HELLO TO ANYONE OUT THERE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN WRITING AND PUBLISHING FICTION, ANYTHING TO DO WITH BOOKS AND THEIR PROMOTION...

ABOUT ME....

I live in Redditch, Worcestershire, in the UNITED KINGDOM with my husband Tony. I have two children, a daughter in law,and two grandchildren. I have had many short stories and articles published in British National Newspapers and Magazines. Three of my short stories were broadcast by the B.B.C. They were "Love on the 69 bus" read by the late Edgar Harrison who was Dan Archer in the long running British radio serial, "The Archers" Next came "Swansong" read by Richard Pasco of The Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford on Avon. "Plain and Fancy" was read by Dora Bryan, the famous actress who has starred in many films and stage plays. All three were produced at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham by David Shute. I have won 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in various literary competitions.

GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

A reproachful look from a famine victim sends divorcee Susan Clayfield on a "Guilt Trip" which will lead her towards the loss of her job, her health and her home as she struggles to help her various charities, mainly for African victime of famine. Her work has suffered and she has been given three months to improve her appearance and general performance at "Epitome," the Insurance Company she works for. She has been moved from Customer Services to Accounts where she will work under the eccentric Mark Farriday. A bizarre trip to Italy with her new boss brings about a tour of Rome, Sorrento, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. After an accident they are forced to spend a night on the volcano, and Susan realises her feelings have grown towards him. But he is besotted with Sally, a tart with muscular thighs. Back home, Susan's debts have spiralled out of control and her home is now at risk. Can she pull back from the brink to save it? www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE By Patricia Harper

Sarah Morgan arrives on her estranged husband Kevin's doorstep pregnant and homeless, asking him to give her temporary shelter while she finds a roof over her head. Her lover has deserted her and she is desperate. At first he refuses, but says if she would be prepared to work for nothing he would let her and the baby live rent-free over a shop he is opening. The shop is in a seedy, run down part of the city with a high level of immigration, and they are beset by serious problems due to the decay and poor state of the premises. Sarah is terrified of living alone over the shop with Emily, her daughter, but has nowhere to go. She is very much demeaned by Kevin's new love, Julie, but initially helped by Robert, the son of a local electrician. After a seance over the shop one night, a supernatural presence brings terror to Sarah. Stress and squalor eventually take their toll on her health and she is driven to the edge of a breakdown. Will no one come to save her, and will Emily be taken into care? www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

SILLY LILY By Patricia Harper

Growing up after a war, Lillian or "Silly Lily," as the other kids call her, is not allowed to mix with the other kids as her mother thinks they are "common," until one day her father falls seriously ill and in a situation where there is no one else to take care of her she is allowed to enter the homes of two other girls, and starts to learn about life.. Although the book starts in childhood, it continues on into her life, first job, first boyfriend, and her difficulty inequating the romantic stuff of books with the basic, more normal facts of life. She loves then loses a man as awkward as herself, but gets a second chance at happiness... www.lulu.com/patriciaharper

Monday, 15 January 2007

SILLY LILY By Patricia Harper

Margaret sniggered as Mary took a bite of what looked like faggots and peas. The look of eager anticipation on her face changed to one of horror, and she looked over in Margaret's direction.
"What have you put on my bloody food, you little horror?" she said, and reaching for a hairbrush off the shelf she threw it at Margaret. Margaret ducked, and it crashed into the door, chipping out a lump of varnish before it fell down on the lino. There would probably have been murder done had not Mrs Needmore come in at that precise moment with a towel draped round her ample figure.
"Here, I asked you to keep an eye on these two, not bloody join in. What's going on?" she said, stooping to retrieve the brush and losing the towel in the process.
Lillian's eyes nearly came out of her head as she watched her go over to the fireplace and bend over to put the towel to air. She'd never seen anyone naked before. Her mother's body and her father's for that matter, had always been a closely guarded secret. Doors were locked in their house when clothes were removed, and she didn't know where to look at this precise moment.
"Good job we're all girls together," Mrs Needmore chuckled, reaching out for her knickers and vest off the polished brass rail.
Her breasts were pendulous and heavy, drooping down over the flab of her stomach. Her legs were like carrots, Lillian thought, fat at the top with ridges of fat which quivered when she laughed, and as for her bottom, well!...She was cramming it now into voluminous white knickers. Lillian looked, and looked again. She had hair...Down there between her legs! That wasn't normal surely? She hadn't got any!
"What's up with your dinner, Mary? You usually love my faggots." Mrs Needmore said.
"That's what the row was about when you came in. That sod of a daughter of yours has put washing powder or something on it... Tastes horrible...Honest to God, you're gonna have to do something about her or I'm leaving...I mean it! She's out of control. What she needs is a bloody good hiding."

