Raymond G. Taylor
Bio
Author based in Kent, England. A writer of fictional short stories in a wide range of genres, he has been a non-fiction writer since the 1980s. Non-fiction subjects include art, history, technology, business, law, and the human condition.
Achievements (1)
Stories (173/0)
Losing my Cezanne
Standing in the National Portrait Gallery looking up at Picasso, it suddenly clicked. He had no brush. No brush! A painter without a brush, a king without a sword. The pallet held a few dollops of almost color but it was an irrelevance. The man could no longer paint. Pablo had lost his mentor, his father figure, he was a man unmanned. Cezanne was gone forever. A world without Cezanne? It was unthinkable.
By Raymond G. Taylor3 months ago in Art
Lord help poor fishermen
“Lord ’elp poor fisherm’n on a night like this!” said Jim to himself as he stood at the rear of the Crow’s Nest Inn, watching the French fishing smack fight heavy seas as it crossed the bay, lashed by wind and rain. He pulled his collar tight around his neck. As a lad, working the nets with his father and brothers, Jim always knew he would find something better.
By Raymond G. Taylor4 months ago in Fiction
Reach for the sky
Swooping low over the runway, the Spitfire throttled back to a roar of highly-tuned Merlin engine, making a perfect landing on the grass strip at Kenley. Flight Sergeant McKinley nodded his approval as the pilot taxied neatly into position by the fuel bowser.
By Raymond G. Taylor4 months ago in Fiction
The inside job
I was nervous as hell that day. It had all been arranged. As one of only three senior executives with access to the strong room combination, I was alone out back with Christmas takings of over $2.5m in used notes awaiting cash-in-transit collection. The heist mob agreed a cut of $250,000 to me as the inside man. The plan was for the heavies to arrive at exactly the moment I opened the walk-in safe. Two men inside the safe and one outside, holding me up with a gun to the head. Just for appearances of course.
By Raymond G. Taylor4 months ago in Fiction
The Night Watch
I had plenty of time to think about it during those long night shifts. In the end, I couldn’t believe how easy it was. As a security guard at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, I had access to all areas. It took less than twenty minutes during the evening lockup. I slipped into the gallery, carefully razoring the painting out of its frame, before replacing it with a beautifully crafted fake. It would not fool anyone taking a closer look, but it gave me time to get away.
By Raymond G. Taylor4 months ago in Fiction
Simply solving sudoku
I began writing this little book on sudoku solutions shortly after the death and funeral of my dear mother. Before she became ill, Mum liked to do puzzles, including jigsaw puzzles and the word searches and simple crossword-type puzzles to be found in that wonderful magazine Take a Break. She hated sudoku though, as many people do, I suspect because they think that the appearance of the nine Arabic numerals (‘1’ to ‘9’) means that sudoku represents a problem in arithmetic, which it most certainly is not.
By Raymond G. Taylor4 months ago in Gamers
