The Guy Thing, as a collection, is a fictional exploration of men dealing with problems as best they can, with varying degrees of help from the people in their lives.

The Guy Thing 

Mark Routledge reflects on his sixth form and student days, and how a talk given by the Head of Sixth Form and a guest speaker helped him save a fellow student from suicide.

The Telegram Boy

In October 2017, the lack of adult males means the postal job falls on the shoulders of fourteen-year-old Benjamin Perowne. Ex-Major Richard Nicholson, at home having lost a leg in active service, fears that the boy may have to deliver a telegram concerning his own father, a serving officer. But the telegram which arrives is for a different recipient. 

Real Class 

Rich boy Stuart Mitchell – Mitch – is lying in his crashed car having come off the road at a sharp bend. It looks very bad for both him and Jed, the Geordie biker he almost hit, and Mitch realises that Jed is his only hope of rescue. 

Planet Past

Sam is standing in front of a house which seems very familiar, but he doesn’t know why. He needs help, and he needs help. Is his granddaughter up to it?

Terms and Conditions

Modest university student t John Meggs knows he’s gay and thinks he might make money and lose some inhibitions if he becomes a gay nude model doing photos and videos. But do the agency he is going to about it think the same?

Philip’s Beaches

Simon has heard that his danger-loving journalist elder brother Philip has been hurt and needs help to get out of the part of Africa where he is stranded. He drops everything to go and get Philip, while remembering a dangerous incident in the brothers’ s childhood when Philip’s daredevil nature got them both into a lot of trouble.

Us and Them

Joe remembers his schooldays, and the arrival in his school of two Ugandan Asian boys expelled from their country by the dictator Idi Amin. As the racist reaction grows, Joe and his friend Stuart have to decide whose side they’re on.

Yearning to Breathe Free

Ten-year-old baker’s son Henri meets the young son of the Comte de Sevres while he is playing in the vicinity of his home bakery. Marcel wants to know something about the people of Paris before he inherits the title from his father. 

  When he does, the French Revolution is at its peak and suddenly the choices available have shrunk for both of the boys, now men. 

The Big Time

Ray uses his boat for dubious purposes, and relies on his son Bryan to deal with the boat’s engine. Unfortunately, in the saga of Bryan versus the engine, the engine always seems to win. 

The Daniel Album

Mark has a series of pictures in his mind, only one of them an actual photograph, of the time when his sixth form friend Daniel found himself having an ill-fated affair with a male teacher.

Thereabouts

Professional footballer Matt remembers his apprentice days and finding his tough manager McMahon on his own and in tears. McMahon is on the verge of being sacked and is shortly afterwards, but he leaves Matt with some advice which has stayed with him ever since. 

One More Morning

Sam and his wife Jo face up to his testicular cancer, with some difficult challenges along the way.

Boy with a Gypsy Earring 

Gypsy boy Danior, widely known as Dan, eventually makes it as an established antiques dealer, but there is price to pay, even with his own family.

Jumping the Jacaranda

Children’s television presenter Simon, increasingly cynical and disillusioned, finishes up having an accident which almost cripples him. But it has surprising and life-affirming consequences. 

A Lean and Hungry Look

The story of Julius Caesar is transferred to a modern industria boardroom.

Published 2018 by Linnet’s Wings