‘Bus Pass George’ A Short Story

The picture is from Pixabay. I've modified it to remove identity in the people waiting for their bus. Sorry for the delay this week, we had such a sunny day after some weeks of dull, wet weather, we decided to take a longer walk than usual! This story was first published in the Winter 2021(92) …

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Wine Dark Sea

Wine dark sea, by author, Stuart Aken. A short story for your entertainment. Enjoy. Comment. Wine Dark Sea Eventually, the older couple, introduced only hours before, took the hint. The pair were last to leave the impromptu beach party. Silent but relieved of boredom, Danni silently urged them along the wooden jetty, the dying fire …

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sleeping beauties, by Stephen King & Owen King: #BookReview.

Having read many of Stephen Kings excellent books, I expected to find this as easy to read and enjoy as all the others. But it has an inbuilt problem for me as a reader from the UK. The language and cultural references in the first chapters are frequently confusing and sometimes even incomprehensible.Generally speaking, if …

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The 100 Most Pointless Things In The World, By Alexander Armstrong & Richard Osman: #BookReview.

If you haven’t seen the show (BBC1 and variously repeated on other TV channels), you probably won’t get the best out of this amusing collection of facts, opinions, jokes and odd asides. But don’t let that stop you giving it a go. It’s a well-written book. Lots of humour. Some of the ‘pointless’ items you’ll …

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How To Make Your Brain Your Best Friend, by Rachel Barr: #BookReview.

Subtitled ‘A neuroscientist’s guide to a healthier, happier life’, this book is just that. An extraordinary piece of work that, read well and applied to everyday life could be a life-changer for you. It already is for me. In just 8 chapters, this book demystifies both the workings of our most complex organ and our …

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F.R.I.G.H.T. – A Short Story

F.R.I.G.H.T. - A short Story for your entertainment: F.R.I.G.H.T. Foster sneered at the novel in front of him. ‘Writers! Shoot the bloody lot if I had my way.’ He leered at the scientist perched on the corner of his desk. ‘Who told him?’ The scientist inclined her head. ‘Not you, was it?’ She bridled, crossed …

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A Perfect Solution: A Short Story

A pool in a Greek Hotel. Here's the next short story in my intention to give you one each week for the whole of 2026. I have a couple of anthologies of short stories, too, for those who love such collections. The one that would be most relevant for those who enjoy the one below …

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Is There Progress In The Work In Progress?

I last wrote about the WIP on the 8th of August. How is it possible I’ve allowed all those days to pass without a single catch-up piece?At that time, the MS stood at 122,237 words over 282 pages. As I write this, it stands at 120,705 words over 280 pages, having been through a number …

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Outline, by Rachel Cusk: #BookReview

What is ‘Outline’? Is it a novel, a collection of essays, a piece of philosophy, an account of the physical, mental and emotional wanderings of the gifted author? It is all these things, and more.Whilst I discovered it was possible to put the book down, it was not feasible to do so without finishing that …

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How To Self-Publish Your Book For Free And Not Get Conned, by TW Robinson: #BookReview.

Subtitled ‘A new author’s guide to publishing and marketing for success’ this book was recommended to me by another writer, who thought it might be of use to me. It is! First, I’m a published writer, both self-published and published with a small indie publisher, so, on the face of it, this book could seem …

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The Temporary Gentleman, by Sebastian Barry: #BookReview.

Complex, moving, full of insight, and harrowing in places, this novel haunts the reader with its rich, expressive prose and its comprehensive depiction of its characters. Set mostly in Ireland and Africa, it uses the emergence of Eire as a republic and the difficulties that separation from mainland Britain imposes on that society during the …

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Halloween: Time For A Tale Of Terror!

It’s that time of the year again. Time to bring a spot of horror to the coming night of terrors, eh? 'Julie, dressed just for summer fun, is coerced by controlling fiancé Kasim to visit her ancient Aunt Agatha at her isolated old manor house. Local rumours inform him the Folly in the grounds holds …

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Watchwords, by Roger McGough: #BookReview.

This slim volume of the, at the time, relatively revolutionary poetry of the Liverpudlian poet, Roger McGough, I discovered on the bookshelves at my brother’s home when visiting recently. This edition was published by Jonothan Cape in 1972, though the title poem was first published in 1969. I picked it up to read while waiting …

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The Curious Cliché of The Black Scarab, by Mark Millicent: #BookReview.

Subtitled ‘The Dry Crumbs Of An Adventure’, this is a humorous tale of unlikely events taking the reader from darkest London to even darker Egypt via routes made more convoluted than expected by the hapless participants.Two ‘gentlemen’, I use the term loosely for these men, earn their comfortable if confined living by producing an archaeological …

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The Third QI Book of General Ignorance, by John Lloyd, John Mitchinson, James Harkin, Andrew Hunter Murray: #BookReview.

Subtitled 'Forget General Knowledge, here's the right stuff!'In common with the other books in this series, this isn’t a volume to sit down and consume in one go. It’s a pleasurable source of entertainment combined with education that deserves to be savoured so each tasty morsel provides the full flavour and nutrients to the knowledge …

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