Tag: Creative writing

#ScenicSaturday 30/July/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography5 Comments

The River Wye Flows by Lydbrook in the Forest of Dean. A living sky drifts over a river flowing peacefully through a forest of many trees. All elements of our amazing world, contributing to our enjoyment of its beauty. Let’s all do everything we can to sustain that precious quality of a world so extraordinary …

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Why That Title? – Partings.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Progress, Uncategorized

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

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#ScenicSaturday 23/July/22

On By stuartakenIn Author, Creative Writer, Nature, Photography, Poetry7 Comments

Sundown on Thassos. Calm is the evening As the sun sets on The Mediterranean And clothes the world In blues and golds. # Daily posts on our beautiful world are hard to sustain if I’m to get on with my normal writing, so I’ve opted for a weekly one, though I also post a simple …

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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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#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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#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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The Accidental Spurrt, by Walt Pilcher: #BookReview.

On By stuartakenIn Author, Book, Creative Writer, Fiction, Reading, Review7 Comments

Subtitled ‘A Mark Fairley Mystery’, this parody of the whodunit will have you smiling, grinning, chuckling, and laughing out loud as the author takes you on a revealing journey with his reluctant PI.There are many characters in this humorous novel, some of whom are deliberate cardboard cut-outs to mock the worst of the genre, but …

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