Strange Shores and Other Stories
By Sam Kates
()
About this ebook
Three short stories that share a common theme: the search for lost loved ones.
In Strange Shores, a schoolteacher hits upon a drastic method of attempting to escape the sadness of his existence in this world.
Joy or despair may be found in Alfonso's Looking Glass. A bereaved husband is willing to risk one to find the other.
In A Matter of Perspective, an unlikely pair traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape where violence and death are constant companions.
Three genres. Three tales. One theme.
Read more from Sam Kates
The Elevator Omnibus: The Complete Trilogy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMoths: A Trio of Dark Novellas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThat Elusive Something Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Village of Lost Souls Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Strange Shores and Other Stories
Related ebooks
Dancing with Huntress Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Of Woe or Wonder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOutbreak Company: Volume 8 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Consume: Other World Demonios, #5 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Mind's Eye Reader: Stort Stories From New Voices: Short Story Fiction Anthology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wrath of a Mediocre Hero Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRunning Out of Air Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Explorer Complete Series Box Set: Books 1-4 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSarcasm is My Superpower Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Aliens Among Us: Stories from Pulphouse Fiction Magazine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElements of Fire Book One: Elements of Fire, #1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Bond Broken: A Tale of Love, Loyalty, and Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Untold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSound Bites Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSatellite: The Satellite Trilogy, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSatellite, The Satellite Trilogy Part I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Starts Bleeding Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDefinitely, Maybe in Love Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Remembrandt Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRules of My Best Friend's Body Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hearts and Flowers Border Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nature vs. Nurture: Inklet, #53 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLove Back Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTalk Sweetly to Me: The Brothers Sinister, #5 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Quantum Touch Collection - Books 1-3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Freeze Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSome Kind of Wonderland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUntethered Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnithia: Ancestry of Creativity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Short Stories For You
Little Birds: Erotica Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Explicit Content: Red Hot Stories of Hardcore Erotica Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sex and Erotic: Hard, hot and sexy Short-Stories for Adults Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Two Scorched Men Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hans Christian Andersen's Complete Fairy Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Short Stories Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Before You Sleep: Three Horrors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hot Blooded Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas: A Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don Quixote Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Sour Candy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Skeleton Crew Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5100 Years of the Best American Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things They Carried Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lovecraft Country: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ficciones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Tuesdays in Winter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Strange Shores and Other Stories
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Strange Shores and Other Stories - Sam Kates
Strange Shores
and other stories
Sam Kates
Copyright © Sam Kates 2015
All rights reserved
––––––––
This is a work of fiction.
All characters appearing in this work
are products of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to real persons,
living or dead, is purely coincidental.
––––––––
ISBN 978-1-912718-16-0
––––––––
For news of releases and promotions:
http://www.samkates.co.uk/stay-in-touch/
Contents
Strange Shores
Alfonso’s Looking Glass
A Matter of Perspective
About the author
Author’s note
Strange Shores
The man who reminded me of Rusty was bending over in the frozen food section of the supermarket, rummaging in a freezer. As I walked down the aisle towards him, he straightened, a carton of ice cream in his hands, and the resemblance struck me like a slap: slim almost to the point of gauntness; long, stick-like limbs; hair sandy and unkempt.
He glanced at me, frowning, and I saw the dissimilarities: eyes brown, not green, and too far apart; jaw too weak; nostrils flared, not pinched.
I looked away, pretending to examine the frozen fish. Shaken. Not so much by the resemblance, but by the jolt it had given me.
The memory of Rusty had faded to the back of my mind like the recollection of a recipe or old girlfriend’s phone number or anything else insignificant. Yet he was the man who had changed my life.
* * *
Although Rusty didn’t teach me until I reached the sixth form, I’d heard the rumours—rowdy classes, ineffective teaching methods, indifferent manner and whispers about a wife killed by a drunken driver.
His name was Edward James. I had to plumb the shadowy depths of my mind to pluck that out because I always knew him, and remembered him to the extent that my traitorous memory allowed, as Rusty. It’s what every kid in school called him on account of his unruly mane of hair lending him a vague similarity to the animated character Mr Rusty from that wacky old children’s programme, The Magic Roundabout.
We didn’t call him Rusty to his face, of course. School kids can be cruel when running in a herd, but tend to have strong instincts of individual self-preservation, though since I’ve started thinking about him again, it’s occurred to me that he was unlikely to have thrown a wobbly, as we used to say, if someone had called him Rusty to his face; he was too distant, too preoccupied. Being addressed by a childish name would not have registered high on his list of things to get annoyed about. Besides, ‘Rusty’ was tame compared to some of the nicknames given to his teaching colleagues.
There was nothing distant about his teaching style. His lessons were... different. He once spent an hour bouncing a ping-pong ball on his desk.
Does it stop there?
He jabbed a spindly finger at the ball as it reached the top of its bounce and started its descent. His eyes gleamed as he turned to us, giving lie to the rumour about his indifference. "So? Did the ball stop? Come on, think! In the instant before it started to fall... did it stop?"
The silence