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Destination Beirut

1974 – A career opportunity for me in Beirut. But as it turned out, Beirut was not in France, but the Middle East. And we arrived just in time for a civil war.

War-damaged buildings in a narrow Beirut street

Scenes from a war

During a ceasefire in the war, Lawrence drives Richard back to his apartment — but he can’t get in. So Lawrence takes them on a battleground tour instead, terrifying Richard.

A black and white illustration of a laptop computer. On the screen there are speech-marks and flies — almost indistinguishable from the speech-marks.

My Computer Flies

An indie author experiments with dialogue style and book formatting for digital novels — and finds that they give print books a lift too.

Skirmishes

Trouble at home. Trouble in the classroom. We meet Dave, who shows Richard how to sort out a fight.

River

Lawrence and Richard’s dangerous river trip — in Bulgarian tractor tyres.

Militia

Dangerous times for Richard and Monique — in more ways than one — as the war approaches.

The book 'The Foreign Aide', showing the crescent moon and stars in an evening sky above a smoking city landscape. In the foreground is an Arab shisha pipe. The whole scene is framed in an Islamic-style arch. The author's name is Alan Miles, and there's a question beneath his name - 'Who can you trust in love and war?' Underneath the book is a crumpled shirt, bloodied at the left shoulder. And just showing beneath the shirt is a brown manilla envelope. At the top of the picture there's a newsflash: 'Launch-date: June 9, 2026'.

Cancer

Lawrence gives a history lesson, and stuns Richard with a secret. Meanwhile horrifying violence is breaking out in Beirut’s suburbs. Will Richard and Claire’s apartment be safe?

Two photos, side by side. On the left, Alan racing to the line of the Manchester 10K race in 2016. On the right, Alan before a training run in 2025, wearing the blue St Ann's Hospice running vest

Running for St Ann’s Hospice

Getting ready for May 18th — my first big race since 2017. But it’s not been easy.

Better than Ronaldo?

Sweet thoughts from a grandson. Grief affects us all — in different ways.

A portait by Dale Webster, showing the face of a Kenyan woman looking directly at you, as described in the poem, which is on the right-hand side of the portrait.

A Perfect Model

Portraiture and poetry combine in this 2012 collaboration between Dale Webster and Alan Miles, who met up again this week

Annelie in Manchester Airport, with the purple holdall strapped round her neck, carrying the ashes on her stomach as if she was heavily pregnant.

Late for her own funeral

No funeral, we said. A celebration of Lena’s life. But she almost doesn’t make it.

It's very early in the morning. A clear blue ky reflected in the waters of a lake. There's a ragged wooden fence in the foreground. In the background, there's a heavily wooded island with trees glinting in the ring sun. A duck is flying across the water, heading from the shadow of the fence to the sunshine of the island.

Freedom

How will I use my new freedom? Will I make it back to a place in the sun?

Alan and Lena sizing one another up on their first date. The Holiday Inn, Abu Dhabi, 1981

Preface to ‘The Marathon Years’

Why this book? Why the title? And who are these people in love?

The kitchen’s pretty well organised. There are cupboards for the pots and pans, shelves for the plates and cups, nicely-labelled containers for all the grains, flours and sugars, a neat spice rack. And then there’s that drawer where you throw everything else. That’s where you find the rubber bands, the pins, the flower seeds, the birthday candles, the oven thermometer, a tape measure, a few random buttons, string.

That drawer is my blog. A place where I keep stories and articles that don’t quite fit anywhere else. Random thoughts. Shooting the breeze. A video perhaps, or an audio clip. Sometimes embryonic stories that might find their way into The Marathon Years or one of my other books later.

Rummage around a bit. You never know what you might find.