Short Story: The Last Early Rising

This story was first published in the Autumn edition of 2005 of Scribble, a small print magazine published by Park Publications. I also posted this to Medium The Last Early Rising ‘What are you thinking about?’ Kerry stroked his abdomen. ‘How to kill our idiot neighbour without being caught.’ Her fingers migrated. ‘That’d certainly stop …

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#ShortStory: A Gastronomic Treat at the Edge of the Galaxy.

This story was first published in my anthology, Ten Tales for Tomorrow, a sci-fi collection, on 1st January 2011. The eBook, running to around 30,000 words, is one of half a dozen in a promotion run by the publishing organisation, Smashwords. You can buy it here. Caution: some readers may find some of the content …

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Short Story: Lost and Found.

The short story posted below was first published in my anthology ‘Ten Love Tales’ in 2011.The book is available as an ebook on Smashwords, discounted to half price for the month of July.Lost and Found Cathy, my two brothers and I, had all left home when Mum and Dad moved out of their town house, …

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A Short Story For You.

The Gate A short story, first published as a prize-winner in Northern Short Stories Vol 5. in 1994. This was when I published under my given name, before I discovered, via Google, that there were umpteen writers using that name. I created my pen name a little later.But enough about that. Here's the short story …

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How Goes the WIP, 14th May?

To update you, I last posted about the WIP on 29th April. The word count was then 77,854. Subsequently, the Lawn Bowls season began. I don’t play, but my darling wife’s a keen team member of her local club and, as she doesn’t drive, I’m her taxi for the games. It can be a little …

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How Goes the WIP, 29th April?

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 7th April. At that time, the word count was at 62,531, it has now reached 77,854, following a short break away from home and the computer. In the meantime, I’ve also produced a few short pieces on Oddities Observed and on places visited on …

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How Goes the WIP, 7th April?

Just to update you, I last posted about the WIP on 25th March, here. At that time, the word count was 42,025. I’m now at 62,531, and still enjoying the creative process. The characters are mostly behaving themselves and, so far, I’m not having to allow for too many retrospective changes when I get to …

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How Goes the WIP?

On Sunday, 17th March, I reported that the WIP had reached 20,293 words and I was working on Chapter 8. I’d intended to report back yesterday, but got rather engaged by Natalie Bennet’s excellent and hope-inspiring ‘Change Everything’ and rather lost track of the time. You’ll find my review of this timely book about the …

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Progress on the WIP #2

Photo of yours truly taken by my wife. The first post about the new novel’s progress can be found here.I started actually writing, following a year of research, last Sunday. At the end of today, I’ve achieved a total of 20,293 words and am currently working on Chapter 8. It’s going well. Despite the extensive …

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Now the Real Work Begins.

I’ve spent the best part of the last 12 months engaged in research for the new novel I’m now writing. I’ve ended up with three documents totalling 83 pages and 54,468 words, many including links to some of the research sites used for the information. Add to that the 604 pages from the Chronicle of …

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Epitaphs, by Anthological Poets: #BookReview.

For some reason, lost in the dark clouds of obfuscating age-related memory, although I reviewed this book on Goodreads way back in the mists of time, I seem to have failed to have placed that review here. I now correct that missed opportunity. # As just one of the seventy-two poets featured in this remarkable …

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The WIP is Done.

At the end of Friday, 11th August, I posted here on the progress of the WIP. At that stage, the book was on chapter 30 and the word count was 71,521. Yesterday I completed the WIP with chapter 33 and a total of 80,799 words. Now I need to do some detailed research for events …

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The WIP is Growing!

My Books, and Others Containing My Stories. Three weeks ago, I posted about my progress on the WIP. I’m re-writing to the extent that the current work is essentially a second ‘first draft’, in that I’ve made many changes to the content and the style of presentation. At that point, I’d reached 32,427 words in …

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Progress Inspired by a Walk?

I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …

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After the Research

The research (see the post from 9th July), apart from those unexpected oddities that make you check the occasional detail, is done. I began the re-write at the beginning of the week. It quickly became clear that merely editing the first draft would not create the book I first envisaged. So, I have started again …

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