Ewan's blog

Story of the Week Longer pieces seem to be in vogue at the moment, who says the novel is dead? Some very good prose writing this week. Celticman’s Uggly Puggly is sharply observed and hilariously dark-humoured, Part 71 is here . I also enjoyed the first three chapters of CliffordBen502’s Exotic Illnesses, the first of which was last week’s Story of the Week. So, since I must pick only one, this week’s Story of the Week is Lou Blodgett’s The...

The weeks seem to be flying by. I hope you all survived the heat. No moaning about today’s rain, please. Story of the Week Story of the Week this week goes to not-so-cosy Cotswolds-set “The Bounds” by Charlie77. The start of something longer, this first part is gripping, chilling and blessed with a narrative voice that is very strong indeed. Do check out Rosalie Kempthorne’s latest, too. Discovery is as off-kilter and unsettling as all her work...

Choices, choices. Always difficult, I've found it particularly hard this week. It's not you, it's me. Story of the Week I was tossing up between quite a few this week: I liked Celticman's Uggly Puggly III which is part of the the start of something that could be brilliant, but then it's got Jack's handle attached to it, so that's a given, after all. Go here if you need to. I'm also enjoying Jane Hyphen's Legend of the Pah , you should check it...

As per usual, the stream of good material flows ever on. It cheers me up no end to know that – every day – there is something to read that is brilliant, beguiling, or brave,. Sometimes a piece is all three. Story of the W eek was a tough choice again this week. Rosalie Kempthorne produced several of her off-kilter, disturbing, yet believable pieces. Part one of the first of them is here Jack O’ Donnell (Celticman’s) fishermen’s tale ‘The Ten...

Not Writing : Read, that’s all. The more you read the better your writing will be. Read a (very) few books generally acknowledged to be bad writing. Work out why people say this about them. Read the books your parents and grandparents had to read at school and books by their writers’ contemporaries. (You may be offended, that’s fine. Learn to read with detachment, it’s a good skill to have). Make notes about what you read, or what has inspired...

This is more difficult every week, in my experience. Story of the Week among some stiff competiton is Celticman's 'Vermin', a powerful piece leavened by some of Jack's deft comic touches. https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/vermin Poem of the Week goes to Gothicman's 'The Senile Neurologist.' Best read aloud to appreciate its scansion and flowing rhymes, it is both funny and sad at the same time, which is no bad thing. https://www.abctales...

Difficult as always to choose just one of each. Story of the Week. I really enjoyed Mitzi 44’s ‘ Busmar Astral ’ which was tender, funny and ultimately uplifting. Equally good, but very different was houghtonrick83’s Isolated . However, this week's story of the week is Marandina’s moving With or Without You. Poem of the Week Di_Hard’s ‘ preserving time ’ was as sweet and lovely as no doubt the jam was and I enjoyed that the title might be taken...

Some may have seen me mention Tales from the Shadow Booth in the past. These were anthologies of speculative fiction (very good ones too), but are no longer taking submissions and haven't been for a while. However, Dan Coxon was the man behind them and, as he says over on twitter, he has had an idea for a new anthology. I suggest any spec fic types on here keep an eye out for what he comes up with.

Story of the Week Congratulations to Celticman, his ‘A Pile Up of Boys’ is a powerful piece of writing, delivered with a narrative voice that is as real as it is vital. Hard to believe such things happened well within living memory. https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/pile-boys Poem of the Week This week’s choice is something slightly different from Onemorething. Certain Memories is an exploration of how we let some memories fade. https://...

A friend is conducting an internet experiment for his PhD at Camberwell Art College. It involves text generation. You might find it a) entertaining b) useful if you're a bit 'blocked' at the moment c) uplifting because you're advancing the twin causes of knowledge and science. Anyway, here is a link to the page. You can remain completely anonymous too, if you prefer. I've had a play with it, they won't replace us with robots yet, but the results...