Author Archives: mickbloor3

Michael Bloor (first published in The Journal of William Morris Studies, Vol. 18, No.1, Winter 2008. My thanks to Alex Faulkner for succeeding in copying my pdf file into Word) James Leatham (1865-1945) was a pioneer socialist, who towards the end of his life printed, published, edited and largely wrote a monthly magazine, TheGateway,from theContinue reading “James Leatham’s eyewitness account of William Morris’s 1888 visit to Aberdeen”

(first published in Literally Stories Stories, Sept 9th, 2021) As a schoolboy, Sam Groat had played in the same boys teams as a previous captain of West Bromwich Albion; his teammates from back then had all agreed that Sam had been the better footballer. His mother was an anarchist refugee from the Spanish Civil War.Continue reading “The Questing Knight by Michael Bloor”

SOUTH ATLANTIC CAREER CHANGE BY MICHAEL BLOOR (first published in Idle Ink, Sept 4th, 2021) Really, I did feel bad about neglecting the alien, but I was terribly busy at work that week. I’m a delivery driver and Christmas is our busiest time of the year. And the company cancel your Christmas  bonus if youContinue reading

(first published in Potato Soup Journal, July 5th, 2021) At first when I died, it was rather predictable. Beginning with that out-of-body-experience thing: I’m hovering, up near the ceiling, in the local Accident & Emergency Department, looking down on a rather battered and splattered me, plus an attendant nurse and junior doctor. Then it’s theContinue reading “Agnostic Preview by Michael Bloor”

Michael Bloor (first published in Ink, Sweat & Tears, June 26th 2021 – National Flash Fiction Day) As they’d agreed that morning, the three old women met again at the crossroads on the heath, when the sun was sinking. They were beggars, clad in beggars’ rags. War was once more in the land and beggars’Continue reading “Stirring Ambition”

Michael Bloor (first published in Scribble, No. 90, pp.67-72, Summer 2021) A group of raucous, young, Edinburgh lawyers and bankers, with a collective misplaced sense of entitlement, were drowning out civilised pub conversation (‘Hey Charles, why did the woman cross the road?’ – ‘Search me Alistair, how the hell did she get out of theContinue reading “Wee Willie Winkie and the Sma’ Glen”

Michael Bloor (first published in The Drabble, April 10th, 2021) Like many toddlers, John was asked what he wanted to be, when he grew up. Surprisingly, John answered that he wanted to be an Old Age Pensioner. He’d been spending time with his Grandad, who had his own shed. In his mid-teens, John secretly decidedContinue reading “Ambition”

Michael Bloor (first published in The Cabinet of Heed, March 30th, 2021) There was no phone signal in that narrow valley. Three days of heavy rain had caused the river to burst its banks and flood the road, just above the bridge. The flood swept the car half off the road and into the hedge.Continue reading “The Long Shadow of the Coal Tip”

Michael Bloor (first published in Literally Stories, March 5th, 2021) I came across the manuscript below in a second-hand shop in Simla, the former British hill-station in the foothills of the Himalayas, among some papers previously belonging to a Victorian military surgeon. The ms was seemingly written in Bombay (now Mumbai) and signed by CaptainContinue reading “Captain Carey’s Luck”

Michael Bloor (first published in The Drabble, Feb 7th 2021) Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Lord Chancellor to James I, was a pioneer of experimental science. Yet his report of one of his most famous experiments, showing that boiling water freezes faster than cold water, was scoffed at by fellow scientists for three hundred-odd years. Bacon’sContinue reading “Sir Francis Bacon’s Belated Vindication”