Acacia Crescent

1956. In the quiet suburb of Shady Groves, a ten year old boy watches as both his parents are murdered, shot down by a mafia enforcer. And the mob is not inclined to leave any witnesses behind. However, an invasion from outer space may just prove to be one little boy’s salvation…

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Read an excerpt.

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Some background information:

• Acacia Crescent is a short story of 3500 words. This story is a digital premiere and has never been published previously.
• Acacia Crescent was initially planned to be only one story in a collection entitled The Day the Saucers Came. The collection was supposed to include various short stories narrated from a first person POV by eye witnesses to a massive alien invasion (via B-movie style flying saucers) back in 1956. I will eventually write the other stories (some of the concepts were quite interesting), but for now Acacia Crescent will have to serve as a teaser.
• The actual spark that inspired Acacia Crescent was a writing prompt at Chuck Wendig’s blog.
• Tony Capaldi a.k.a. “the man in the pinstriped suit” was named for Scottish actor Peter Capaldi, soon to be Doctor Who. However, he hadn’t yet been announced as the twelfth Doctor by the time I wrote this story and so “the man in the pinstriped suit” was named in honour of the villainous politician Capaldi played in season 3 of Torchwood.
• Though never explicitly named beyond the vague description of an “ugly black pistol” (which is how the ten-year-old narrator would see it), Tony Capaldi’s gun is a Walther PPK.
• There are certain similarities between Acacia Crescent and “He has come back to me…”, since both are SF short stories in which children witness an UFO, though the alien spacecraft in “He has come back to me…” is not hostile. Even the covers are kind of similar: A child stands on a road and looks up at a UFO. I have no idea why I keep coming back to this theme. I guess it is because I always wanted to see an UFO as a child and teenager and was sad that I never got to see one.
• The cover image is digital art by Phil Cold via Dreamstime. The typography is supposed to evoke the posters for 1950s science fiction B-movies.