Killing O’Carolan, by Walt Pilcher: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review4 Comments

Subtitled ‘A Mark Fairley Mystery’, this humorous novel follows the reluctant emerging PI on his journey to solve the apparently unsolvable, after his unlikely success in ‘The Accidental Spurrt’.As a parody of the genre, this will entertain those who take their crime fiction with a cellar full of salt. The O’Carolan of the title is …

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Why That Title? – Joinings.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading

Titles for works of fiction often cause authors a good deal of soul-searching. Ideally, we want to give potential readers clues about content, theme, style, and storyline. Not easy in anything from one to maybe a dozen words. Of course, the best titles are revealed as obvious choices once a book’s been read, so this …

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#ScenicSaturday 16/July/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography12 Comments

Flamborough Head on the Coast of East Yorkshire. Soft chalk, laid down over millennia by the shells of billions and billions of sea creatures, curves out into the North Sea to form Flamborough Head. Time has brought the tides and storms to crash against the land and break the white stone off to form the …

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Con, by Mark P Henderson: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

Con is a complex psychological thriller and a sequel to the author’s novel ‘Perilaus II’, but you don’t need to have read the first novel, though reading ‘Con’ will almost certainly inspire you to read its predecessor.We enter the dangerous, disturbing world of the prison here and the author takes us to the beast without …

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Why That Title? – The Methuselah Strain.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Reading3 Comments

Titles for works of fiction often cause authors a good deal of soul-searching. Ideally, we want to give potential readers clues about content, theme, style, and storyline. Not easy in anything from one to maybe a dozen words. Of course, the best titles are revealed as obvious choices once a book’s been read, so this …

Continue reading Why That Title? – The Methuselah Strain.

#ScenicSaturday 09/July/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography11 Comments

Staithes Harbour, North Yorkshire Coast. Safe behind the ancient barrier of stone, small boats rest on coastal mud in Staithes harbour on the North Yorkshire coast. But, as sea level rises over coming years, will they be forever safe? Will increased water volume break and overwhelm such old defensive walls? Perhaps, if we act right …

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The Forever House, by Linda Acaster: #BookReview

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

This book is very much about relationships, but in a setting with sinister undertones. The very ordinariness of happenings in the introducing chapter allows the following chapters to slowly build tension edged with something initially unknown but seemingly sinister.The book deals well with the nature of loss and grief, without a sentimental overlay and through …

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Why That Title? – Breaking Faith.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Romance1 Comment

Titles for works of fiction often cause authors a lot of soul-searching. Ideally, we want to give potential readers clues about content, theme, style, and storyline. Not easy in anything from one to, say, a dozen words. Of course, the best titles are revealed as obvious choices once a book’s been read, so this series …

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Horse of the Same Colour, by Melodie Trudeaux: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review2 Comments

This children’s book is a follow-up to Horse of a Different Colour, and follows the adventures of Megan, Amy, and their fiends and enemies as they encounter more strange magic, ‘swaps’, and discover another foul scheme by the loathsome O’Neill. The story begins with an unexpected encounter between Megan and Jack, the horse with which …

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#ScenicSaturday 02/July/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography3 Comments

Dry Stone Walls in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. How many hands, over how many years, built such walls? Gravity and skill alone hold those stones together and keep them standing in line. Gathered by hand from fields they surround and define, they keep in sheep and keep out those who do not belong. Centuries …

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Shadeward: Expiation, by Drew Wagar: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review

The story concludes. And what a conclusion! Drew Wagar has created a masterpiece with this quartet of fantasy/sci-fi books set on a distant world in a not-too-distant future. In keeping with the social structure and history of the people starring in this series, he has kept the technological aspects as brief as possible, including only …

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Walking on the Greek Island of Skiathos

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography15 Comments

I posted an illustrated piece on Medium. If you're a walker, or you're thinking of visiting the Greek island of Skiathos, you might find it interesting. You'll find it here.

#ScenicSaturday 25/June/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry2 Comments

Coastal Crete. What forces made these hills What cataclysm gouged the vale How many millennia has sea Washed its waves against Solid rock to wear it down And how much longer Will the land remain? # A daily post on natural beauty is hard to sustain if I’m to get on with my normal writing, …

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Shadeward: Enervation, by Drew Wagar: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review3 Comments

Enervation is the third book in the Shadeward fantasy/science fiction adventure series by Drew Wagar. I read the first two in the series, Emanation and Exoneration way back in 2017, but many factors in my life and that of the writer combined to stop me reading Enervation until now. I’m now starting to read the …

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#ScenicSaturday 18/June/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry5 Comments

Coast at Kos. Green trees under sun Blue ocean beneath blue sky Nature’s beauty here # A daily post on natural beauty is hard to sustain if I’m to get on with my normal writing, so I’ve opted for a weekly one. Sometimes I’ll add words. I hope you’ll continue to comment, like, and share …

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