Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #11 February 2015 | Page 71

“Mr. Ashley, I just wanted to congratulate you on your
book and wish that it achieves all you hope it will.”
“Thank you Miss Brett. I hope you’ll buy a copy.”
“I think I might. Now, I must go and catch my bus. It’s
the only one out to the village.”
As he walked back to his car, Tom realised he had not
wished Miss Brett well for her book. Ah well. Too late
now. Not exactly comparable anyway.
***
“I wondered if I’d see you here.”
Tom half turned, looking away from the display table,
to look at the face he knew went with that voice. Josie
was the most enthusiastic and attractive of his creative
writing students, although not particularly talented as
a writer. She’d been through two years of evening classes but never really finished anything. However, she
always made encouraging comments about work that
the others read out and showed a particular interest in
Tom’s own work, asking regularly about the progress of
his novel toward publication day.
“I had to come down and see it on the shelves for real,”
Tom said, holding up a copy of ‘The Rock Pool’. “I’ve
had the proof copies for a few weeks but it’s not quite
the same thing. Are you in town for anything special?”
Josie laughed. “This, of course.” She pointed toward the
top copy of the small stack of books. “It