Since retiring, Tony has completed or written several stories. These were published in 2014 by Autharium.com (later Indie.com). Autharium ceased trading in early 2016, and now allows authors to publish independently, so Tony has re-published his stories via the e-distributor Smashwords.com.

Below are summaries (without giving away too much of the plot!) and chapter 1 as a free download (longer free downloads can be obtained from e-book suppliers). They are in order of writing, though the two short stories were published first.

Home page

	AFFAIRS OF THE HEAD	(begun in 2002, 51 chapters, 154,000 words.)
	Unqualified Jayne Muffatt lands an unexpected job as a technician, to her mother's strong disapproval. The test unit she works on has medical applications, but she accidentally uncovers a more sinister side. She and her geeky friend Jon investigate this, which involves a car-chase, an improbable episode with a balloon, discovery of things about herself she was not taught at school and finally a reluctant break-in to her place of work. Alongside all this she is desperate to avoid marriage to an obsessive evangelist, who has a secret and an agenda. The break-in results in her work-place burning down, a conviction for herself, brain damage to Jon and the lasting enmity of a tabloid newspaper. She rebuilds her life, with the help of her lawyer, his schoolteacher wife, her former boss's partner and Jon's uncle, and learns in the process that by and large, the difference between good and ill is not between people but within them - even her supportive lawyer is using her to some extent. But all the way to the bittersweet conclusion of the story, Jayne demonstrates a resilience and resourcefulness she never thought she had, and grows from a shy and downtrodden adolescent into a worthy, if not always perfect hero.
	Chapter 1 download

	SLAVES IN EDEN	(begun in 2006, 40 chapters + epilogue, 137,000 words.)
	Cardan Gentle lives on an idyllic island, awaiting subsumption with his god. His whole world is himself, his 200 friends and the angels who look after them. After a disturbing event he is rescued, or captured, his horizons are infinitely widened and his probable destiny revealed, to substitute in dangerous situations for the one from whom he was cloned. But from his captor, agnostic theologian Bjorn Harting, doctors Pentalla and Aidan, "Captain Pugwash", other clones, the enigmatic Peary Binoche and eventually his own "original", he realizes that his fate will be even more horrific. However, he discovers he is also the key to unlock and destroy the whole system, though it nearly destroys him. The action moves from his island to Ardnamurchan in Scotland, Cragside in Northumberland and eventually to Ely, where his efforts are rewarded and his sufferings assuaged.
	Chapter 1 download

	PERFECT PICTURE	(begun in 2011, 3 chapters, 10,000 words.)
	James Tuthill takes a superb photo from a cliff but then falls off, mortally wounding himself and the camera. 12-year old Timothy Maddox, whose mother rescues Tuthill, sees the photo but cannot remove the image card. Mike Angleby, photographic society president, learns from Tuthill just before he dies that the photo he took is "perfect", so he offers to rescue it from the card. Angleby then claims he took the photo and sells the rights for a huge sum. Timothy knows he is lying but could only prove it by admitting that he now has the photo too, against his mother's wishes. Justice is - partly - done, via Timothy's substitution of a poem, an arts editor's questioning, a policeman's doubts and a bank manager's suspicions. Timothy learns the ways of the world quickly and painfully, though he is not as naȉve as his mother thinks!
	Chapter 1 download

	BUTTERFLY	(begun in 2011, 4 chapters, 14,000 words.)
	Hampshire-born loner Johnny Pfoertner decides to return to his (partly) Scottish roots, so he moves to a remote island and sets up home. There he discovers, to the utter confusion of forecasters, that he can control the weather and in his mind becomes a reincarnation of the Celtic god Lugh. An encounter with a gullible bookmaker leads to fortune then a journalist, declared by him to be his "goddess", brings him fame. But a showdown she sets up between him, the police and the Brothers of Caledon ends in disaster. Other characters include a pair of bemused forecasters and an improbable representative of ancient Scots. What starts as eccentricity leads inevitably to a sad, if satisfying climax.
	Chapter 1 download

Back to top
Home page