Tag: literature
+ literature, review
Deliciously gruesome Victorian Gothic horror
Read my review on Goodreads / Amazon of Paul Holbrook’s novel Domini Mortum here: I was lucky enough to read this with my book club The Pigeonhole and the author Paul Holbrook ‘read’ along with us. Domini Mortum is like Dennis Wheatley meets Ripper Street – full of Gothic horror and surprising twists but brought up to date with the terrific writing. Murder, the … Read More Deliciously gruesome Victorian Gothic horror
The Bottom of the Well
Do you believe we have all been here before? The Bottom of the Well takes Emily back to a past life that will change her future forever. http://www.amazon.co.uk/…/B01…/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_eos_detail … Emily was happily ploughing her way through a new anthology of sonnets one damp afternoon in September when everything changed. She vaguely heard the bell over the door chime to introduce the arrival of an elderly … Read More The Bottom of the Well
Poetically retentive
With mathematical precision I count every beat From beginning to end of each line They must be concise and perfect and true And every so often must rhyme No freedom of verse or lyrical waxing No skipping a meter or two Iambic, trochaic or even dactylic I just can’t get away from this view So give me the sound of a heroic couplet At … Read More Poetically retentive
+ dark humour, fairies, fiction, Ghost story, literature, metafiction, Publishing, story within a story, writing
An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories for Kindle
“An Irrational Fear of Dogs” is a collection of short stories that is sometimes funny, sometimes dark, always entertaining: An Irrational Fear of Dogs The dog was staring at her with small red eyes, its slavering jaws ready to clamp around her small thin arm.The children are coming, the children are coming, look out, look out! Phoebe felt safe here in the bushes for … Read More An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories for Kindle
Believing in Fairies
In a world where for some people reality is too painful to bear and dreams are as fragile as eggshells, Mia was happy to float between the two. Her world was one of waking dreams. ‘I dream with my eyes open’, she said to the doctor, who was rapidly making notes and tutting a great deal. ‘I walk with fairy folk and elves and … Read More Believing in Fairies
+ folklore, literature, poetry, sonnet, writing
Outlandish Tales of Folklore
Apologies for having posted the first three before, albeit ages ago, but I wanted to keep them altogether somewhere. A sonnet is a 14 line lyrical poem traditionally written about beauty, unrequited love, romance, faith, death etc. Contemporary sonnets use modern language but the subject matter is often the same or similar. These attempt to break the mould, hopefully. As they are a sequence, … Read More Outlandish Tales of Folklore
Finally a decision
I’ve been sitting on my story Miss Havisham’s Ghost for over two (or even three) months, unable to go anywhere with it, so I decided the best thing to do was to give up. Not give up on writing the story but on trying to combine the two stories into one. I have done this – bring in something autobiographical – before in a … Read More Finally a decision
Short novel or long short story – that is the question
About a year ago I wrote the first chapter of a novel for an assignment. It was called Miss Havisham’s Ghost and was loosely based on my own childhood but was intended to be a work of fiction. To be honest it didn’t get that good a mark so I shelved it. Then a couple of months ago (or more) I started writing a ghost story. The … Read More Short novel or long short story – that is the question
Stage of Fools and other stories
‘Stage of Fools’ is a quote from Shakespeare’s King Lear. However, I used it as the title of a short story in which a theatre director decides to stage a production of The Medea, a Greek tragedy by Euripedes. Peter, the director, is a pretentious fool with ideas well above his station and talent. In the meanime his marriage to his French wife, Justine, … Read More Stage of Fools and other stories
The sweet smell of lilies reminds me…
Ok that sounds like an observation. It’s actually another excerpt from An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories. This one is called The Sweet Smell of Lilies. So here goes… Lilies remind me of funerals. Not a very original observation, I hear you thinking. Why not roses or gardenias or boring old Sweet Williams or those plants that everyone loves the smell … Read More The sweet smell of lilies reminds me…
You live and learn
What a total ….. up my first effort at self-publishing turned out to be. Probem is that I am used to proof reading on paper so it is only when I received my ‘test’ hard copy this morning that I spotted all the mistakes! Firstly – no table of contents. Secondly – no page numbering (don’t know why but I thought this would just … Read More You live and learn
I’m so excited!
Yes I am still going on about my new book which I just self-published on Lulu.com. I can’t wait to get my copies and see what it looks like. I’m so excited! Have a look at An Irrational Fear of Dogs and other short stories Here is yet another extract. This is from a story called The Indulgence: ‘How long have you been dead?’ … Read More I’m so excited!
Bookchatter@Cookiebiscuit 