Blogs

Are Near-Death Experiences Real? BBC Sounds, BBC World Service, Editor: Ben Motley, Presenter: Caroline Steel.

Posted by celticman on Sun, 16 Nov 2025

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct6stl People I know have started voting with their body. I attended a Catholic funeral on Friday. A girl I used to know. Bernie Porter that’s no longer a girl. No longer anything. Her mum was my godmother. Both are dead. Both received Roman Catholic funeral rites. Mass and the bit at the end, where her coffin is carried out of the church, by her ex-husband and son. Her coffin is put in the ground. Ashes to...

FRQNTZ

Posted by Lille Dante on Fri, 14 Nov 2025

“A magazine that refuses to be one.”

Story and Poem of the Week and Inspiration Point

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Fri, 14 Nov 2025

Posted by onemorething: This week's Poem of the Week is the timely, astute and excellent poem from Ewan, Land of Hope and Fury. https://www.abctales.com/story/ewan/land-hope-and-fury This week's Story of the Week is Caldwell's unsettling and brilliantly written tale, The Second Shadow. https://www.abctales.com/story/caldwell/second-shadow There was an abundance of great prose on the site this week too. From Turlough - will happily read anything...

Xion Island Zero by Katherine Black - Out Now!

Posted by insertponceyfrenchnamehere on Wed, 12 Nov 2025

I'm very pleased to announce that Katherine Black (our very own Sooz Simpson) has just published Xion Island Zero, the sixth in her Inspector Nash series. Here's a review by celticman and a link to buy: Xion Island Zero is the sixth in the Inspector Nash series. You don’t need to know much about Nash as each book is a standalone. Five serial killers down. One to go. What remains consistent is place—Barrow (where the author lives). Nash also has...

Road Trip

Posted by TJW on Mon, 10 Nov 2025

Taking off work tomorrow to drive down to Bushnell, FL, site of the state's national cemetery. Veterans Day road trip. Take about 2 and a half hours to get there. Going to visit a friend. Kid, really. Originally from Iowa. Never said a vulgar word in his life, not that I ever heard, except once. He found this mongrel btich. Belly fat with worms. Mange all over. He washed her and fed her. Wasn't a hope in hell of keeping her alive but he never...

Ewan Lawrie (2025) The Paper Over The Cracks

Posted by celticman on Mon, 10 Nov 2025

You come away after reading Ewan Lawrie’s third poetry collection as if you actually know him. Multilingual. He can even write about himself in the third person. Smartass. He wrote a trilogy of books with a lead character—Moffat—and four other novels and two short-story collections. Fuck sake. Gie it a break. Worse of all, he’s got really great hair. Hunners of it. Mair than a brown bear. I’m no jealous. Honest. The thinks I know about poetry...

Tariq Ashkanani (2025) The Midnight King.

Posted by celticman on Mon, 10 Nov 2025

Tariq Ashkanani threw me. I learned his novel The Midnight King had won Bloody Scotland’s main prize. It used to be called the McIlvanney prize. Named after the author of Laidlaw . A Glasgow detective that set out not just to solve crime, but solve the world. Most of us remember Taggert . Most of us have been in drafted in as extras in the dour, detective drama. Which is a long-winded way of saying, The Midnight King isnae even in fucking...

*PRESS RELEASE _ The Payout Game / Publication Date: January 24, 2026

Posted by Robert Craven on Sun, 09 Nov 2025

The Payout Game Irish crime author Robert Craven returns with the third novel in the acclaimed P.J. Crowe thriller series Dublin, Ireland — Award-nominated Irish crime writer Robert Craven announces the release of The Payout Game , the third novel in his gripping contemporary crime series featuring Garda Inspector P.J. Crowe. The book launches January 24, 2026 in paperback and eBook formats. Set against the stark beauty of North County Dublin’s...

Katherine Black (2025) Xion Island Zero

Posted by celticman on Sat, 08 Nov 2025

Xion Island Zero is the sixth in the Inspector Nash series. You don’t need to know much about Nash as each book is a standalone. Five serial killers down. One to go. What remains consistent is place—Barrow (where the author lives). Nash also has to stay consistently inconsistent. True to himself, the criminal justice system and its values. When he’s outed as being gay the distance between what he believes and what he does lengthens. Those who...

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