Grand Theft Planetary & other stories

Fifteen short stories about aliens, dogs, and smart-mouthed computers. Read about a bored celebrity that decides to steal an entire planet, a security guard’s first day at a time-travelling prison, two friends that try to ruin their lives playing cards, and a pair of students that investigate the answer to a tasteless question.Grand Theft Planetary is a collection of fifteen short stories released as a precursor to the forthcoming H L Jones novel, "Ragnar Blaise’s High Idea". Grand Theft Planetary – A bored celebrity decides to steal an entire planet.My Life is Saved – If at first you don't succeed... A man who can turn back time persuades a desperate beauty to go to bed with him.From Afar – The first man on Mars is forced to find another home while pursued by a horrific creature.Technology Fails Me – An IT Technician working for a tyrannical corporation helps a computer to live.Modern Glass – A shallow businessman visits his daughter between social appointments.Man Alone – Wandering across an apocalyptic England, one man struggles to survive against UFOs, strange mutated beasts, and a one hundred foot tall metal giant.Barriers – World War 3 erupts due to a desirable alien artifact. Murve’s Dog – A penniless heart-broken man adopts an equally-pitiful dog.Bud and Rufus Play Dare – Two housemates play a destructive game of poker where the loser is forced to do a dare.I Rule – The newly-elected President is given some shocking news about the human race - and the part he needs to play.A Theoretical Question – Two students misappropriate the university’s newest asset to answer an age-old question; how many babies can a man take on in a fight?Time and Punishment – A shy intellectual starts work at Time and Punishment, a time-travelling prison facility where the world’s most notorious mass-murderer is plotting his escape – and the ultimate act of homicide.Farming – The rulers of the world contemplate culling the world in order to save it from an outside entity.A Visual Masterpiece – A university scholar becomes obsessed with a woman who offers him a taste of the world’s pleasures.Ticket – On the anniversary of his friend’s departure, a shambling recluse remembers the events of that fateful day.