Alastair's Books

Novels

One night
Do you usually talk to strangers on a bus? Probably not. Unless you want a short trip across town to turn into something completely different.

Big Bend
Central Africa. A mining compound on the curve of a river. A young couple arrive. John is stepping up to a major opportunity in his career, taking over as mine manager. Angela has decided to join him. Big Bend is comfortable, and the people are friendly. At worst, it could be a little tedious. Nothing changes here. Jungle extends for hundreds of miles all around. They sip their drinks and watch the brown river sliding by. John has been sent to replace Yageman. Everyone is relieved at the news. Yageman built the mine from scratch, placing the first charge that blew apart the jungle. Nobody should stay in this place for as long as he has. Yageman leaves behind a profitable mine, and a secure compound. The river linking them to the coast will always flow, slowly and dependably as ever. Even a wilderness can be predictable. But then the hydro plant that powers everything is sabotaged. Without electricity, the compound quickly becomes unbearable. A young girl goes missing. Suspicions abound. Even at the best of times, keeping up appearances can be difficult. Who knows what people will do next?

While we were waiting
Have you ever wondered what happens in the time that's spent while you're waiting to go somewhere? While you're sitting with nothing to do, leaving your mind to wander, perhaps the only time of the waking day when it is free to step outside and look about. What does it find? Maybe that you're not the only one, and for the time that we've all been waiting, we've already come a long way.

Thorntree
For a town that waits each day for the promising coolness of evening, ambition doesn't usually mean more than a new air conditioner. However, a recently elected mayor has unexpectedly caused something to stir. Out of the shade of the town's porches and verandas comes a host of consequences that would be hard to imagine, were it not for a Chief of Police desperate for a crime, a café owner feared more than her coffee, a reluctant visitor about to become more sought after than even he could imagine, and an astonishingly successful avocado farmer with his large and rather unpredictable sons. That is just the beginning. As the shadows pass from one end of the town's verandas to the other, so a story unfolds of such scope and immensity, that it could only come from a small town in the middle of nowhere, called Thorntree.

A Year of Seven Lives
It's already dark, and twenty-five year old Joshua stands in his office and looks down at the glittering city spreading into the distance. His life may have started somewhere far more ordinary, but that didn't stop him becoming all that he's ever wanted. As if dreams weren't enough, the climax of the year is just a few months away, and he will know just how much it has all been worth. It's right there in front of him, yet as bright as those lights are, he simply hasn't seen it. The year ahead will be something that he could never have anticipated. A life is made up of the people you meet. In the year ahead, seven in all will have their say. Do they know more of him than he knows of himself? Joshua is yet to find out.

End of the Dry Season

The sudden arrival of a group of friends at an old beach house interrupts the quiet of the late afternoon. A neighbour is roused, and watches the unfolding scene with interest. All the guests have finally arrived by the time the light begins to fade, yet they find themselves somewhere they hadn't quite anticipated. It is too late to go back, and too late for their host who is left completely unprepared. Across the neatly tended lawns and flowerbeds, the encircling jungle seems even closer than before. The humidity is rising, and the rains are overdue.

As our narrators withdraw inside, preferring the crowded heat of the house to the cooling night, they find themselves more isolated than they could ever have expected. By the time that an oncoming storm has broken the dry spell, they will have re-emerged. Most of them may have escaped the rain, but none of them will remain the way they were.