My current work in progress centres around Malcolm, a socially inept young man who finds a portal to an alternative universe in the basement of his workplace.
On the other side of the portal lies a wilder Britain, a patchwork of developing countries where the natives are friendly but the rulers corrupt. He makes new friends, and enemies, some of whom bear a striking resemblance to those he knows and works with…
Here is the current opening:
Malcolm Strange tapped at his keyboard and then looked up from his monitor. He could hear rustling from the booth next to him and he cocked his head to one side, listening. It stopped. A moment passed and he resumed his typing. He was writing a letter to Mr Haydn Bloom, the chief buyer at Bloom Breweries.
Dear Sir, he wrote.
A loud zipping came from the next booth and he stared at the blue dividing wall through which he imagined Joshua’s grinning face. The zipping came again, as though from a bag, and more rustling, as if things were being pulled out of it.
He looked at his screen. Dear sir, it said.
He had been trying to write this letter for twenty-four minutes and had already typed two full paragraphs, both of which he had deleted. He rubbed his forehead with his hand. The blue dividing wall next to him wobbled furiously and two sheets of paper, important reminders he had pinned there, fell to the floor.
That was it.
He stood up, ground his teeth, and looked over the top of the divider into Joshua’s booth. Joshua was naked, bent over, peering into a bag, his bare, white bum cheeks pointing upwards towards him.
“Good God.”
Joshua swung round, his dangling manhood lolloping into view. “Oh hey,” he grinned. “Sorry mate. Leaving early today – just getting into my gear.”
Malcolm gasped as Joshua sat down on the desk, his naked behind actually touching the laminate finish, and pulled on a skimpy pair of pants.
Malcolm sat down and mopped his brow. The unwritten letter shone out from the monitor. How on earth was he going to write this thing now?
That’s all for now folks!