A.J.Simmonds / Writer for Hire
THE DECAMERON PROJECT 2020
Short Stories
TASK
'Ten stories for ten days, by one hundred authors.'
I Submitted 4 short stories to an online anthology during the COVID-19 UK lockdowns.​
Working on these stories, and reading submissions of the other collaborators, went some way to keeping me sane during such a surreal chapter in modern history.
Day 1
Captain Callaghan
A semi-biographical piece based on a chance encounter I had in Canada, during what was meant to be a 2 year trip that was quickly curtailed due to the Pandemic.
During the events of the story, Toronto had already become a kind of socially-distanced ghost-town, so I wanted to capture a snapshot of an unprecedented time. ​
​​
The story explores lonliness, listlessness, and wanderlust. You can read it here.
Day 2
The Cyberspace Walk
My second submission to the project also explores wanderlust but in a way that is wry, satirical, and very silly.
​
The piece is expanded from a uni assignment on Travel Writing which, at the time, proved controversial. It follows the journey of a man who has just discovered Google Earth. One lecturer loved it, the other thought it was nonsense. You can be the judge here.
Day 8
Talent-Show
Imagine a dystopian world where all TV talent shows have been declared illegal, bar one. A man appears on the show as a guest judge in a last-ditch effort to save his moribund media career. But he soon finds that the other judges, and the audience, are out for blood.
​
It's a bit Twilight Zone, a bit Black Mirror, and you can read it here.​
Day 9
Shell
Taking a flight from the humour of the other pieces, Shell explores the brutality of war, and how a soldier comes to terms with his death moments before annihilation.
Read the story here.