Posted by Philip Sidney on Fri, 27 Oct 2017 Autumn is off to a crackling start on ABCtales. Dark tales with a whiff of sulphur tumble towards the dark side of the year. Celticman manges to keep humour in the darkness with his story all cat owners will recognise, who knows what they will drag in next: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/wmd#comment-692656 Autumn is also the season of reflection and there have been a number of poems that lift...

Autumn is off to a crackling start on ABCtales. Dark tales with a whiff of sulphur tumble towards the dark side of the year. Celticman manges to keep humour in the darkness with his story all cat owners will recognise, who knows what they will drag in next: https://www.abctales.com/story/celticman/wmd#comment-692656 Autumn is also the season of reflection and there have been a number of poems that lift the wraps on personal trauma. One that will...

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...