Compendium 4: Four distinct tales of love, terror, obsession, humour, and revenge.

by R.P. Falconer, Lauren Mathurin (Editor)

While allowing a new novel time to rest and become less familiar, I often find myself jotting down short stories to appease my insatiable need to write. The majority are for my eyes only and will probably never be read by anyone else. But a few of them turn out to be little gems that whisper to me constantly, wanting to be set free, outside of my head and hard drive. When they feel like that, I know I must give them liberty. So, without further ado, I present to you Compendium 4.

Stories included:

A Killer Story - After a boozy night out with a beautiful woman: Delroy, a famous author, wakes up in her bed - and to his horror, discovers he is being held against his will. The woman reveals herself as a rival author’s biggest fan and blames Delroy for the author’s death. With time running out, Delroy must use his wit and writing to convince her he’s worth more alive than dead.

A Home For Ruby - Ruby and Paul want the best of both worlds, a London wage whilst living in a beautiful affordable home. The young married couple travels to view a house in ‘The Springs’ - a small town on the outskirts of London. After viewing the property, things take a turn for the weird when Paul gets into a car accident and attempts to take the victim to a hospital.

The Box - Two (a ruthless assassin) is in debt to a notorious crime family in London and desperately needs to pay them back. With time running out, Two takes a job he usually wouldn’t have; and finds himself trying to dispose of an unusual target that refuses to make things easy for him.

Otosan - Pearl, a hopeless romantic, goes on a first date with a man she’s been speaking to online. Everything is going great until her date leaves while she’s using the toilet. Baffled and deflated, Pearl heads home, unaware the following day will reveal information about her date that will shock her.

113 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2021

About the author

I am an author, father, husband and brother to all who carry the fire. I hail from London in the UK and have so far written three full-length novels called 'Lilif' 'THE SWEAT', 'SHADOWS UNDER A DIPPING SUN' and three other books consisting of one short story and two compendiums, all available from Amazon. My love for writing stems from seeing my mother read countless books in childhood. I can recall her screaming with both laughter and fright over the written works of Stephen King, Dean R Koontz, James Herbert and many more. Her books oddly led me to film as opposed to reading and developed in me a persistent imagination and love for creating characters and stories. By age twelve, I had watched the films Rosemary's Baby, Misery, Salem's Lot, and Pet Sematary only to be told - 'If you think the films are good, the books are ten times better'. I discovered how true those words were as I matured, and I've never looked back. I want to make people laugh, cry, care and cherish my writing. There is a book in us; we all have a story to tell.