Sci-fi book in development... 'WITHOUT HOPE'

Good day to you friends. Just thought I'd drop in and give you a sneak preview of the dystopian sci-fi thriller I'm currently writing. On the surface, it's a story about an alien invasion of Kent, based at Ashford Retail Outlet Centre ('It's full of aliens already Malc!!!'), but in reality, it's about much much more. It's about life, mortality, love, community, sport, family... it's really about everything.

I hope you enjoy this taster... the full meal should be available for your consumption in the very near future but I'll keep dropping in a few tasty morsels here and there. I may even perform a few chapters over music at my performance at the upcoming smugglers festival (http://www.smugglersrecords.com/smugglers-festival-2011/)

And by the way a few people have been asking my opinion on the big news recently - the apocalyptic scenes of riots across the country that somewhat mirror some of the scenes I've been creating in my book (which is not a coinicidence). All I can say is this... there were no riots in Horsmonden. There was an incident in which a car was on fire - but the village quickly realised it was just a neighbour Fred, who despite his two cataracts and driving ban, still insists on doing a lap of the village at midnight every night. It was, as they say, an accident waiting to happen. But no riots. No riots in Milton Keynes either. Or Norfolk. Or Jersey. Or Guernsey. Or Pembrokeshire. Or Eastbourne. Or Cheddar. Or the majority of Devon. We all know where they were... London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham. Or as I like to call those places, the axis of evil...

Anyhow - enough with non-fictional chaos, here's some fictional chaos. Feedback welcome... this is a work in progress...

WITHOUT HOPE (An alien invasion of Kent)

Korg fired lasers from his purple eyes at a number of different targets, not with the intention of hurting anyone, but merely as a demonstration of his awesome power. He annihilated a Co-op supermarket trolley, a black and decker workmate and a citroen ax without breaking sweat…

‘Take note people of Kent’, rasped Korg, in his creepy, alien tone, that made him sound oddly like a rural Australian. ‘For next time it may not just be tools and outdated cars that I destroy’

A man called Brian, who was wearing a UKIP campaign t-shirt, shouted back ‘You won’t get away with this! Not on my watch’

Korg looked at Brian and laughed in a conventionally evil way

‘What is your name?’

‘Brian Francis’

‘And how exactly do you propose that you are going to stop me, Brian Francis?’

‘Same way we stopped the Germans. And the French before that. With courage!’

Several people cheered in support of Brian, and he sensed the atmosphere rising. He climbed on to the roof of a Skoda…

‘This country, and moreover, this county, has never given in to foreign demands. That’s why we haven’t joined the euro, and that’s why we never will’

A tall man, sipping on a can of irn bru screamed encouragement

‘We live in a county that has not yet become just another stop on the way to London, like Surrey is. We are proudly Kentish, and we are proudly British, and Korg, if you want to dictate us – you’ll have to do it over my dead Kentish body’

Every man woman and child in the car park, perhaps as much as a hundred people, roared and applauded wildly, and sensed that as long as there were people like Brian, there was hope.

Then Korg smiled, fired a laser at Brian which killed him instantly, and spat on his ashes