SILLY LILY By Patricia Harper Copyright 2006
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Tuesday, 9 January 2007

GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

"Sit down for a minute, and I'll tell you a bit about your boss," Jane offered, and drew up a chair for Susan to sit on where she joined the rest.
Mark was tight, she said, "as a duck's arse." You had to make sure he paid his turn for the drinks, and fetched them. He always forgot birthday cards, and was conveniently somewhere else when collections came round. If there was a gathering at the pub he always got there last after he'd been to the loo, or gone on the scenic route, so that the drinks were in by the time he arrived. He never sent Christmas cards or holiday postcards, and on the one Christmas he'd bought Nichola and Kate a surprise present, they discovered the chocolates he'd bought them were way past the sell by date. They'd sat there, after he'd made his magnificent gesture and gone home on his bike, with tears of laughter running down their cheeks, as they played "chicken" over who was going to eat one first. Turned out in the end there was nothing wrong with them anyway, but it went down on record in the office history. They could have gone on forever, it seemed, with stories about Mark. It was amazing that people seemed to bear him no ill will, and Susan thought he had an air of eccentricity about him. Apparently he was infuriating if you wanted him to defend you in any way. He just caved in, and couldn't be "arsed", and she wondered if this had anything to do with the health worries, not wanting to raise his voice or his blood pressure? He put his head round the door just then, and came in to put a letter in the post basket, and nodded in Susan's direction.
"You do still work here then?" he laughed, looking pointedly at his watch, and Susan replaced her chair and went back out with him to their office.
"Sorry about that," she forced herself to say, not used to having to answer to anyone else.

GUILT TRIP Copyright 2006 Patricia Harper
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GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

"Now what do you suppose she's come in for?...She hardly knows the woman," Elaine said, flicking the cigarette ash off her enormous boobs. "You don't suppose she'd have the nerve to..."
"She's conned a drink off Kate," Mandy said, finishing what Elaine was about to say.
"Cheeky sod! She never put a penny to her collection. I'd never have the nerve, would you? I hope she goes soon. She's spoilt the atmosphere in here. Just look at the state of her!"
Susan Clayfield's legs looked as if they were trying to escape through enormous holes in her black fishnet tights. She was leaning over the bar talking to Kate, who being a nice sort of person, listened through a booze fuelled haze, trying to make sense of what she was saying. The party was breaking up now, as some had to be back at their desks, and when Kate made a move to join her friends to open her presents, Susan Clayfield tagged along and sat down beside her. There was a definite sense of anger at this intrusion because she was management, and you were rude to management at your peril. Sure you could do it, if you didn't mind the many ways in which a boss could make your life hell, and were willing to forget further improvement within the company.

GUILT TRIP Copyright 2006 Patricia Harper
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Saturday, 6 January 2007

GUILT TRIP By Patricia Harper

Someone was ringing the bell, and she didn't want to go and see who it was. She just wanted to hide at that moment. Painfully, she hopped along the cold floor of the hall and peered nervously round the front door.
It was Mark, and it was hard to say who was the more surprised of the two as they faced each other across the step, he with a battered and bloody face, clutching what looked remarkably like a bunch of flowers behind his back, and she in a state of undress with all blood down the front of her nightie.
"Time of the month?" he said finally, thinking he had her sussed.
"No," she said indignantly. "The cat's annoyed because I'm out of food. She scratched me."
"That's serious," he said.
"The wound?"
"No, being out of food for the cat. Are you going to ask me in, or what?"
"I suppose so," she sighed, reluctant, but he was her boss after all."
"These are for you," he said, handing her a bunch of droopy unwrapped flowers.
"Have you robbed a grave?" she said, embarrassed, knowing it was unlikely that he'd bought them.
"There's grattitude for you! They're off me' allotment. Have you got a vase?"
"No, I never buy flowers. They're a waste of money when there's people starving."
"Of course, I forgot your charities. Well these cost you nothing, and fortunately you can't send them to Africa, so enjoy them! Look at the colours, and just be glad that right at this moment.. I was going to say you knew where your next meal was coming from, but maybe you don't ...What a bloody mess," he said, looking round the room.
"Which are my sentiments exactly. How did you get in that state?" she said, wincing at the dried blood on his lower lip, the half closed eye and the swollen nose. The bruises were beginning to come out already.
GUILT TRIP Copyright 2006 Patricia Harper UK Author.

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