Tinderbox Publishing: 29 books

A sparkling collection of short stories that entrance us with telling glimpses and powerful insights into people’s lives. In so little precious time we feel we know these characters and what drives them – their secrets, their desires, their fears and their regrets: An art dealer tricked by opportunists...

*The story 'Special Treatment' was winner of The Kinglake Modern Short Story Prize in 2010.Mark Swain describes these 12 short stories as: short excursions into the lives of others. In each story we find ourselves transported – thoroughly absorbed. We are there. Some places we think...

A tragi-comic short story that examines the delicate balance between success and failure.Pat Carmichael was a charismatic and talented footballer with a promising career in the British Premiership. With rugged good looks a Porsche, a pretty wife and a glamorous lifestyle he was envied and desired...

Abandoned by her husband, Brenda uses her divorce money to buy the hairdressers where she works, in a small South Wales town. She worries about her son. Him coming to work in the salon seemed a logical move but he is shy and has a lazy eye. He is a talented cutter but he does not fit in well, until...

Two competitive Englishmen go cycling together in France. Each attempts to out-do the other on the challenging hills as they pass through rolling countryside and villages. Stopping for water in one village they are helped by an odd woman. One man witnesses a grotesque scene in the old woman's...

An illustrated book suitable for dogs, and humans of all ages.Mark Swain describes these eighteen stories as "brief excursions into the canine world." The stories are aimed at people engaging with their dogs. And yes, that does mean reading stories to your dog!These 18 stories have been...

An Erotic Short Story Lawrence is a respectable man in his 50's. One day on his way to the church hall he is called upon to assist a young woman who has locked her valuables in the bathroom in the house of his friends who are away. The Slovakian girl is house-sitting. Using a ladder, he climbs in...

An Erotic Short Story by A.K. Anders - Some Humour. Polly is disturbed by a young farmer while picnicking semi-naked in a remote hilltop field. Unfortunately the farmer's Labrador has a penchant for ladies underwear and runs off with her panties and shorts. Stranded, she is saved by the gentlemanly...

An Erotic Short Story – With elements of humour. Martin receives a phone call one evening from Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs. Sure it is yet another prank by the admin girls at the university where he works as a junior lecturer, he tries to turn the tables by embarking upon a conversation...

An Erotic Short Story - Mildly humorous Howard is a retired grocer and a keen member of a local birdwatching society who take weekly walks. Today, Winifred is the only other member who turns up. Their relationship is formal. Winifred, a spinster, is a charity worker and heavily involved in the local...

An Erotic Short Story In Lawrence's 1st week at university he is smitten by an attractive middle aged Columbian Creative Writing professor who tells him he reminds her of a young Ernest Hemingway. At 19 he believes he has no chance, but one evening at the gym things take an unexpected turn.

Erotic Short Story The Author, A.K. Anders, is forced to go into hiding after British security forces hound him, over the possible true identity of a character in his book (The Pimlico Tapes). Living for 2 weeks in a tiny cellar room in central London, he begins to hallucinate due to sensory deprivation....

An innocent young woman takes a sleeper train and is awakened in the night when a section of bulkhead falls out onto her bunk. Slowly she becomes aware that she can see into the next compartment. Later she sees a half drunk man enter the cabin in the dark asking for the sleeping woman ticket. Unable...

Two sixth-form boarding school girls. One is particularly promiscuous and delights in telling her friend about all the men she has had sex with over the summer holidays - Barmen in the beer cellar, Gardners in her rich parents garden etc. The less experienced friend discloses a bit of an attraction...