Dedicated publisher of fiction, poetry and memoir
Next weekend marks the start of the May Day bank holiday in the UK, while in other parts of the world we celebrate International Workers' Day or Labour Day. In honour of this, and in recognition of the emergency on planet earth, I will be holding a Sonnet Sunday on 2 May on the theme... Continue Reading →
I remember cherry blossom blooming in London at around this time of year. How it enchanted the gardens of suburbia, transforming them from dull semi-detached '30s monotone to cotton-candy-coloured bowers of bliss. How the petals fell in the wind, twirling that dance they do, declaring 'Spring is here! Yes, even in the City, spring is... Continue Reading →
I was almost too upset to write yesterday. I'd just watched the new Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, and I was horrified by the fact we are all being told to look the other way while the fishing industry plunders our seas with impunity. Mass fishing robs traditional fishermen of their livelihoods, creates more plastic pollution than... Continue Reading →
The other day, we went for a walk with the kids in the evening. I pointed out the first daffodils to my youngest son. 'This means that spring is here,' I told him. 'Oh, mammy!' he said, 'I got some flowers for you!' In his pocket, a handful of squashed daisies. He'd picked them at... Continue Reading →
I don't remember much about the first house that I lived in. I remember my mum and dad dancing to records after drinking too much wine. Perhaps they had an argument too, or else why would I remember the wine? But I don't remember the argument, I just remember them dancing to records. I remember... Continue Reading →
I've felt a special affinity with birds of prey since I was a teenager. I identified with them as solitary hill-loving creatures like me, who haunted the heights of my beloved Lake District. I saw many buzzards and kestrels, a mating pair of ospreys and even a peregrine falcon once, but never the Golden Eagle.... Continue Reading →
By now, I should be an old hand at new beginnings. I've learned to recognise those 'watershed moments' before they arrive. First time was losing my mum as a child; no way I could have seen that coming; no way that anything would ever be the same again, afterwards. Then it was moving away from... Continue Reading →
This near-winter time of year when the nights draw in: I never was a big fan. In fact, typically sadness, fear and age-old anxiety would always hit around this time. I had a taste of it in October, when many days were overcast and cloudy, but oh, what a cold and crystal clear November we've... Continue Reading →
The land looks different lit in silver. That's most-of-all what I remember, the night of almost being stranded on a mountainside. True story: I was a romantic-minded, foolish teenager, determined to see the sunset from the summit of the mountain. Absolutely crazy. My dad couldn't persuade me to go back. Textbook idiocy. Of course, the... Continue Reading →
I have just learned from tonight's dVerse prompt that both the harvest moon and a blue moon await us this October. Well, that shows how much I know about the moon, or the harvest for that matter. I thought I'd already seen the harvest moon this year. I cannot claim to be over moon-aware, but... Continue Reading →
Experiments in Fiction 