The Curse of Over Productivity…

Someone once said to me ‘God laughs at people who make plans,’ and that quote has hovered in my head ever since.

My plan was to launch a new book of short stories on the 14th March but it turns out my own productivity scuppered that plan. The short stories aren’t the problem, the problem is, I have so many of them in my head, the book has increased to a much longer one than originally planned. So much so, I am seriously considering splitting it into two books. This means I will be able to publish the first one in June and the second in October. Well, that’s the new plan…

Thanks to three trusted readers, I am feeling confident the stories will entertain and amuse you, they are full of quirky characters and interesting situations (as you would expect from me). So please hang on in there, I promise they are on the way!

As well as writing, I have been working on my new website MyriadLifeBooks.com which I use as my own little publishing house. This has eaten up quite a bit of my time too, but it is worth it! Please head over and take a look, you will find featured writers, books to read, and notebooks to write in. I am also creating an online gallery for my photography.

If you hit the subscribe button you will be entered into a monthly draw to win a free notebook.

If you are in the subscribing mood, please subscribe to this one too, that way you will be kept updated with news on my new book of short stories.

If you happen to be an author, get in touch to be featured! You can see author interviews here.

While you are waiting for the new book, please check out my other short story books here.

The Isolation Sex Stories

When the great Coronavirus pandemic of 2020 forced good people of the world to self isolate for months, normal behaviour became suppressed. Sexual appetites and deviation came to the fore; hours shut behind closed doors, with little but televisions and the Internet to amuse them, caused carnal and psychological desires to grow. They took shape in forms never seen before. Perfectly upstanding members of communities, everyday folk who considered themselves straightforward in their desires, found their imaginations increasing and morphing in ways they could never have imagined before the virus struck. With time on their hands and minds, creativity took fun, sometimes bizarre, sometimes curious, sometimes just plain weird effect. This is what happens when you shut a society away, which is used to every kind of freedom. These are the Isolation Sex Stories.

The Eight of Swords

A difficult day turns into a nightmare when Jayne Patchett returns home to find her house occupied by Romanian gypsies.

The irony of the situation isn’t lost on Jayne, who works in immigration. She is used to dealing with illegal immigrants at work but when she finds them sitting at her dining room table, drinking her wine, eating her food and wearing her clothes, her reaction surprises even herself.

The Putsi

Sequel to The Eight of Swords

If you have something special belonging to someone else, what happens when they want it back?

Eighteen years have passed since a family of Romanian gypsies invaded Jayne Patchett’s house. In that time her life has changed remarkably, she is a successful artist, happily in love, living in an idyllic country cottage. But all those years ago, one of the gypsies gave her a lucky pouch, the putsi. Now, one of them wants it back. Drama returns to Jayne’s life as secrets are unveiled and she begins to wonder who she can trust.

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Author: Petra Kidd

Norfolk UK is my home, I live in Norwich by the River Wensum where everyday there is something different to see and learn. I feel a big affinity with the river as I grew up in Cambridge, another great river city. My childhood and teens involved many walks along the Cam where we would watch 'The Bumps,' raft races and as we grew older we enjoyed adventures on our punting pub crawls. Growing up in a multi cultural university city definitely influenced my reading choices, I am a big fan of Japanese fiction, love French literature and enjoy Shakespeare. As a young teen I entertained myself with Jilly Cooper and Dick Francis and then became quite obsessed with Henri Charriere's Papillon. At school all I cared about was English, Art and French, in that exact order. When I finished with school I went to live and work in Greece for a wonderful year before returning to study English Literature and Sociology. At this point I read more classics like the Wyf of Bath, Wuthering Heights and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man plus poets such as Wilfred Owen. My first UK full time job was with Heffer's Paperbacks where I devoured several books at a time, excited by the fact I could borrow what I liked. Bizarrely for me I remember reading The Zurich Axioms, I have no interest in the stock markets but it had me gripped. I can't remember why I picked it up but I have never forgotten it. Heffers introduced me to so many authors, via their books and sometimes in person. It was here I learned about all the genres, it fascinated me that science fiction and horror were so popular, I tried reading it all. Aside from writing letters, it didn't really ever occur to me to write anything myself for many years as I worked my way through a variety of interesting and varied jobs. Then on a visit to the London Aquarium I became struck by an idea so powerful I sat down and wrote my first novel. It went nowhere as really I wrote it because I wanted to. I wrote another novel and again, didn't have the persistance or determination to take it further, I simply enjoyed the process of writing and my characters. Then years later another idea struck me and during a severe bout of Pleurisy where I couldn't do anything physical for months, I wrote the Eight of Swords and The Putsi. This time I published them as ebooks and they became pretty popular. When I fully recovered, I had to concentrate on my business and looking after my mother who has various health issues and the writing went adrift again for many years until 2020 when the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world. March 2020 I moved to my apartment alongside the Wensum to live alone for the first time ever. During the first lockdown I began to write a diary and then the idea for a new set of short stories came to me and in February 2021 they will be published. The Covid-19 Pandemic is not simply a scary virus, it is a historical time and here we are trying to live through it. To many it will feel like a punishment but to me as a writer, in some ways, it came as a gift. Please stay as safe and as well as you can. I hope to entertain you with my stories as we all try to get through this together, even though we are apart. Petra View all posts by Petra Kidd