Beachcombing

by Tony Thorne

Two boys on vacation in the Canary Islands, are spending a quiet day on the beach. Looking for suitable pebbles to throw and bounce over the sea, one of the boys finds a beauty. However, it turnes out to have some unusual properties and before long, the younger boy becomes changed. The other boy suspects the worst and tries to watch over his friend, but it proves difficult, when the boy begins to develop a second personality, and is recruited into a special school. Harry is joined by a man who one day brings him a new computer, with some unexpected uses, enabling the boy to communicate with a government agency and keep track of other beachcombers, similarly affected. Eventually, he is abducted by his old friend and two girl students and taken aboard a strange yacht for processing. How he escapes, and discovers the real purpose of the pebbles, makes for an exciting conclusion to this near future story.

55 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2012

About the author

Tony Thorne MBE, a Chartered Design Engineer, built up a research and development company in Kent, England. Its eventual worldwide commercial success led to him being awarded the MBE by the Queen. Now retired, he writes speculative, science and fantasy, fiction and has published over fifteen collections of short stories, including the award winning TENERIFE TALL TALES trilogy, and MACABRE TALES. Also ROBOTS INCLUDED, TALL SF TALES FOR TEENAGERS, THREE KINDS OF CULTURE SHOCK, all now available, as eBooks and paperbacks from AMAZON, B & N, WH Smith, etc.. His first novel, POINTS OF VIEW (near future espionage) was published in the USA, by Eternal Press, Santa Rosa, CA, They also accepted Book 2 but were taken over soon after. Then things fell apart and after nearly 2 years of no, or inadequate, progress, he accepted their offer to self-publish the series himself, with a new cover theme. Books 1 to 3 are now available from Amazon (eBook and paperback) and Book 4 will be later in 2018.