You never know what will motivate you in this life, quite often it’s vengeance and murderous rage. This was the case when I came downstairs from my sick bed to find sleekit (a mouse of ill-repute) had shit on my velvet sofa. Well, on the Ikean rug charmingly draped over velvet sofa. Hoovered the top of both rug and sofa in stupefied disgust, lifted off all the cushions and rugs, including the main seat cushions, and saw in the seams of the sofa...

Filed by Fletcher Moody — Literary Correspondent They sent me into the mountains above San José de Purúa in the spring of 1948 to find a man who had spent twenty years making sure no one could. His name, on the books, was B. Traven. He had written The Death Ship and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and ten other novels that sold in the millions across a dozen languages, and nobody who published him or paid him could tell you who he was. He...

DK is one of the big four (or five) publishers. A division of Penguin Random House. You can be sure they’ll bring together experts to produce a visual feast. 350-plus images, artwork, artifacts in a hardback. I was interested in the Fox sisters and Spiritualism. I was already acquainted with the bones of their story (terrible pun). ‘In 1888, Maggie (Fox) who had left the movement earlier, revealed that the ‘rappings’ were a hoax created using...

I don’t want to fly anymore. In planes I mean. If I could actually fly, I’d be completely fine with that. Total control, not too high up, nice warm scarf and keep your mouth shut in case of beasties. As for the mechanical real-world type of flying, I’d love to pontificate about the ozone, saving the planet and all this, but the reality is, flying scares the shit out of me. That bit just after take-off where it sounds like it’s going to stall and...

What is revival? We often imagine revival coming to our country. I used to belong to a group of people called Intercessors for Britain who pray for this country for one hour every week. This was inspired by the Bible verse, 'If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.' 2Chronicles 7:14. The...

I wrote a short story in a few lines. I recognised it as the For Sale, Baby shoes, unused variety. I’d picked up and started several books by Scottish crime writers. I didn’t finish them. Pierre Lemaitre’s (2018) Three Days and a Life has generic recommendations, but one is from Stephen King. It’s an unusual book in that the reader’s sympathy is with the killer of a six-year-old boy. Antoine was twelve-years old in 1999 when he killed the little...

A few days ago, we decided to take a city break to Hamburg. My wife, Fiona, suggested we take a day trip to Lubeck, so armed with train tickets we took the S-Bahn to Hamburg central and then an hours train journey to Lubeck. It's a bustling city, full of tourists, steeped in medieval history, easy to walk around and on a cobbled side street; Glockengieserstrasse we came upon The Gunther Grass Museum. I always associate Grass with my secondary...

Have reached the stage of summer when I’m looking forward to the autumn. The wheat is almost over-ripe. It smells sweet and heady when you drive alongside the fields. The weather has changed; sunshine gone and a north-westerly wind arrived. Too cool for a haar to rise. Some leaves have blown off trees already, but more from drought than autumnal processes. Meanwhile, the hedge needs trimmed again and there are weedy dandelion-family type flowers...

Lately, angry memories had popped up regarding bullies during my work life. Thinking about those situations through the context of hood-winking monsters on a personal ‘Odyssey’ is helping to see the whole truth. I couldn’t understand why I had never named these situations as bullying at the time. Now I think I didn’t call it bullying because I didn’t see myself as a victim. I saw them for what they were, incompetent, malignant malcontents. I was...

Seven Years in Tibet is a boy-own adventure with Brad Pitt playing Heinrich Harrer (I wasn’t available). Having being brought up with Escape from Colditz and Steve McQueen on a motorbike jumping over barbed wire in The Great Escape (on every Christmas) I had to keep reminding myself Harrer wasn’t British. He was a national champion Austrian skier and mountain climber who scaled the North face of the Eiger. One of the few members of the SA and SS...