Baz Baron

DIRECTIONS

‘What do I need this for?’

‘It’s a new cinema, I don’t know the way.’

‘Well, get out your phone and ask it to direct you, like any normal person.’

‘You know what happened last time I tried that. I ended up driving in circles for half an hour until my phone found a connection. A map on the other hand, can’t go wrong.’

‘Fine. Let…[Read more]

Occasional rough language

Prat’s Key Wood

Prat’s Key Wood was as old as the hills. No, really.

Well, seeing as the hills are billions of years old and forged in the countless aeons before organic life, that’s a stretch. But, I mean 1) it was ancient to the max and 2) it took Jacko and a team of ten, and a bulldozer, and chainsaws, just one…[Read more]

‘Also known as …’

Early Thursday, DS Mike Kennedy, on her arrival.
‘Infirmary’s been on. Ursula Bothwell died three this morning. Peacefully, they said.’
‘Cause?’
‘Not known. Which means –’
‘A PM. Not peaceful.’ DS Fran Lloyd strove to hide the threat of tears. Not normally a problem; had to be more than fifty times she’d heard the nec…[Read more]

Well done Libby. Excellent entries from all.
Happy New Year!

Thank you Ath, both for comments and for setting the comp in the first place. As you probably guessed, I used it as a shameful attempt to find a way into a yet-to-be-written novel and was immensely glad of the opportunity to do so, though knew from the start I’d barely skated your original intent. And well done Libby – I look forward to finding…[Read more]

A very happy new year to all Denizens! The advent competition didn’t have 25 entries as I hoped, but by way of compensation, those that were submitted are all gems that I would be happy to find behind a calendar window.

Janette: A New Opening
A truly positive response to the Covid restrictions. This was beautifully written with a powerful feeling…[Read more]

@dougk if you’d like an alternative to a sedative, you can read the exhaustive cautionary tale of my small press experience here https://airandseastories.com/2019/01/30/my-publishing-nightmare-the-story-of-a-book-deal-gone-bad-part-1/

So pleased with the news! Simply brilliant.

With good intent

‘Let’s face it, it is one of our unadmitted secret pleasures!’
One eyebrow lifting in pantomimed leer, he turned his head away, allowing the wind to carry exhaled smoke along Portobello’s beach towards the Scottish capital.
Aware of the flaring of her too-carelessly clipped hair, she pictured them as opening sequence of some…[Read more]

They do have that sort of instant hit of relateable truth don’t they? Ironic, or perhaps not, that Roche’s career might apply to the principle of ‘Connections’, even though it’s clearly about something much more personal. A missed connection here or there is the difference between national treasure status and obscurity.

Also interesting for me to…[Read more]

I’d not heard of Pete Roche, and much enjoyed these two examples, thank you for them.

It’s that sort of recognition/everyday honesty that draws me to certain songwriters (I’m thinking Aidan Moffatt in his Arab Strap days), and why Vicki Feaver spoke so loudly to me.

@Daedalus, I know exactly what you mean: most of my novels start with a conversation between two characters, me thinking they’ll be the opening chapter, then, as things develop, I find they’ve moved to the middle of the middle.

@sandradavies thanks, I will look that up. I’m a fan of keeping speech tags/descriptions to a minimum and I often write scenes with dialogue first and then build the other stuff around it, so this is very much up my street

@Raine – exactly! When I first read A L Kennedy’s tale, I had to re-read to see how it was done. Then di my best to emulate.