After Dinner is Monday morning’s offering for the Fiction in 50 (words) for this week. I usually do these a little earlier, to make sure I put them on the BookShelf Gargoyle’s page as soon as he puts it up
#Fi50 | After Dinner – a fifty word story
Book Review | The Fourteenth Goldfish
The Fourteenth Goldfish was the Goodreads Great Middle Grade Reads group’s Book of the Month for May. They didn’t have it in my library, so I asked for it. They eventually agreed, and only charged me the regular reservation fee.
Postcard from Camp | Fanwester loses it
‘Fanwester loses it’ is an extract that I really enjoyed writing. The original version (first draft, not the one that got published) was a lengthy rant by the character about people and things that my reader had no idea about
Monday memories | An interview with Ludo, the Pirate King
The Pirate King first appeared in the Princelings and the Pirates. This interview comes from a series I did in the summer of 2012 – five years ago!! I can’t quite believe it. You may find it interesting, as I
Book Review | Shirley Link & the Black Cat (Shirley Link 4)
Shirley Link and the Black Cat follows Shirley Link and the Safe Case, Shirley Link and the Hot Comic and Shirley Link and the Treasure Chest, in this wonderful MG detective series. Shirley Link and the Black Cat by Ben
Postcard from Camp | The Perihelix Extract 3
Camp NaNoWriMo week 2 was going well… until I read the latest Adirondack Publishing advice on The Story Reading Ape – about Voice. As you know, I’m re-editing The Perihelix, especially the first ‘half’ which had, let’s call it, ‘deficiency
Free books at Smashwords through July
I have free books for you at Smashwords all through July. I also have some at half price. So if you want to catch up on the Princelings series, or you missed out on the giveaway for my father’s memoirs,
Book Review | All the Light We Cannot See
All the Light We Cannot See is one of those books you hear a lot about. I put it on my TBR. I picked it up on my occasional visits to Waterstones bookshop in Norwich, read the back, considered buying
Postcard from Camp | The Perihelix extract 2
An extract from The Perihelix (or whatever I’m working on at Camp NaNoWriMo) is my best offering for Flash Fiction this month. This 550 word section follows on from the snippet I gave you on Wednesday. Of course, you don’t
#IWSG | Most valuable lesson in writing
It’s the Insecure Writers’ Support Group today, asking about a valuable lesson you’ve learnt. I’m at Camp Nano, so this is just a quickie to show willing. My most valuable lesson The most valuable lesson I’ve learnt while writing comes
Challenge round-up – halfway through
Halfway through the Reading Challenges for the year already. Time for the second of four that I hope to do this year – since I remembered to do one at the end of March. Click the progress links to see
Book Review | How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
How to Stop Time was an advance review copy I got from the publisher via Net-galley. It launches this week. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig Published by Canongate books on 6th July 304 pages – paperback ISBN 9781782118626; ebook
#Flashback Friday | GhostGum Creek
GhostGum Creek: I’m going back to June 2014 for this one, which surprised me as I’ve never rerun it before (I checked). It is a venue that I integrated into the end of the Perihelix (and has stood the test
Off to Camp NaNoWriMo at the weekend!
Camp NaNoWriMo – yes it’s back, and so am I. I finished the edit of Princelings 8 over the past few months and sent it to my editor a couple of days ago. So now I’m back to the elephant in
Book Review | The Queen’s Envoy by David Prosser
The Queen’s Envoy: a prequel. I’ve been sitting on my copy (well, not literally, since that would break my Kindle) of Lord David Prosser’s Barsetshire Diaries for quite a few years now, with other things combining to press it down
#FridayFlash Fiction | The Vintage Explorer
The Vintage Explorer is a title I gave Rebecca ages ago during the first Chuck Hiatus. Today I wanted to do something involving flying machines since I hadn’t told you I have a Goodreads Giveaway on for my father’s memoirs White
#Fi50 | A Change in the Weather
A Change in the Weather is this month’s prompt from Bruce Gargoyle in his Fiction in Fifty (Fi50) meme. You can join in this fun communal story-telling any time you like. Bruce posts his own offering next Monday, and then
Mystery Blogger Award – received and given out
The Mystery Blogger Award was given to me by J Lenni Dorner around June 6th. I do say on my ‘policies’ that I don’t accept this type of award, but there’s always an exception, especially when I need a blog
Book Review | Death By Pumpkin by N A Granger
Death by Pumpkin is the third in N A Granger’s delightful cosy mystery/crime series starring Rhe Brewster. Regular readers probably know that Noelle Granger is a regular reader. Despite this, I read and review her books! I bought this one
#FridayFlash Fiction | The Thief of the Moon
This week Chuck gave us a list of random titles. One leapt out at me, The Thief of Moons, although after I’d written the story I amended the title to The Thief of the Moon. I wanted to feature a
Have you met Kristen Twardowski?
I met Kristen Twardowski a little while ago when the Story Reading Ape reblogged one of her amazingly insightful posts. Then he reblogged another one and I decided to follow her by email. I don’t know about you, but I like
Today’s Guest Post on the Story Reading Ape: A Tribute to Fred and George
My guest post for June is up on The Story Reading Ape. Read more of this post here….
MG or not MG? My Book Review question
MG or not MG – a question that came up recently for two books intended for tweens and young teens. Okay, the older end of MG, but still. We often discuss what makes a book suitable for ‘middle grade’ readers
#FridayFlash Fiction | It came from Nether Smocking
Nether Smocking: a tiny village in the middle of the countryside – British, but anywhere will do. Chuck’s given us a lovely prompt this week, to celebrate his new book Invasive, we have 1500 words to come up with our own invasion-type
#IWSG | I Quit! Or do I?
Our Insecure Writers Support Group theme of the day is: Did you ever say “I quit”? If so, what happened to make you come back to writing? Before I get around to answering the question… a big THANK YOU to