My life has been fairly uneventful, almost boring one might say, so scared have I been of making any mistakes. Such an existence has, however, given my imagination the opportunity to wander wild and free. Supposing my imagined life became real? Would it work out as I hoped and bring me happiness and delight, or would it instead deliver little beyond misery and distress? However it developed, there is one thing of which I am sure: it would have been different. As Heraclitus the Greek philosopher once wrote:

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.

As I have grown older, I have become obsessed with this thought, wondering how changed my life might have been had I been less afraid and allowed myself to step into other rivers.

Alternate Lives is a collection of eighteen stories selected from over one hundred. Written in the first person, each explores what might have been had I led a different, imagined life, whether in personality, body, location or time.

Seventeen of these tales are fictions. However, even they often contain within them at least a smidgen of truth. As George R. R. Martin put it: The best lies contain within them nuggets of truth, enough to give a listener pause.

One story, although incomplete, is completely true. Which one? Well, that is for me to know and for you to guess. Enjoy.

Alternate Lives is available from Troubador Publishing, Waterstones, Amazon, and independent booksellers.