Today, the ins and outs... at Wilko, Dereham

I’m familiar with the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival. I’m vain enough to imagine my work may appear in it someday, but the chance seem as remote as Rangers winning ten-in-a-row. Historic Scotland asked novelist whom they considered to be the top twelve crime writers in Scotland to write a story for them. The starting point was not character, or plot, but place. Easy-peasy for any writer or would-be writer and as reading is the engine of...

There are Bloomsdays worldwide, from Montreal to Melbourne. However next year I shall see what it's all about in Dublin on June 16. It's a long time ahead but I would guess budget accomodation books up fast. It probably adds extra resonance to the day if, like myself, you know and like the writings of James Joyce. This is not compulsory and I am sure quite a few individuals sort of fall into the day by chance because they happen to be in 'dear...

News of ghostly object drifting in Wind...etc. Last night Archemedies the Owl came by, he was upset and worried, “There's a thing,” he said urgently, “And I don't know what it is!” “Okay, what does it look like?” I asked passing from sleep to awake, “I mean does it have a shape?” “None of us can see it until we're close up, then we're too close up, and we drop!” “Not good,” I said, “You must tell the others not to go that close up!” Archemedies...

Posted by Ewan on Sun, 22 Oct 2017 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...

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...

“Whats up, son?” he asked, “Did last night not go well? Didn't she have you in?”

John Lewis-Stempel’s Where Poppies Blow is a hotchpot of different things. That’s usually a criticism, but in this case this is the books strength. Pre-war England is the baseline, a kind of Acardia to which the British soldier on the front’s mind often returns. Fuck off I say to that kind of crap. The majority of troops came from slum housing and if they were lucky enough to be in regular employments worked between 12 and 15 hours a day for 364...

Some great pieces on the site this week. Our Story of the Week is a most extraordinary two-parter by LilleDante. It's not an easy read, but you definitely won't regret the effort. Our Poem of the Week is a lilting little beauty from PoetonaHill. Everyone who's read it so far wants to see it set to music. Who knows? Perhaps if he gets more requests he'll have a go! Big congratulations to both: https://www.abctales.com/story/lille-dante/black-book...

As the nights draw in and we reach the end of October, we will once again be able to enjoy that newly-imported pastime of ‘trick or treat’ which, at any other time of the year, would be more accurately termed ‘demanding money with menaces’. I know this instantly brands me as an old curmudgeon, desperately out of touch with the times, but I think it’s a shame that we seem to have embraced the U.S. version of Hallowe’en, with its practical jokes,...