marandina

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I have 232 stories published in 28 collections on the site.
My stories have been read 814680 times and 311 of my stories have been cherry picked.
1498 of my 4,716 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 1514 votes

Trusted critic
marandina's picture
Paul

I am a Brummie living in Northampton who loves to write but gets distracted with other things. I enjoy horror/fantasy and anything that provokes original thought.

My literary heroes are Clive Barker, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft. Everyone should read George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four .

I have work published by AlienBuddha Press, Loft Books, BlackBough Poems, DarkWinter Literary Magazine and Paragraph Planet.

You can find me on SoundCloud at https://soundcloud.com/user-62051685

on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BeeRummie

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beerummie/

at Bluesky @marandina.bsky.social

and at Threads https://www.threads.net/@beerummie

 

My stories

Cherry

The Golden Fleece (Ghost Walk) Part Two of Two

Part One at: https://www.abctales.com/story/marandina/golden-fleece-ghost-walk-part-o... The Golden Fleece (Ghost Walk) Part Two of Two For a split...
Gold cherry

The Golden Fleece (Ghost Walk) Part One of Two

Leads on from: https://www.abctales.com/story/marandina/golden-fleece-part-two-two The Golden Fleece (Ghost Walk) Part One of Two I watched as Alice...
2 likes
Cherry

Carols at Midnight

Carols at Midnight Light from a votive candle flickers – candescent, smells of incense permeate the pews. Beyond a prayer book stone floor seems...
Cherry

Santa Pause

Santa Pause John Jones hated his name, its mundanity matched only by the inane notion of Christmas. In truth, it hadn’t always been this way. A...
1 likes
Gold cherry
Poem of the week

Christmas Skies

An homage to John Betjeman and inspired by his poem written in 1954 called ‘Christmas’ Christmas Skies Chiming church-bells peal from afar, summoning...

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1498 of my comments have received 1514 Great Feedback votes

1 Vote

"Let me escape this phoney

Posted on Mon, 21 Jul 2025

"Let me escape this phoney nation, perhaps to Canada where people still seem to know what’s in the real news, or Denmark and Greenland." Maybe sums the States up at the mo. Bizarre beyond words. 

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Posted in Chronicles of Trumpenstein : The Dumbed Down Day of Trump (and Elon!) Has Arrived! by Alfred N.Muggins

1 Vote

Put me in mind of "North by

Posted on Tue, 22 Jul 2025

Put me in mind of North by NorthWest with Cary Grant et al. An Alfred Hitchcock thriller. Looking forward to the next instalment. 

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Posted in "Art of Trouble" 2

1 Vote

'It was fun looking down at

Posted on Fri, 18 Jul 2025

'It was fun looking down at the wriggley Wye
from the top of the drop – we were way up high..'

A highly visual poem and skilfully done as you have referenced the walk from the child's point of view. We easily forget the mismatch...

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Posted in What do grown-ups mean by a ‘short’ walk?

1 Vote

Wonderfully surreal and

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2025

Wonderfully surreal and suitably wicked.

This is today's Facebook, X/Twitter and BlueSky Pick of the Day.

I've added a pic to promote your work on social media. Just let me know of you prefer to use something else.

...

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Posted in The Irritating Gentleman (part two)

1 Vote

Intriguing stuff.

Posted on Mon, 14 Jul 2025

Intriguing stuff.

There are so many places you could do with this story.

Looking forward to reading more!

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Posted in "Art of Trouble"

1 Vote

Time to start your own book

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2025

Time to start your own book podcast, Di :)

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Posted in Prophesy: The Immortal Witch (3)

1 Vote

I'll have a look, Di.

Posted on Tue, 15 Jul 2025

I'll have a look, Di.

"It was fine mum.." is a reply to "How was the trip?"

I've now italicised semi-wilderness as a signpost so the reference is clearer. 

The cottage is based on a real property on Brean Beach which...

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Posted in Prophesy: The Immortal Witch (3)

1 Vote

"Can you die inside a dream?

Posted on Thu, 10 Jul 2025

"Can you die inside a dream?

And will you be found

inside the layers of a tiger’s bite?"

Supposedly you can. Best not to test the theory.

That's a miasma of thoughts and feelings captured within the lines of this poem...

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Posted in I Dreamt of Tigers

1 Vote

It's best not to let

Posted on Fri, 11 Jul 2025

It's best not to let Trumpenstein get to you/Alfred. He's a clown masqerading as the US President. He's now threatening Putin with tariffs if no peace deal is reached with Ukraine within 50 days. Of course, the Ruskies just laugh at DT's rhetoric...

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Posted in The Queen of Canada Takes Alfred Muggins’ Mind Away From Trumpenstein’s Coup by Alfred Muggins

1 Vote

"...a yearning leaves upon

Posted on Thu, 10 Jul 2025

"...a yearning leaves upon your face
to be out there by weather tossed."

What a beautiful poem and very much written in a classical way.

So skilfully done, Rhiannon. I enjoyed this one, in particular. 

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Posted in Daffodil

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