‘3am and Wide Awake’ is a collection of 25 thrillers and chillers by prolific short story writer, Sarah England. From the demonically inspired title story, to the madness of ‘Girl in the Rain’, or the shocking sadness of ‘Rough Love’ – there is one common factor – each story will take you to the edge of the precipice, and then bring you safely back again. Usually…

Dip into revenge with ‘Retribution’, or medieval terror with ‘The Witchfinders’…Dare to invite a stranger into your house with ‘Moving In’. Can you bear the aching loneliness of ‘Burned’? Or the frightening consequences of dabbling with a Ouija board in ‘Out of the Woods’? Why is a top surgeon being haunted by a vengeful woman in, ‘A Second Opinion’? And what happened to the girl who took ‘The Last Bus Home’?

Whatever you choose – we hope you will still be reading at 3am. And wide awake…

‘Kay is giving the bathroom a good scrub when there comes a knock at the door, and an extremely irate woman pushes past her into the house. As the insults fly, as well as ornaments, she has no choice but to sit and listen about her ‘bitch’ of an employer sleeping with this woman’s husband.

A Shocking Appearance

Kay was giving the bathroom a good scrub, up to her elbows in marigolds and soap suds when suddenly she stopped. What was that? Someone was pounding at the front door as if their life depended on it.

It must be an emergency.

She flew down the stairs pulling off her rubber gloves shouting, “Okay, okay – I’m coming.” Then flung open the door, “Sorry I was miles away and I didn‘t hear…”

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Someone is raiding the family Christmas of everything sparkly. Either it’s a ghost or Clare’s small daughter, Scarlett. Whatever the case, Clare decides to sit up all night to find out…

All That Glitters

Clare staggered in with the last minute Christmas shopping, took one look at the Christmas tree, and shrieked, “Oh no! Not again!”

Yet more presents, tinsel and little chocolates covered in foil had disappeared from the tree. Bit by bit, Christmas was unravelling faster than she could put it back together, and this was the third raid this week.

The children were asleep in bed and Adrian was in his study. So what on earth…?  But as she rushed upstairs it looked as though there was a trail of evidence. A piece of tinsel here. A glittery angel there.

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Debbie is dreading opening sister-in-law Janice’s Christmas present. What will it be this time, she wonders? A tea towel for the failed, fat dieter or a book on personality disorders? But can she beat her at her own game – with one that’s even worse?

An Evil Exchange

Debbie was dreading opening this year’s Christmas present from her sister-in-law, Janice. Every year it was something horrible. Quite what she’d done to make the girl hate her so much was baffling, but the evil gifts spoke volumes.

Debbie’s brother, Jake, had met Janice while he was at university and, shortly after they graduated, announced their engagement. Debbie had been delighted and invited them over immediately. Janice, however, had sat quietly on the sofa – watching her with dark, suspicious eyes, declining all food and drink and repeatedly looking at her watch.

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Miserable old Ida is coming to stay at Christmas once more – infecting the whole family with misery and mothballs. So what will it take to put her off? Anything? Ruby, at her wits end, plumps for the last resort – with a little help from her outspoken, little daughter…

Christmas With Great Aunt Ida

“Why don’t you tell her she can’t come this year?”

Ruby looked askance at her husband, Brian. “She’s your great aunt. You tell her.”

He scratched his head and pulled a variety of uncomfortable faces. “Um… ah… Well you’re so much better at these things, love. And it’s you who doesn’t want her to come. I’m easy.”

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‘Essence of Humour’ is a collection of short stories which brings together the best of humour writing from 17 authors across the globe.

Estate agent, Stacy, is desperate to sell this house. With a recession on, the agency is in dire straits and the people selling have been forced to do so. An enthusiastic young couple drive up in a sports car and seem extremely keen. They would like to make quite a lot of changes to the house but one by one each obstacle is overcome. Fingers crossed… it’s looking good!

Fingers Crossed

They had to buy this house. They just had to. Stacy stood in the driveway and bit her lip as the couple parked their red sports car and gave her an excited little wave.

All the signs were good – they were cash buyers who were ready to move, and the sellers were desperate for a sale. Fingers crossed then.

“Hi, I’m Stacy,” she said with a huge smile.

Martin shook her hand while his wife, Della, scuttled straight in through the front door.

A scream came from within the house. “Martin, come and look at this. OMG! It’s amazing!”

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‘When Fienda married Ted the Woodcutter, taking on his greedy, whingeing kids had kind of slipped her mind. But as recession cut deeper into the forest areas, and Fienda was having to cut back on luxury items, it soon became apparent the kids were an expense too far. Time to get rid… ‘

Hansel and Gretel

You know something? My nerves are shot. When I married Ted, the woodcutter with his own cottage and herb garden, I obviously hadn’t thought things through properly. I mean, who in their right mind would take on a couple of precocious brats like these if they didn’t have to?

Take Hansel – what a little twerp! If it isn’t having to do the school run on a scabby, knock-kneed mule while all the other mothers have ponies and carts, it’s having to feign interest in his silly, childish games. And he farts – it’s like rotting cabbages in here sometimes and we’ve only got a small cottage. He eats too much, the greedy little pig. And then there’s his sister, Gretel, always sucking up to her father and trying to turn him against me.

