Peter Stoneman – Freelance Writer and Researcher

Extract From: Across the Universe – Beatles on Infinite Earths. Everyone calls me Paul these days, but my name is William Shears.That is to say, it says William on my birth certificate, but I was always Billy or Bill to my friends. Such as they were, you understand. I could maybe count the number of…

In Search of Hardcore. A Book about Bonkers. Chapter 1. Outside my window, the tree line is peppered with bright-coloured parakeets, picked out against the grey sky like watercolour splashes. They’re illegal aliens, I’m told. Someone on the 555 bus through Walton told me as me much. Some old Hersham boy who caught me looking…

(Work in progress.) The worker bees only knew something had gone sideways when Director Hakiro broke with protocol and interrupted the eternal stream. Wearing an unnatural, contradictory smile, Hakiro breached the fourth wall and delivered the melancholy news in his hallmarked, optimistic style.  “Code Red,” he said. Like his throat was coated with wisps of…

Extract From: David Wild & the Very High Numbers (A Rock Opera.)  For the first three years of my life, I lived with my mother and father in a single room above a bakery. We were happy enough, I gather, living as we did, under foggy skies. We lived on working class streets, unaware of…

Extract from: Across the Universe – Beatles on Infinite Earths Beanz à la Ringo (Serves one Beatle) Ingredients: 1 16oz can of baked beans. White sliced loaf – 2 x slices. Margarine or butter. Finely grated cheddar cheese (optional.) 1 pot of tea. Milk and sugar as required. 2 cigarettes. 2 matches. Directions:  First things…