Flush Fiction: Short stories to read on the toilet

Shane lost his best friend Liam to bowel cancer in January 2026. He shares with us his motivation for finishing Liam’s book that he started whilst on treatment.

Liam was a man of many hobbies, who lived life to its fullest. As well as writing stories, he enjoyed building arcade cabinets, buying and selling guitars, frisbee golf, film club, hang-gliding, calligraphy, board-games, Warhammer, model building, attending gigs, putting together care packages and handing them out to the homeless… honestly the list is endless. He was also a man who spent a lot of time on the toilet. It took the doctors a while to figure out why, but in 2022, when they discovered a massive tumour and diagnosed him with stage 4 bowel cancer, Liam knew he was going to be spending a lot longer on the toilet.

That’s when he set about writing Flush Fiction. More motivated than ever, Liam’s goal was to write a book for people like him — to give them something to read whilst they were on the toilet. He wanted to write something light and breezy that could be read in short digestible chunks, and so he landed on the format of one-hundred stories, each exactly one-hundred words in length, plus a few extra poems, because Liam never settled for the bare minimum. It was always his intention that proceeds from the book be donated to Bowel Cancer UK.

His battle with cancer was a rollercoaster ride lasting more than three years. There were hopeful moments when scans offered good news, but they were inevitably always followed by bad news three weeks later. Despite this, Liam remained optimistic and determined to make the most of what time he had left. He went on spontaneous holidays, took every opportunity possible to meet up with friends and family and continued resolutely to make progress on the book. Our friend and professional illustrator Sally Finning, kindly agreed to do some illustrations and create a beautiful cover for the book. Liam wrote whenever he could — between treatments, on good days and bad ones. He found inspiration everywhere: walking his dog, Leo; online competitions; sharing old anecdotes with friends. He was prolific.

But in the end the cancer caught up with him. When it became apparent that Liam didn’t have long left and wouldn’t get to see the book completed, he kindly gave me permission to finish his project and get his book out into the world. I don’t think he realised his project was so close to completion. He had written ninety-nine stories, each one hundred words in length. He was just one story short. Though it’s labelled as an “Editor’s note”, the final story in the collection wrote itself. It is the story of Liam, who despite facing a terminal battle with cancer, set about writing a book that might bring some small distraction to others in a similar situation.

Liam passed away on 11 January 2026, at just 37 years old. His book, Flush Fiction, was published a little under a month later on 10 February 2026. There are beautiful fairy-tales, terrifying ghost stories, fantastic stories set on distant planets, and stories about mundane life in suburban England.

It’s often funny, occasionally dark, startlingly clever, strange in the best ways, and yes, ultimately sad. It’s also unapologetically Liam — a man who had a big impact on the lives of all of those that knew him. He was truly an inspirational person and I feel lucky to have had him in my life. If you didn’t have the pleasure of knowing him, this book is a chance to get to know a small fraction of his brilliant, generous, endlessly creative mind.

Pictured above: Liam (left) and Shane (right)

Pictured above: Shane (left) and Liam (right)