In memory of Julia.

I was shocked and saddened to receive the news of the passing of my friend, author and designer, Shannon Ware. It came through in the same manner as we met - on Facebook. One of her close friends and fellow writers contacted me to tell me Shannon had passed suddenly; some complications from the flu. She was 54. I once asked her for her address, to send a thank you for all the work she’d done, but Simi would only tell me that she lived near the...

I was aware of Carl MacDougall in an oblique way. I hadn’t read any of his work, but knew him to be the editor of one of the classic Scottish texts The Devil and the Giro: The Scottish Short Story . When I found out the Scottish Book Trust had approached him and he had agreed to be my mentor for my second novel I was chuffed. I googled him. This is his latest short-story collection, by the now defunct publishers Freight. I admit to a bias here...

Castle Pillock is quiet again. I am more blessed than I deserve to be by the fact that both my kids choose to come home for Christmas, and one of them now brings his other half. I am glad of heart to have had the Princess home from Uni for the entire vacation. I am delighted beyond measure that the four of us will be together in New York next Christmas. ​ (Did I mention we’re going to New York next Christmas? I may have done. Only fair to warn...

There's been some great pieces this week, particularly on the poetry front. I do hope more of our poets submit work to Cerasus Poetry - go on - you know you want too. Having said that, there's been some pretty stunning prose too. It's been very hard to to pick one but I've chosen Stephen Thom's gruesome but compelling two parter: https://www.abctales.com/story/stephen-thom/hydrotherapy-est-1894-1 So which poem to pick? So tricky, but I have to...

Let's hear it for the boys.

A middle-class lady bought two female parrots, Polly and Dolly, but was shocked to discover that they kept shouting out rude and inappropriate remarks. She sought advice from her parish priest about curing them of this embarrassing situation. The priest was mortified at the things the parrots were shouting. Polly squawked provocatively, “Do you fancy some hanky-panky?” Dolly screeched rudely, “Would you risk it for a biscuit?” The priest then...

We will shortly be announcing another two signings. Both men. Not to detract from their testosterone fuelled ability, but we would love to hear from more women, to redress the hormone imbalance.

Radio 4 is our only well-known channel which is about words not music. Where do they get their material from? The formats often feel 'tired' and threadbare. How do 'us lot' get in there? I suspect unless we are very lucky or a known name our work sinks to the bottom of a barely glanced at submissions pile. Could one of our editors approach them and get a regular half hour, call it 'easy as Abc?' or something. It would be win-win because Radio 4...

The horribles are expecting some goodies soon, perhaps in my name or one I prevously used before being hidden. I know this because I'm being kept seriously awake night and day.