Author of the Princelings of the East fantasy and Viridian System scifi series
The End is in the Beginning is this month’s fiction in fifty words prompt. Fi50, or fiction in fifty words, is the ultimate in flash fiction. Get the whole story into fifty words, and make sure your reader’s imagination fills
Chuck’s back, and he asked for Space Opera today. I’ve cheated slightly, as I considered doing some more backstory for the Perihelix women, and didn’t think I had the time. Doing a whole space opera in 1000 words is tough,
I’ve had hours of fun with the April Fi50. Yes, It’s May, not April. It’s May the fourth. I usually give you the Star Wars greeting, but today it’s just Fi50. Fiction in Fifty Words is, as you well know,
Humphrey Goes East was last seen in the A to Z Challenge in 2013. I’d already written this as the prelude to my then book 8 in the Princelings series – which is now book 10, the last one. This
Beneath the surface of my life I am paddling like mad trying to keep up. One of my targets was to submit short stories to a number of anthologies, and I have done one, and identified two more. I ended
Tex-mex was not on the menu in Iceland, although most other things were, especially in Reykjavik. It is perfectly fine for vegetarians and most special dietary needs, and I even had vegan pizza with vegan cheese one day. The Nepali
The Cat’s Miu was something that came to me in the airport on my way to my Iceland holiday. The sunglasses shop is right as described if you’re travelling from Heathrow’s Terminal 2. I have photos for you, but I’m
The Frozen Rat’s Paw was one of ten randomised titles that Chuck Wendig gave us to work on, just before going off on another tour. Whilst I’ve enjoyed the freedom of not having to work to his prompt for the
50 words are not enough for a full story – or are they? I nearly changed the post title to ‘dementia in 50 words’ today, because I realised what I wanted to write about as I started to write. Let’s
It’s Flashback Friday and it is not the equinox – that’s next month. But I am off travelling to cold places again; I’ll miss next week, although I’ll post you something in advance. So if you want to join in
The Kings Council provides the forum for all the heads of castles in the Princelings Realms to rule harmoniously. Today’s 250 word flash fiction demonstrates how. It’s for the Bloggers Bash Blog Post Competition. You can enter too! The Kings
What makes royalty special? Why should someone become king just because he’s born to the right parent? Today’s 250 word flash fiction (for the Bloggers Bash Blog Post Competition) goes to the heart of one of King Fred’s problems – and
Dylan and Kevin are two of the protagonists of my new book The Princelings of the North (book 8 of the Princelings of the East series). I thought today I’d take you a little further into the book, helping you
Flashback Friday is a monthly meme where you revisit a post you think deserves to be seen again (and again…). You can sign up to post in the Flashback Friday linky, but put a link to your blog there, so
Snowglobe – that’s the prompt for this month’s Fiction in Fifty words, originated by Bruce Gargoyle, and now hosted by Rebecca Douglass, the Ninja Librarian. If you don’t already play, pop over to Rebecca’s page to get the prompts for
Illusion: It’s funny sometimes how story ideas come about. I saw one programme (Bargain Hunt) talking about George Cayley, aviation pioneer born in the 18th century, and then a news piece about the anniversary of the RAF, interviewing one of
Lord Colman is one of the antagonists of the Princelings of the East series. He’s also Prince Kevin’s uncle. Colman is the reason why Kevin is not yet king of Castle Deeping. Since my new book The Princelings of the
Originality and the Insects is the first flash fiction of 2018. It’s just under 1750 words. I was thinking of working with the title “The Wrong Glasses” but I went through the list of prompts I had collected last year,
This weeks’ flash fiction is more of a memoir. Immaculata, and the hymn mentioned below, has for the last, well, half-century, emerged from my brain, indelibly linked to the date December the 8th. I think I’ve admitted getting my education
The title ‘Winter sleep’ came from a promotional leaflet of some sort on my desk. I gave it to Rebecca as a prompt when she gave me ‘the Evil Locket‘ which I reprised last week. Inspired by memories of my
It’s the last Friday of the month, so FlashbackFriday time. I’m always tempted to do something for St Andrews Day, but since next year the last Friday will be St Andrews, I’m saving my favourite till then. This time I’m
The Worst That Could Happen is the prompt for this month’s Fiction in Fifty words, the brainchild of Bruce Gargoyle and organised by Rebecca Douglass. Nip over here to the sign-up page if you’d like to join in. All you
Fred’s Dilemma takes us forward in the Princelings saga, into the times of book 9. It’s a 1300-word capsule of life at Castle Marsh. I hope you enjoy it. It reminds me that I need to do some more pictures of
I, Tawdrius is an X meets Y sort of flash fiction for today. The idea came to be while I was waiting for a bus, and the story I wrote in my head on the bus was much better than
Dylan and the Lights of Ulva is the working title of another novella featuring Dylan and Dougall, those Princelings of the North. I’m working hard on it so apologies for no proper flash fiction today. It’s a companion volume to Dylan’s