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Richard Tomey

Pleasure and pain became polarizing points of light in Richard Tomey’s darkness. With nothing else to do, he focused upon them, concentrating his...
Cherry

Average Guy

His poetry pamphlet having not been the success he had thought it would be, Gary binned the lot of them, in the same way as many folks in his...

FACE.

Over the two weeks, I didn’t watch any of the tennis. A yearly sport that I grew up watching and enjoyed most of my life, now it seemed all the...

No Johnny, No! ( 1 of 2)

I met Johnny in 1997. He was one of those guys that you instantly take a liking to. We sat opposite each other at the Courier company. He worked on...

A Couple, unique

A Couple, unique Hey Pranati and Pramod emissaries from His abode! United in heaven, sent to earth as of the ideal couple there, there was a dearth...

The Clockwork Mouse: Part Two

'We are happy here, Sarah, aren't we, just the two of us. I don't know what I'd do without you.' 'Yes, Mum, you mustn't worry about anything.' No,...
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The Clockwork Mouse: Part One

Sarah Mountford was thirty today. What should she do for her birthday? Her mother Anne had suggested she spend it with her. They could maybe go out...
Gold cherry

Bastille Day, Barbecue Smoke, and the Weight of History

It’s Bastille Day. All across France, sausages sizzle on supermarket grills, fireworks crack like toy guns in the evening sky, and municipal...
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Cherry

"Art of Trouble"

Trouble. Why does it follow me like I’m the opposing magnet to its negative force and if I am the positive force, why should it follow me at all? A...
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Cherry

A Constable Calls

Having had a go at writing a few things in the last couple of months, I have come to the conclusion that I can only think in scenes . Completely disjointed scenes pop into my head, and play themselves out in colour and in great detail, like an excerpt from a film. I have no idea what happened before, or what will happen after, and no context. But there it is in my head, self-contained and very real. So I write it as best I can, and polish it up as best I can, and there I have it – a story bead. I will have to write more, related, beads which I can then string together into a necklace called a proper story. But of course this means writing the string, and this is where I feel I come unstuck. I don't find it at all natural, or easy, to have a whole story line in my head before I start. Of course, I could go along with the 'see where my characters take me' way of doing things, but then you run the risk of inconsistency, because something you want your characters to do further down the line contradicts what they did earlier. (Consistency is really important to me, I get grouchy with authors who are sloppy about it, and when someone's made you grouchy they've lost your attention.) Anyway, here's my latest bead. No idea what came before, or what will come after, although there are some hints (I hope). Perhaps not all has gone well with Mr Branston...
Cherry

Froggy Came A-Courting (And So Did I)

There’s an old English folk song I half-remember from childhood — “A Froggy Went A-Courting.” It drifts in with its lilting tune and strange courtly...

The 12th Anniversary Of Dad's Death

When Dad got Leukemia, he put up a fight. He took chemo but lost his battle 12 years ago tonight. After months of taking chemotherapy, he died. He...
Cherry

And Yet I Still Watch

I scroll through YouTube’s endless thumbnails and I am bored. Bored of the screaming, the sensationalism, the world set permanently to crisis pitch...

An Expression Of Celtic Dreaming

An Expression Of Celtic Dreaming By Paul McCann Within our subconsious mind there are these escape hatches on the mystical pathway , That is where we...
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Mother Of Debt

Mother Of Debt By Paul McCann Mother of debt It’s hard to forget the bills that need paid and money we owe . Mother of debt We work hard each day and...

Longing to Belong

[Continuing the hymn-for-Sundays series] Estrangement, distance, alienation, suspiciousness between each nation; in family, and friendships’ strain:...
Cherry

The Flying Brick

I’d been scouring AutoTrader for weeks — every spare moment, even before I passed my full motorcycle test. What I really wanted was one of those...

The Busker’s Fairytale

The Busker’s Fairytale By Paul McCann The crowd walked along through Buskers Lane like a passing parade . I stood there like before them, a man with...

Grabbing on me genes

“She’s grabbing on me genes Dave.” I looked at Tony’s trousers in confusion. “She’s grabbing your jeans?” “No, my genes. My sperm. My superior...

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