Short story
Feeling Flat
Shortlisted for the Senior Competition in the HG Wells Short Story Competition 2024 on the theme 'The Fool'.
Writing
Stories, plays, magazines, readings and other written work.
A section for Peter Poole's written work, bringing together PDFs, poems and other archive texts as they are prepared for publication.
Content in this section will continue to be added as more material is digitised.
Featured writing
Twenty Years from Twyford
A poem looking back at the Twyford Down campaign, St Catherine's Hill and the environmental damage of road building.
Overview
Peter Poole's practice included short stories, plays, small-press magazines, performed readings and other written work alongside painting, comics and design.
This section is intended as the home for digitised PDFs and other archive copies of that writing as they are prepared for publication.
Some entries appear as downloadable PDFs, and shorter poems and texts can also be presented directly on the page.
At a Glance
Archive entries16
PDF documents12
Inline texts8
Current categories6
Archive writing
16 writing archive entries are now available.
Search across 16 writing archive entries
Short story
A Song in the Sky
Joint first prize-winner in the EcoSanta Short Story Competition 2022.
Flash fiction
Cheaper Thrills
Short story read by actor Jerry Lyne at Such Stuff, a 70th anniversary evening at the New Venture Theatre, Brighton.
Magazine
The Information
Peter Poole's small-press magazine, first launched in 1997 to explore ecology, the paranormal and other fringe or under-served discussions outside more compromised mainstream outlets. Peter later revived the magazine across issues 5 to 9, and surviving material from its concerns also feeds into the later podcast episodes. The original first four issues are not currently available digitally.
Screenplay
Deadly Applications
Saaki is an ambitious bureaucrat in a future repressive society. She encourages Vaughan to join Rawman, a member of a group opposed to the government or Core. The two plan a raid on a government facility, but Saaki reports this to the Core. After the failed raid, Vaughan is interrogated and justice is served cruelly. Saaki is later promoted within the Core for her part in fomenting the raid and annulling the rebellious group. This full-length play made the second round of the Papatango playwriting competition.
Poem
Electrical Demise
A poem about parting with obsolete electronics and the uneasy grief of throwing old machines away.
Poem
The Beer Sitter
A poem about a solitary pub drinker, the quiet stillness of the moment and the uneasy inward drift beneath it.
Poem
Twenty Years from Twyford
A poem looking back at the Twyford Down campaign, St Catherine's Hill and the environmental damage of road building.
Novel
The Elusive Revelation
The story concerns a depressed poet who visits a seaside town, where he encounters a dubious cult.
Novel
Fear & Magic
Sample chapters of this novel were shortlisted for the inaugural Luke Bitmead Bursary in 2008, organised by Legend Press. Rachael Stanwick falls unconscious in the home of magician Harry Hocus after a robbery goes wrong. As she drifts through memories of a recurring nightmare and the bikers behind the crime, the dead magician's desire for revenge threatens to turn her awakening into the start of a darker adventure.
Poem
Time for the Trees
A poem defending Titnore Lane in Sussex against development and the loss of ancient woodland.
Poem
Too Busy
A poem about busyness, distraction and the hollow pressure of modern life.
Poem
Telephonic Motion
A poem about the rise of mobile-phone culture, constant connectivity and the isolation hidden inside perpetual chatter.
Novel
Lazy Robots
A children's novel combining the excitement of outer-space settings with the humorous, likeable characters of a robot family. Set on the factory world of the Metal Moon, it follows a robot family whose lives are upended when an accident leads to an adventurous holiday.
Poem
Fat Old Hill
A short poem imagining Ditchling Beacon as a giant crocodile watching the traffic below.
Poem
Ode to Shoreham Chimney
A poem about the Shoreham chimney, its long industrial presence, and its final demolition.