Fantastic Fiction: Volume One

The Hiding Place - The story of a young boy hiding from his mother in a game of hide-and-seek who hears a voice beckoning him out. Although the voice is somehow familiar to him, he remembers his mother's oft-spoken warning: 'Never go with strangers.'

What He Was - A young woman wakes in the cabin of a cruise ship to find her partner has vanished. Today is disembarkation day, the day that he promised to tell her all the secrets he has kept from her for the entire cruise. It's 5.32 am, where would he go at this time in the morning?

Troll2357 - An internet troll wakes to find himself tied to a chair and a man talking to him from the darkness. The man tells him he is responsible for the death of his daughter and he intends to exact a violent revenge. How can the young man tied to the chair escape his horrible fate?

Waking Up - When a man finds himself in a long room filled with other men, he has forgotten who he is. The people around him in white coats tell him not to ask any questions and say it will all be over soon, they assure him that they haven't kidnapped him and he volunteered for this procedure although they are not forthcoming with explaining what the 'procedure' involves. When they leave the room he decides to try and escape. The ghastly truth of his existence will overwhelm him entirely.

The Haunting Of Hinckley Hall - A mentalist exposes the fraudulent actions of a psychic at Hinckley Hall, a former children's home where dozens of children were rumoured to have been murdered in Victorian times. When the filming is over however, the crew still hear noises deep in the house. Believing them to be from the psychic's collaborator, they go looking for him. As a series of inexplicable events occur, the mentalist explains them away as distorted perceptions. His cameraman is not so sure.

Clement - When a bullied boy bravely sings himself into a choir that he already knows a bully is in, he wonders what he has let himself in for. On a largely unsupervised playground of another school, he tries desperately to stay out of the bully's way. Of course that proves impossible all of the time. When a new friend loses respect for him for not standing up for himself he must decide between challenging the bully or returning to his lonely existence.

Blood Is Thinner Than Water - Whenever his heroin addict of an older brother comes out of prison, Clive's life is tainted by fear. He does his best to avoid him but the usual aggressive situations occur when his brother decides he needs a 'treat'. Then when Clive's beloved dog, Sally, dies he suspects that his brother had something to do with it. Late one night, whining and scratching can be heard downstairs and his brother goes into a panic. Sally has one last message for Clive, that will change his life forever.

Trials Of A Stellar Looter - In a far off corner of the galaxy, where energy is the most valuable currency, a Federation claims all supernova neutron blasts for their own and zealously polices them, pursuing and imprisoning those who would steal from them. Max is one such Stellar Looter who is on a quest to find his son. He is arrested when he lands on a mining asteroid. When he is being transported to the Federation fleet, however, his own ship flies past them. Max has no idea who is flying it, but he knows he can't let the crew of the ship he is on destroy it.

Noah's Art - A modern fairytale that tells the story of a boy whose father wanted him to be a footballer, but who then lost his leg to cancer. With the help of a magical ball of light, he tries to make his father proud of him by excelling in Art which he has a prodigious talent in. When he hears that his father is terminally ill, however, he realises he doesn't have a lot of time.