Bella

You have my apologies too. I also had a busy month, but mainly I have to confess that every time I turned to the prompt I hit brick walls. I admit defeat. And it is a fine prompt. One good thing from my point of view though is that I had another look at my short story from the Random’s anthology Stalking Leviathan. I had some critique that the…[Read more]

I’m now almost halfway through Salter’s ‘Collected Stories’ and can understand how the short, sharp sentences make an impact, but I find most of his characters, male and female, seem a bit self-obsessed, and, for me, there is over-much description (as is often the case with American literature.) At least they are readable! Some time since I read…[Read more]

Well, these last few posts sent me off on a chase, which I shall spare you the detail of. I have never read anything by Salter, but probably shall, now. For what it’s worth, I emerged from my chase with a greater respect for George Orwell (though perhaps not his earlier novels) and a suspicion that Will Self may have confused writing literature…[Read more]

Salter is an author I’ve never read. 90% of my favourite                                                                                                                                                   contemporary authors are women, but that may be as much about genre as gender. I read very few thrillers or crime novels, and only occasional l…[Read more]

@ Daeds and Libby,

re James Salter, 2/3 years ago II read and was impressed by a short story featured in a newspaper. Eagerly borrowed ‘A sport and a pastime’ from the library and found it  heavy-going. Couple of months ago I bought his ‘Collected Stories, but have yet to begin it, but hope to do so with an eye to his style..

I wrote a short story with an MC lacking almost all redeeming qualities. It didn’t go down too well, although I quite enjoyed writing it. Patricia Highsmith’s writing is wonderful. Tom Ripley is a work of genius.

Also, hello stranger. How’s it going?

I’m not at all sure I’ve fully adhered to the brief, but this scraping of possibilities from my current wip is  the best I can do, before I leave the country 😉

Scene:

Need for a wee had Lucy check the time. Half ten. She’d been lying in her bed for more than two hours. Not moved since she’d taken refuge. Since hearing the click of the stre…[Read more]

Oh, EXCELLENT idea Sea – 0nly problem now, which do I choose??

Yes, I’ve got ??? : -)

Congratulations @ Seagreen, and thank you Squidge for prompt words, comments  and competition – a lot of fascinating uses of the three words.

A great batch of entries. Sadly, my good idea didn’t finally coalesce until I was dozing off last night.

“Stealing and giving odour “ [Twelfth Night]

From my very first whiff of the pipe tobacco I was a sucker for the scent of Balkan Sobranie. Given its name, thirteen-year-old imagination conjured red-jacketed hunters chasing yellow-eyed wolves through night forests. My Dad’s dour, ‘Four Square far cheaper,’ confirmed its blend  of leaves — Latakia…[Read more]