@athelstone
Active 10 hours, 21 minutes ago-
Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 7 months ago
I liked Southampton. I lived there from Autumn 1977 to Summer 1985 and always felt at home in the town. Only left because of work.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 7 months ago
When you said the name it rang a bell, but after looking at his web site and listening to some songs, I don’t think I did know of him. Might have heard his name from my brother who is more seriously into folk music than me.
Edit: although listening to a couple more songs, he’s not actually that folksy, is he? -
Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoPlease don’t feel you have to emphasise the differentness. It was a throw-away comment about making me happy. The following remark that making me happy is not a condition of entry to the challenge was intended to say that. What should probably have put is that emphasis on difference will be great, but not emphasising it will also be…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 7 months ago
They’re very different, but it reminds me of some of the old Incredible String Band stuff
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Ath, listening to this, I was reminded of the songs of Andy Comley who comes from Southampton way and wondered whether you knew of him?
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When you said the name it rang a bell, but after looking at his web site and listening to some songs, I don’t think I did know of him. Might have heard his name from my brother who is more seriously into folk music than me.
Edit: although listening to a couple more songs, he’s not actually that folksy, is he? -
Sandra Davies
11:09 (0 minutes ago)
to DenMy younger son lived in Southampton for a bit; one of his housemates took him along to gigs and I benefitted from 3 CDs, much played in the days I was working in my studio, liking the lyrics.
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 7 months ago
Sad to hear. 58 years is a long time, and in the world of arts and entertainment must be close to a miracle. I’ve always liked Ralph McTell, although Streets of London isn’t my favourite of his songs. I have a taste for some of the more “hippy folksy” stuff like Nettle Wine.
Oddly enough, when your post appeared, I was reading about the…[Read more]-
Ah yes. From memory:
Fetching water from the brook
Wondering who it was who took
The stones from the mountain to build this cottage here
Two up and two down
Miles from the nearest town
I don’t know who he was though the reason why is clear.
McTell once said that the reason why there aren’t many love songs in his canon was that ‘I got all that…[Read more]-
They’re very different, but it reminds me of some of the old Incredible String Band stuff
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Ath, listening to this, I was reminded of the songs of Andy Comley who comes from Southampton way and wondered whether you knew of him?
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When you said the name it rang a bell, but after looking at his web site and listening to some songs, I don’t think I did know of him. Might have heard his name from my brother who is more seriously into folk music than me.
Edit: although listening to a couple more songs, he’s not actually that folksy, is he? -
Sandra Davies
11:09 (0 minutes ago)
to DenMy younger son lived in Southampton for a bit; one of his housemates took him along to gigs and I benefitted from 3 CDs, much played in the days I was working in my studio, liking the lyrics.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoHow many words would it be? That said, it isn’t against the rules, and this is a challenge to produce a short story in any way you see fit as long as it fits with the theme.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoI’m interested in how people feel about the different approach this year, i.e. the absence of choices and surprises. It was something suggested to me by a group member and I thought I’d give it a go.
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I have always loved the choices and surprises – they’ve taken me out of my comfort zone and challenged me in ways I didn’t expect. It was always fun in the run up to the reveal and, ultimately, to see who made what of the same (or similar) choices. Last year, however, I didn’t enter the comp because one of the elements completely threw me (can’t…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 7 months ago
Fabulous competition! Hooray for all of us, especially Knicks. Thank you Sandra.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 7 months agoAll sounds promising so far.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 7 months ago
What becomes of the broken hearted?
Tomorrow, if I make it through the night, I celebrate my one hundred and ninth birthday. I hate my birthdays. Life’s punctuation. People wander about pretending it’s a secret that there will be a party for me in the day room. The press may attend. The staff will say things such as, “Well done”, as though…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 8 months ago
Winter is a-drawing in. Throw another log on the cat and pull up your writing gear. Time to turn your attention to matters of ancient tradition. Yonder peasant is freezing to death looking for Wenceslas’s famously warm footprints, the Daddy Longlegs are queuing up to die on your carpet, and the Winter Short Story Challenge is here! This is a…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Chit Chat in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 8 months agoPost wherever the fancy takes you – the activity stream is fine. If you want to start something, in the nicest possible way, that will be easily accessible and not scroll out of sight, here’s a good place.
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Athelstone started the topic Q&A in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 8 months agoIf you have to ask…
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Athelstone started the topic Voting in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 8 months 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 2 February 2025 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 Rules in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 8 months agoSome Basic Story Rules and Guidelines
The challenge is to produce a short story. In the way that the term is usually understood, what is needed is 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,…[Read more]
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Athelstone started the topic Welcome PLEASE READ THIS FIRST in the forum
A Different Time 1 year, 8 months agoWelcome all.
This year, I have borrowed from the method often used in the monthly competition. The theme of the challenge, A Different Time, is a prompt. That is to say, look at the phrase and use it in any of the multitude of possible ways that occur. You might choose to write an historical piece, or a recollection of something that happened in…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted a new activity comment 1 year, 8 months ago
Jolly good! I shall put my thinking-cap on.
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Brilliant!
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 8 months ago
Well, it’s September. Something is usually afoot by now, but I’ve been tied up with finishing a draft and editing, amongst other things. Is the formula too tired? Anybody up for another spot of winter writing?
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I’m up for it, Ath. I find the comp helpful and reading other people’s stories helps my writing too. What about setting a choice of three general topics but without the choices about objects – would that make your and Jules’ lives easier? So, I don’t know, a story concerning either love, crime or war. Maybe too a longer deadline for joining the…[Read more]
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I’m up for winter writing, Ath. I haven’t been around here much because I’ve been busy with both book two (currently being typeset by Leigh Forbes) and three (less than halfway through first draft) as well as trying to promote and sell book one. Several book fairs and talks about using my own epilepsy in fiction lined up in the near future. But I…[Read more]
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Jolly good! I shall put my thinking-cap on.
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Brilliant!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition, September 2024 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 8 months ago
I’m usually a late respondant, and as Libby says it is a busy month.
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Not in Southampton, but I’m lucky to have lived in the New Forest all my life, find it very inspirational.