Joe Young

Joined June 2022

0 stories

Bio

Blogger and freelance writer from the north-east coast of England

Stories (102/0)

Top Story - November 2023
Familiarity Breeds ContemptTop Story - November 2023
The relationship between Gustav Jensen and your humble narrator, his lodger these past six months, had been strained for some time. One Tuesday afternoon the dam burst.
By Joe Young8 days ago in Fiction
Bentley Driver, Puppy Thief
Tuesday When I opened the front door to see the beaming fizzog of my old friend Bentley Driver on the other side — a face I’d not seen in half a year — my immediate instinct was to pat my trouser pockets to ensure my wallet was in situ. Bentley gives off such an aura of shiftiness those in his company are on high alert over their possessions.
By Joe Young9 days ago in Fiction
My Night at a TV Studio Live Show
Aged sixteen, I had been a guest at the children’s home where I'd been sent for persistent truancy for exactly two months. when an unexpected night out presented itself. At breakfast one morning, a buzz of excitement ran through the dining room at the news that two female residents had been rushed to hospital the previous night following an incident which, if memory serves, involved nail polish remover.
By Joe Youngabout a month ago in Confessions
A Reactionary Dad Humbled
They say that as we get older, our views become more conservative. That accusation can certainly be levelled at my father, who morphed from rebel to reactionary.
By Joe Youngabout a month ago in Humor
Snogging at Sixty
It is many years since I outgrew the bravado of youth, at which age I had no qualms about approaching young ladies on the dance floors of what were then called discotheques. If I got lucky, I might have enjoyed a spin with a stranger to the strains of I Feel Love by Donna Summer under the glare of a UV light that made the dandruff on my shoulders glow. If it wasn't to be my night, I'd walk home alone, carrying enough cold shoulder to cater the Cheltenham Festival. But it didn't matter; I knew I'd be back the following weekend as eager and thick-skinned as ever.
By Joe Young2 months ago in Fiction
TV Hell
The modern television viewer is, it is safe to say, spoiled for choice. Hundreds of channels beam all kinds of programmes into homes to be viewed on giant screens in high-definition colour and with surround sound 24/7/365.
By Joe Young2 months ago in Geeks
After the Storm
I should’ve listened to the forecast Before I went to work that day Then I would have known That Storm Bernice was on its way
By Joe Young2 months ago in Poets
Funeral in February
Old Seymour died in winter With the ground as hard as hobs And the men who dig and inter Cursed their wretched jobs Two such in heavy workboots
By Joe Young2 months ago in Poets
The Terrible Loss of HMS Seahorse
The dangers faced by submariners during the Second World War were so great Prime Minister Winston Churchill said that of all the branches of men in the forces, none showed more devotion and faced grimmer perils than the submariners. Sadly, in the early days of the conflict, all 39 officers and crew of the submarine HMS Seahorse succumbed to those perils in the North Sea. But one of their number left behind a poignant memento that serves to this day as a reminder of how quickly and devastatingly fortunes can change during times of war.
By Joe Young2 months ago in History
When Toys Influence Careers
Picture if you will, the following prehistoric scene. Inside a cave, a Neanderthal family gathers to celebrate the fifth birthday of their eldest child, a boy. After blowing on his cake (there are no candles; fire hasn’t been discovered yet), the excited lad opens his presents. There’s a Tamagotchi rock from his brother, a pencil case made of triceratops hide from his sister, and, best of all a hunting kit from his parents.
By Joe Young3 months ago in Confessions
Eleven Monkeys
As the twentieth century sputtered to a close, I worked for four years as manager of a video rental store. To give context to how long ago that was, the movies Fargo, Jerry Maguire, and Independence Day had just been released on VHS. The store also hired out video games, but only for the Sega Mega Drive and the first incarnation of the PlayStation. The most popular games for those consoles when the store opened were Sonic the Hedgehog and Tomb Raider, respectively.
By Joe Young3 months ago in Confessions
I Ran a Punk Music Fanzine
Although there had been fan-based magazines around long before the arrival of punk rock, it was via that genre that I was introduced to them. In the early days, Mark Perry’s crude effort Sniffin’ Glue was as prominent in the music press as some of the bands. While I never actually came into contact with a copy of that Vanguard organ (the general consensus is that it wasn’t great), I’d seen enough by way of newspaper features to rouse the sleeping editor within me.
By Joe Young3 months ago in Beat