November is traditionally the month of NaNoWriMo for many writers (good luck to all of you taking part!) but for me, this year it’s all about the short story. I’m in the second week of a five-week Short Fiction Masterclass and, around doing this, I’m spending time reading stories from those collections I own. Having gathered some of them together (not…
With all the other demands on your time during this Festive Season, your reading time might be taking a hit. I know mine certainly is with friends unreasonably expecting me not to snuggle up on my sofa with a stack of books and chocolate but to be sociable and go out with them instead. One excellent way of ensuring that…
I can’t decide whether it was apposite or not but it was a bit of a lonely crowd who attended the launch of The Lonely Crowd on Thursday evening, and half of those there were reading. However, the low turnout didn’t stop it from being a very enjoyable evening at the Waterloo Tea Rooms in Wyndham Arcade. There was a…
I brought her back one last time. She liked the place, remembered it from her childhood, she said, or maybe when she was older, a teenager. I can’t remember. I glazed over every time she started to talk about the time before me. It can’t have been that interesting. She wasn’t. She weren’t much to look at neither. I can…
I heard women talking and tried to focus on what they were saying. “A most peculiar looking creature to be sure.” “Who is she, do you think?” “Foreign, of that there can be little doubt. It is not the fashion that a lady’s hair be cropped so close.” “And the clothes we found her in. Why! Little more than sacking.”…
“It’s over. I can’t see you anymore,” Lucy had said to him over the phone. “Not now it’s summer.” What does that have to do with anything?” he’d said to the dialling tone. He looked out of the window at the park opposite his flat and saw nothing but couples and families. He put his palm flat on the glass…
Cleopatra is insisting that I stay. She tells me that no one has ever left her before. Apparently, it’s just not done. I was hoping that she’d understand but when I told her she almost choked on the grape she was eating. We were having dinner at Caesar’s and it caused quite a scene. Men rushed over to her and…
Henry and I have our routines, although I will admit he is far more diligent than I am about keeping to them. He often lollops upstairs to the studio, where he sits and watches me paint for a while. When the pacing starts, I know that it’s time to go for one of our walks and, if it’s left up to Henry, he always heads for the beach.
Il signóre Maglian was in the harbourside cafe drinking his espresso, waiting for his friends to return. The harbourmaster sat facing the sea. He could smell a storm coming in: the breeze was picking up; trees on the seafront were whispering it would be a bad summer squall; and fishing nets on the quayside were shifting slightly, nodding in agreement….