Exeter Writers

  Michael Callaghan is a lawyer living and working in Glasgow. He has had previous writing successes, most recently taking third place in the 2022 Edinburgh Flash Fiction Award.  He has also had several stories included in the Scottish Arts Trust’s various published anthologies, including two in the most recently published A Meal for the Man in Tails. He generally writes short stories although his long term ambition is to write a novel.  How would you sum up your story in 1 or 2 sentences?  A man is haunted by the memory of his girlfriend who ran off to London at sixteen and was never seen again. Can he fix the past? (It’s essentially a love story with a dash of sci-fi / fantasy...) Where did you get the idea for your story - What came first, character or plot?  As in all my stories, the general plot came first - but the original version actually had no reference to the number point nine recurring. Later, I read about the number 0.9 recurring being equal to the...

 Point Nine, Recurring  by  Michael Callaghan There is the familiar flash of bright light, the same roar in my ears – far-off, like waves crashing in the distance – then that dizzying, rushing feeling, like I’m plunging down a roller coaster.       And then…      “Col. You okay? Col?”      I blink. Things swim in and out of focus, blur, then settle. And I see Gem’s face. Sharp and clear now, eyes so bright and blue. She looks so familiar, so… right, I could cry.      She frowns at me.      “Wassup, Col? You look like you’re gonnae’ faint. Not gonnae’ puke are you?” She blows a pink bubble-gum bubble that expands then bursts against her mouth.   “I’m fine.” I say.      My voice sounds okay, I think. I don’t say anything else. I keep looking at her. Drink in everything about her. I watch the way her hair falls in light, tangled curls across her forehead. I watch how she bit...