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Millie is becoming evermore outspoken, and her mother is on tenterhooks as they go to a local summer fete. With predictably embarrassing results, Lara’s husband suggests the only course of action left – some time with his very ladylike mother – Millie’s grandma. But did Millie listen into her parents’ conversation? Prepare for the worst!

Millie – The Sequel

Lara gripped her small daughter’s hand as they walked around the summer fête. “Now remember, Millie – don’t go blurting things out and upsetting people, okay?”

Millie nodded solemnly.

‘Poor love,’ Lara thought. Millie didn’t mean to be rude – it was just that the most inappropriate words streamed out of her mouth at the worst possible moments. A habit that came from her own mother, Pam, which was why she kept the two of them apart in public. Millie, as well as being outspoken, was a keen listener and even more avid observer.

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Lara’s 5 year old daughter, Millie, is especially outspoken. Millie’s special skill is listening in to her mother’s conversations and repeating them in public. When Lara tries to avoid her bossy neighbour, Mrs Fergusson, Millie’s talent causes maximum embarrassment.

Millie in the Middle

Lara’s small daughter opened the front door and shouted, “Mummy, it’s that busybody from across the road!”

In the kitchen, Lara stopped ironing and covered her face, breathing hard. Clive said she ought to be careful what she said in front of Millie. Oh no. Poor Mrs Fergusson. Rushing into the hallway she met with her neighbour’s stony glare and  laughed nervously. “Would you like to come in? I’m so sorry about that, Mrs Fergusson. I’m afraid Millie’s at that age where she’s picking up language from the television…”

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‘Derek persuades his wife, Jenny, to put his elderly mother up for a few weeks after she had a fall. Alas, Dot – with her own little ways – is not the easiest of mother-in-laws, and the situation soon takes its toll on poor Jenny. Until she has a brilliant idea. ‘No way’ says Derek. But Jenny is at the end of her rope and heavy guns are called for – her own mother.

No Trouble

“It’s only for a few days until we get things sorted out,” Derek said, putting down the phone. “She won’t be any trouble.”

Jenny didn’t have much choice – Derek’s mother, Dot, had been found face down on the kitchen floor in a pile of dirty washing by a neighbour. Apparently she’d tripped over a pair of control pants on the way to answer the door and badly twisted her ankle – couldn’t remember a thing!

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Belinda is trapped in a seaweed wrap at the beauty parlour when she realises the chatty and brutally insenstive beautician, Joanna, is her son, Toby’s, latest girlfriend. As Joanna finds more and more fault with Belinda’s middle-aged appearance she is horrified to learn that the girl is coming to lunch on Sunday. Prepare to squirm…

Pampered

Belinda was trapped in a seaweed wrap when she realised that Joanna must be her son’s girlfriend. The one he’d invited to lunch on Sunday.

Too late she remembered Toby grunting something about ‘Jo’ being a beautician. Unfortunately her son rarely volunteered much information and now she was stuck in a less than comfortable situation. Should she enlighten Joanna or keep quiet?

Oh dear. She’d only wanted a bit of pampering after doing so well losing a stone in weight.

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The Dowager Queen was menopausal, and mighty fed up with her petulant little granddaughter. As far as she could see, the ‘handsome human prince’ was nothing more than a pimply adolescent with hairy legs and a massive ego. Why swap your fishtail for a wimp like him? Time to visit the old witch of the sea forest…

The Little Mermaid

The Dowager Queen was in no mood to be crossed. She swam around her kingdom, long silver tail flicking this way and that, as she searched The Hanging Gardens of Coral for her youngest granddaughter, Flora. The party was due to start within the hour and Flora was nowhere to be found. Really, the whole thing was getting beyond a joke.

The angelfish stared at her with tiny round mouths that opened and closed. “We haven’t seen her,” they said in tinkling voices. “Well, not since yesterday. She was playing on the kelp swing and she was really happy.” They looked at each other and a couple scooted away underneath a rock.

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Colin is puzzled and then devastated to find his wife, Hilary, is spending money like there’s no tomorrow. He can’t pay the bills but she has a wardrobe bursting with high-lifestyle clothes she can never wear – including stilletoes when she has swollen ankles. The time has come to do something drastic. So how about hypnotherapy? Harmless to try. And what could possibly go wrong?

The Substitute

The subject needed to be handled with the utmost care, and so Colin waited until his loved one, Hilary, had finished her first coffee of the day.

Hilary turned over the next page of her Sunday supplement and then paused.            “You want something don’t you, Colin?”

He took a deep breath. It was like lobbing a grenade. “Um, is that another new cardigan, my love?”

“Pardon?”

Colin steeled his nerves. The previous night he’d pored over the accounts while Hilary was at an Avon party – trying to find out why they couldn’t pay the mortgage again. “Well it’s just that it looks new, that’s all, and…”

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Sally’s best friend, Denise, has squeezed herself into a highly unflattering bandage of a dress for a very important occasion. Will Sally dare tell Denise she looks awful? Or simply say what her friend wants to hear? Prepare to squirm!

Two Sugars

Denise was admiring herself in a new dress, twisting this way and that in front of the bedroom mirror. “What do you think, Sal?”

It was one of those moments! Sally forced a bright smile. Should she lie or tell her friend the brutally honest truth?

“I think I’ll go and put the kettle on. Two sugars, Denise?”

Sally shot downstairs faster than Usain Bolt, and started to rummage in Denise’s cupboards for tea-bags. The problem was – she and Denise had been best friends for as long as she could remember.

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