I wrote this story as part of a contest to commemorate Iain Banks, following his sad passing in 2013.
Walking On The Bridge (PDF, 270k)
Banks was — and remains — one of my favourite authors; I had just started writing fiction semi-seriously.
I had to enter.
The brief was to take one of the opening lines from one of his many novels, and create a new short story inspired by it.
I chose Espedair Street, with its arresting opening of “two days ago I decided to kill myself.”
And I won.
There was no prize, no payment. I got to read my story out loud to a small audience in the dearly-missed Looking Glass Books in central Edinburgh.
But it inspired me nonetheless.
I let that inspiration fade over the years, but various things have reignited it.
So here it is, almost ten years later.
Walking On The Bridge (PDF, 270k)
Reminding me that words have power, and that I have many, many more left in me.