentences are short and concise. One criticism I have is that cows have four stomachs, but that is easily fixed. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to write a follow up story and describe Sams mothers journey back to health, or even, if you could keep the same tone of fact and magic throughout, her death. It's a difficult subject to deal with, but the fact is there are children out there who lose parents and a story such as this would maybe help with them to process their loss. Its just an idea. But even if you don't, this story stands alone very well and you have a gift for telling a story x
    




 
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