A Devil from the Vaults

It was about a decade and a half ago that I decided to take writing seriously. I was in the Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia, with a typewriter, time on my hands, and a yearning to make use of my native tongue; so I sat down and wrote a story called "George's Devil". Perhaps it wasn't a particularly good story (although, even now, I console myself with the thought that it wasn't particularly bad), but it was the first story I wrote since I was at school, and so I still bear some degree of affection towards it. Shortly after I finished it, flushed with an over-exaggerated sense of my own capacities, I decided to write a novel…

Anyway, a couple of months back, novelist and all-round good sort, Steve Himmer from the excellent website Necessary Fiction, said that he was running a month's event throughout January of 2012 publishing the first stories ever written — written, not published — by published writers. Steve assured me that the stories didn't have to be any good. In fact, he said, it might be even better and more interesting if they were not very good at all. Thus reassured, I dug out the story, which was still in its original typewritten format on crumbling foolscap paper, typed it up in electronic form, and sent it off. The story has now been published over on the website. You can read it by clicking HERE.