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Underground by Joanne Sheppard

Commuters on the Circle line speak of a man. Gets on at Aldgate.

Then takes out a novel and reads.

Aloud.

I listen to most of Perfume before one night he says, “I can’t help it. Head injury.”

I nod. “Wolf Hall next?”

“Okay. But it’s very long.”

“I know.”




Joanne Sheppard originally hails from Ware, a small town just outside London. She now lives, inexplicably, amid the dark Satanic mills of Salford, Greater Manchester. She has a degree in English Literature and works as a press officer and copywriter.

Now aged 34, she started writing fiction at the age of three and has never really stopped. However, being English, she waited until last month before submitting any of her work for publication on the grounds that she didn't want to appear pushy. Her first ever flash-fiction submission was kindly accepted by Short, Fast & Deadly.