@athelstone
Active 1 day, 6 hours ago-
Athelstone replied to the topic 'Why Are They Doing This to Me?' in the forum Blogs 2 days, 14 hours ago
Every so often British courts seem to deliver results that are, at the very least, unsafe, but which claim a certainty in the conviction that the facts do not appear to support. Having done it they exhibit a profound unwillingness to revisit the cases with senior usually male judges announcing that they see no reason to doubt the verdict.
I did…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic October 2026 Monthly Competition in the forum Monthly Competition 2 days, 14 hours ago
Congratulaions @Jillsted. Well deserved – a super story. And than you for the prompt, Libby. I enjoyed this competition very much.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Surprise 4 days, 7 hours agoI have a couple of things to announce:
1) I missed posting the rules (which are now there). More haste, less speed. Apologies and thank you to @Clebs.
2) in the event of a late request for group membership after the group is closed, then I intend to accept, providing that the potential member agrees to the rules and makes the necessary choices…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Rules in the forum
Surprise 4 days, 7 hours agoSome Basic Story Rules and Guidelines
The challenge is to produce a short story: a work of fiction. By all means stretch this definition as you like, to include, for example, an imaginative account of true events, but please avoid essays, reportage, political polemic, educational items, manuals or manifestos. In case of any doubt I shall…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Q & A in the forum
Surprise 4 days, 7 hours agoAnd it would have helped if I’d actually posted the Rules post (slapping own head emoji – you’ll have to imagine it)
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Athelstone replied to the topic Q & A in the forum
Surprise 4 days, 7 hours agoHi Clebs, great to see you here. It’s in the Rules post – minimum 2000 words, maximum 2800.
Enjoy.
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Athelstone replied to the topic October 2026 Monthly Competition in the forum Monthly Competition 5 days, 12 hours ago
Friends and the Big Bang Bicycle Thief
I like watching television. It’s almost a crime to admit this these days unless you say that you’re watching it to see films, and you can present a list of obscure and worthy titles, preferably in a foreign language, that you claim to appreciate.
Right now, I am enjoying re-runs of Friends through a sub…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Choices in the forum
Surprise 6 days, 16 hours agoMade on my behalf by Jules to keep me honest: other, sculpture
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Athelstone started the topic Welcome. Please read this first in the forum
Surprise 1 week ago<u>Welcome and timetable</u>
Welcome to Surprise. This is a writing opportunity with a challenge and just the merest hint of competition. At the end there will be winning entries, chosen by all of you who take part. Most of all, everybody who takes part will have worked to produce a short story and hopefully risen to the challenge. If you stick…[Read more]
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Hooray
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Athelstone started the topic Choices in the forum
Surprise 1 week agoI am not going to explain what these choices mean – not now anyway. They will have a big influence on your story but I have every confidence that you will cope. You have all the skill and application necessary. I will explain when I reveal full details of the theme, but that won’t be until the group becomes private.
And please don’t take these…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Voting in the forum
Surprise 1 week agoOn the face of it, what you have to do is quite simple. However, those of you have been through this before in previous challenges will know that in fact it is extraordinarily tough.
When the writing stage of the challenge closes on 28 February 2027 at 22:00 UK time, the voting stage begins. No doubt most of you will have read many of the entries…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Q & A in the forum
Surprise 1 week agoIf you have a question or an answer, please post here.
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Athelstone started the topic Chit Chat in the forum
Surprise 1 week agoJust want to say something? Here you are.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 week, 2 days ago
I think it’s the latest BBPress update. I’ve rolled this back to the previous version. Can you tell me whether the problem has gone? I see there’s another update about to be released. It’s possibly a fix for the last one, but it hasn’t arrived with us yet.
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That’s fixed it. Thanks for dealing with so quickly, Ath.
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I think the update-in-waiting also fixes it, so I’ll push that out if somebody would be kind enough to check whether it does
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I’ve just posted to the SE Course Group 2016 and it seems to be OK.
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Athelstone posted an update 1 week, 5 days ago
I had allowed the site maintenance to build up and ended up doing a pile of it yesterday. As usual I tested as much as I could, but if anybody spots a problem, please let me know.
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Incidentally, some Denizens may have seen news reports about a serious vulnerability in PHP, a variety of software used extensively in websites. The Den is currently running a patched version which protects us from this, so worry not.
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Thanks for all this, Ath.
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Our group seems to have gone a bit wonky. Clicking on a thread causes this to appear. Oh, bother! No topics were found here.
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I think it’s the latest BBPress update. I’ve rolled this back to the previous version. Can you tell me whether the problem has gone? I see there’s another update about to be released. It’s possibly a fix for the last one, but it hasn’t arrived with us yet.
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That’s fixed it. Thanks for dealing with so quickly, Ath.
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I think the update-in-waiting also fixes it, so I’ll push that out if somebody would be kind enough to check whether it does
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I’ve just posted to the SE Course Group 2016 and it seems to be OK.
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Thanks @libby and @katemachon. That was the problem I had on my Testing Group and also on the Test Den. I didn’t spot it at first as these seem to be the only two groups that had a problem. reading the update notes, it looks as though the previous version of BBPress (which gives us the group forums) attempted to improve security because in some…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month ago
I’m not surprise your story was picked @Libby, it was really top notch piece of writing.
Thanks for the theme, @Seagreen. It certainly made me think hard!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month ago
Read the others. Wow what hides under the surface!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month ago
Body of evidence.
It’s not as though this is the first body I’ve seen, and it’s not as though this is the first person I’ve killed. As a death it was unremarkable: quick, expected, and I imagine she knew nothing about it. A clean shot through the back of the head in mid-conversation. Only a few of my targets have been so lucky, but my intenti…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Thanks for the link, Libby. I was pleased to see that although they accept donations, which is brilliant, the videos are available for free. Since I suspect the principal audience is likely to be writers this reflects an understanding of just how low the median income from our beloved interest really is. Latest figures show a median income for…[Read more]
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Yes, the Edinburgh book fest does live video broadcasts too which people can watch free or on a pay-what-you-can-afford basis. Most events aren’t videoed – the festival is massive. I’m not sure about the principal audience. I’ve never attended in person. My guess is that there are a lot of targets, from school children (there’s a big children’s…[Read more]
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