Sailing The Styx

By Peter Caunt

A short collection of short stories all of which are Science Fiction or perhaps verging onto Fantasy. All of them have been published in magazines, anthologies or have won a competition.

A newly dead individual has to negotiate with the Ferryman to find a sensible way to spend his afterlife.

A grandson finds a way to give his frozen grandmother a final walk by the river so she can be happy with her last few minutes of life.

A disabled boy buys a jar with a disembodied brain that starts to plan his life for him.

A computer suffering from a long time in isolation starts taking his mission too seriously

A youth who feels he doesn't belong eventually finds a way to fulfil his destiny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Peter Caunt
• Release date: Sep 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005071387

Peter Caunt

Peter Caunt was born in North Derbyshire but has spent the last thirty-five years in North Yorkshire.Peter originally had a science background and worked, in Harrogate, for the C.E.G.B, on pollution control (until it closed down), in Preston for Babtie Environmental (until they closed down the department) and in Harrogate for the Regional Health Authority (until it closed down). Following these, he worked for a software house in Harrogate until it was taken over by a multinational and downsized. Having seen the writing on the wall, he decided to copy it down and try to publish it.He has had an interest in writing short stories for the last thirty years but has only recently had the time and the enthusiasm to start accumulating a pile of rejection letters.In the latter part of 2005, a small pile of acceptances began to grow, much helped by inspiration from his wife, Pamela.Peter is a member of the Harrogate Writers' Circle.

Book preview

Sailing The Styx

Copyright 2021 Peter Caunt

Published by Peter Caunt at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

ISBN: 9781005071387

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Prologue

Styx And Stones

A Short Walk by the River

Brains Not Brawn

Mission Statement

Stranger Here on Earth

About The Author

Other Books By The Author

Acknowledgements

There are many people that have influenced my writing. But there have also been many events that have served to mould my literary ambitions.

I had an English Teacher in year one of secondary school who encouraged us to read Lord of the Rings and got us to write short pieces of fiction. Then came the second year, a different teacher and the standard curriculum cut in. The set books could not have been chosen better if they had been designed to kill the imagination. Cranford, a tale of old ladies and rules about table etiquette were better than Bromine in killing the artistic ardour of prepubescent boys in the third year. That and an overexposure to Shakespeare with jokes which had to be explained in detail, which rather lost the point, resulted in me coming to regard literature as something that had to be endured.

That English teacher from year one, who's name I can no longer remember, deserves a special memtion for planting a seed that could not be extinguished by the standard curriculum.

In my teens I discovered the short stories of Ray Bradbury and the Don Camillo stories of Giovannino Guareschi. These set me firmly on the path of writing short stories which were slightly off the wall.

I turned back to writing short stories later in my life as a break from the fact ridden logic of my working life. I attended a couple of evening classes but never settled into a consistent routine of writing until I retired. At that point I joined Harrogate Writers' Circle which provided me with a peer group to encourage and criticise my output.

But more than anything else I would like to thank my wife, Pamela, who has never failed to encourage me when the rejection letters kept falling through the letter box and has provided an inspiration for me throughout our time together.

Prologue

This book contains a short collection of my SciFi short stories. Some you may consideras more fantasy than SciFi, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

All of them have either won some competition or been published in a magazine or an anthology.

‘Styx and Stones’ first published in ‘Andromeda Spaceways in-flight Magazine’ #60

‘A Short Walk by the River’ first prize