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 …
Continue reading The Temporary Gentleman, by Sebastian Barry: #BookReview.
This story was first published in the now discontinued Writers’ Forum magazine in May 2007, when it won the 1st prize in their monthly short story contest (£300.00, quite a generous sum). The story was, at that time, part of a romantic thriller I was writing, and altered to stand alone as short fiction. This …
Continue reading #Short Story: The Best Possible Time
Photos from a visit to Fallingbostel and other German towns, using film, not digital tech, back in 1990. This short story was placed 3rd in the Ormskirk Writers & Literary Club contest in October 2004, and was also published in the small literary magazine, Ouse Valley Poetry, sadly no longer around. Enjoy! Manners and the …
Continue reading Short Story: Manners and the Man
Hi, Readers, my eBook, Breaking Faith, is available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July in their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get my books at 50% discount so you can get right to reading, or download them to your device for enjoying later. As a taster, …
Continue reading Sale of eBooks in July
The imaginative and generous independent publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, is launching 9 new titles during the period 14th October to 4th November. There are books for all tastes here. But the point of this post is the competition accompanying the launches. You can win copies of all these books quite simply. You merely have to …
Continue reading Fancy Some Fantastic New Books, Free?
A real saga of a novel in which we travel through the life of the female protagonist, Irene, known to her friends as Reene, from her 16th birthday life-changing event to…well that would be spoiling the story. Let’s just say we leave her in her more mature years. There is, as the title suggests, more …
Continue reading Lady Hartley’s Husbands, by Andrea Emblin #BookReview.
304 pages, Contemporary Romance. Insightful, and based on personal knowledge of the areas covered in her writing, the author explores themes of academic snobbery, domestic abuse, insecurity, and the search for love in an uncertain world. Having experience in both social care and academia, Barbara brings reality and honesty to this tale of the search …
Continue reading Makeover, by Barbara Lorna Hudson: #BookReview.
468 pagesHistorical Literary Fiction The world, it seems, changes little in spite of protests about injustice and inequality. This novel, set essentially in the Paris student riots (I prefer rebellion, protests, political activism) of 1968, relates the times as seen through the eyes of some students and an artist who understands and befriends the workers. …
Continue reading After the Barricades, by Jessica Stilling: #BookReview.
379 pages.Science Fiction This story of a society that is such a contrast to the destructive one we currently have worldwide is full of hope. But, sneaking pervasively beneath the surface, lies a hint of threat, an unspecified suggestion that all may not be as it seems.We follow the eponymous Hope as she leads a …
Continue reading Awaking Hope, by Emily Renee Cunningham: #BookReview.
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 …
Continue reading Why That Title? – Breaking Faith.
The distance between uson this dying day of wintersignals what I wonderis this the final partingor a renewal of our loveor a simple misunderstandingtime will render comedywhen we glance back on yearswe have yet to walk together? *****………………………….*****Some of my pictures appear in the Gallery.But, if you want images to decorate your home or office, …
Continue reading #Words and #PictureOfTheDay: 18/Feb/22
You want adventure, peril, romance, conflict, survival, love, threat, humour, hate, teamwork, isolation and hope of rescue? You’ll find all that, and more, in ‘An Excess Of…’ where three discordant men and three very different women find themselves stranded on a desert island after their ship sinks. Will they survive? Will they ever return to …
Continue reading Looking For an Absorbing #Read?
The second review has come in for my latest novel. As you know, reviews are difficult to come by, so it’s always worth celebrating when they arrive. This one is on Goodreads (some reviewers avoid Amazon these days for many reasons). You can read it by clicking here. But to make it easy, I’ll also …
Continue reading Another 5 Stars in Second Review for ‘An Excess Of…’
The first review has come in for my latest novel. As most readers and writers know, reviews are difficult to come by, so it’s always worth celebrating when they start to arrive. This one is on Goodreads (many reviewers avoid Amazon these days for many reasons). You can read it by clicking here. But to …
Continue reading First review for ‘An Excess Of…’ Gives 5 Stars
Just short of a month ago, I wrote a post about Helen, a Chinese woman, translating some of my stories into her language. My hope was that would place my work before a wider readership. But there has been an unexpected and positive additional outcome.I’m no linguist. But I’ve travelled, both within the land of …
Continue reading Translation: Illuminating Cultural Difference.
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Stuart Aken 