Roger Ley

  Next day Harry rode as close as he could to the fighting. He parked south of the city and watched an airship with Scottish markings as it motored towards one of the English camps at Knavesmire Park. Explosions blossomed below it as it dropped its bombs. Probably hoping to hit one of the ammo dumps, he thought. An RAF biplane appeared from above and peppered the airship along its full length with tracer fire from its machine guns. The plane came around for another pass. There were crew stationed on the airship’s superstructure, firing rifles, but they had little effect. Harry saw fires starting in the gondola and smoke billowed from one engine. Another fighter arrived and the two pilots had a field day as they took turns to strafe the leviathan from different angles. The airship began to lose altitude as bullets ruptured its flotation bladders and the helium leaked away. Two of the engines were ablaze now, and it looked as if the attackers had hit the fuel tanks in the main enve...

Dear Aileen,  We suffered heavy losses during the attack on York and our airship, the Noltland Castle, has been ferrying the wounded back to Glasgow. I’ve witnessed terrible scenes in our hold: blood everywhere, soldiers screaming, nurses wheeling transfusion bottles around and doctors performing emergency operations. I don’t think I’ll ever get the pictures out of my head, those poor young people, the best of Scotland. We made several bombing passes, each one lower than the last. Captain McIndoe drew the line when English bullets began popping through the floor and one of them hit the helmsman’s foot.  The chap was totally stalwart, though. He flinched and then said, ‘Permission to speak, Captain?’  The Captain said, ‘Aye, helmsman.’ The helmsman said, ‘I think the bastard English have just shot my toe off, sir.’  Captain McIndoe looked down at the pool of blood forming around the poor chap’s foot, relieved him of his post, and took the wheel himself. ...

  An anthology of speculative fiction. Artificial Intelligences, Space Elevators, Time Travel, Robots, Steampunk, Fantasy, Horror, Magic and Romance. The stories in this book were published, podcasted, and broadcast by various e-zines internationally. The book  features various speculative genres: fantasy, horror, humor, science fiction; there is also a little magic and one romance. Link to Audible US Link to Audible UK