Month: Nov 2024

The End of the Tempest: Short Story

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Fiction, Prizes, Reading2 Comments

This story won 2nd prize (a day at the local races) in a Yorkshire local writing contest in 2010. It was not published. The End of the Tempest. A terrified whinny urged Carl out of dreams and into reality, and metal clashing metal in a howling gale finally woke him. He must enter that storm, …

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Further Progress on the #WIP.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading2 Comments

I last updated progress on 28th of October, so a little late with this one. Sorry. At that time, the first draft was up to 80,840 words and I’d started editing to include a new character and had got as far as chapter 14. The old word count was 33,454 and the new to that …

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Rebirth. A Short Story.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, question, Reading2 Comments

This short story has a long history. It first appeared in the small print magazine ‘Ouse Valley Poetry’, unfortunately no longer around, where it was placed third in their monthly contest in January 2008. Following some slight editing, it was then published in the monthly print magazine ‘Writers’ Forum’, where it gained second prize in …

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Nexus, by Yuval Noah Harari: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Nature, opinion, politics, question, Reading, Review3 Comments

Subtitled ‘A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, this weighty tome is actually surprisingly comprehensive. With 67 pages of Bibliography and an Index of 15 pages, the book is a veritable compendium of information, scholarly exploration, and informed opinion on the ways in which human societies have communicated over the …

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