Black grandmas in the South are the best. Went to a sub shop to get a veggie sub and there’s this sort of counter thing in front of the toppings bar. Don’t know why. This black grandma came in with her grandson; all this I’m assuming based on appearance, age difference, dig? The kid grabbed the counter thing and pulled himself up, guess to get a look at the toppings, and his grandma said Boy, git yo ass offa dat man’s counter! The man making the...

This past Friday I was operating a crane and my foreman comes on the radio to inform me that when the particular cargo ship I’m unloading is unloaded he wants me to come down and do some “receiving work” - moor incoming ships. I replied “Roger” and he replied “Well, don’t sound so fuckin’ thrilled about it, sweetheart. And don’t think that just because you’re cute I won’t kick your gloomy ass.”

Crowe returns this week. Its been a busy two week run, genrating interest and positioning THE PAYOUT GAME's visbilty for its release next Saturday 01,24.26. The ARC feedback is very positive, before Christmas I made a few adjustments and rewrote several scenes to reduce the occasional 'clunkiness' that slips through. Then you walk away from it. Here are my key takeaways form promotiong your own work 1. Consistency is key - same blurb, same...

Julian Hoffman is trying to find a place in our ponderous world for wonder, or what he terms ‘radical amazement’. The beauty of connection in the age of desolation. ‘When it’s gone, it’s gone,’ he argues. He asks what are those special qualities that make us human? Our sixth sense, writer Rebecca Solnit calls it. Cultural as well as natural meaning. Lived experiences that act as in internal compass mapped by memory and spatial awareness. I think...

In Northern Gaza’s Tal Al-Zatar, hungry stray cats wander war-torn streets. They seach for food among the debris and for the young boy who always cared for them. They stumble upon his charred remains, a life gone astray. Mohammed Moussa, The Face Before You: To Write Poetry on Genocide. Notes. ‘Listen to yourself,’ wasn’t some piece of New Age advice when we were younger. A whack on the lug was the remedy. My wee brother, Bod wasn’t one to...

Buried. With the remains of my first child in my arms, I journey barefoot, fragile as a newborn, breathing in the tears of premature farewells. He is light as a feather, but impossibly heavy. Upon arrival I’m greeted by my family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, they all feel closer and further away from me than ever. Our grief finds little solace in embraces, our damaged souls gnaw at our hearts and bodies they stain out evenings. Our grief...

Some might think that inflicting the moron’s moron, Donald J.Trump, on an innocent world is payback for the Holocaust of the Highland clearances. But Scottish historian T.M.Devine takes a more nuanced view. He studies what records are available to differentiate between what happened in the Highlands and Island and compare it with Lowland Scotland. A History of the Dispossessed answers some questions, but reveals others. Devine follows...

I hadn’t heard of Scottish novelist Ewan Morrison, which is perhaps unusual because I read lots and he’s won lots of awards. And I kinda pride myself on knowing the Scottish literary scene. He’s a great writer. But this book almost failed the ten-page test. Beginnings. My Survival Guide. ‘I’m still alive, and if you’re reading this that means you’re all alive too. That’s something. My name is Haley Cooper Crows and I’m in lockdown in a remote...

Many people believe in a Heaven but not in a Hell. This would require God to have a trivial attitude to sin. One writer said that he thought that God viewed our mischievous acts as he viewed the antics of his young kitten. Jesus said we would have to give an account for every careless word we had ever spoken. Matthew 12:36. God doesn't see our bullying, our gossip or our racist insults as being amusing. These are all very serious to him. Some...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002p1fr/oppenheimer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppenheimer_(film) My mate Andy Rat still goes to see films. I think it’s so he doesn’t need to talk to his partner. But you can do that just as well—maybe even better, if you skive off to write stuff—in the upstairs cuboard. Oppenheimer is one of those films I quite fancied. Rat had seen it and Barbie , which came out the same week. He said Oppenheimer ‘was...