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Seagreen replied to the topic New novel from Kate Machon! in the forum Podium 1 year, 2 months ago
Ooh! Congratulations! 😀
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition April 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 2 months ago
UNTITLED (357 WORDS)
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.
Scrub the parsnips thoroughly, top and tail, then cut in half lengthways.
It’s Mum’s old recipe. I’ve never used it before, but George’s parents are coming for dinner and his dad is especially fond of roast parsnips, apparently. Or so George would have me believe. Honestly? I think i…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic New novel from Kate Machon! in the forum Podium 1 year, 2 months ago
Really well deserved. I love the fact that you carried the two MCs along for ages and are reaping the rewards!
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 2 months ago
Thanks, Sandra, for the prompt, which I did find somewhat challenging (not a bad thing).
Fantastic entries from everyone else! You motivated me to (try to!) do better.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 2 months ago
You may not have expected it, but you should believe it, Libby. really sharp story there.
Thanks, Sandra. I enjoyed that prompt. And thanks to all the other entrants; I really enjoyed reading through them this month.
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 2 months ago
“you will mistake the gulls
for the screaming of a girl
and run out of your flat
to an empty landing”
you will turn your head this way and that and peer over the railing to the stairwell below,
seeing no-one, hearing nothing, not even an echo of the sound you followed in the first place. You will grasp the red-painted railing with both…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition March 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 2 months ago
Of course, I felt stupid when I realised. There I was standing on the landing in shorts and tee-shirt with my apron on. “World’s Best Chef” it said on the font. Katya bought it for me for Christmas—oh—must be ten years ago. Mrs. Hardcastle from number seventy was out there as well. I wonder if she thought…
‘Morning Mrs. Hardcastle. It was the gu…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Wild West Railway in the forum Blogs 1 year, 2 months ago
Fabulous blog again, Richard. I’ve always been fascinated by narrow-gauge railways. I’m not quite sure what it is, but maybe it’s the feeling of being able to step into (or onto) something that doesn’t look feasible. I remember my excitement as a child on holiday visiting the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway in Devon.
Mind you, you wouldn’t get me…[Read more]
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 3 months ago
Hi, I’ve just completed a substantial number of software maintenance updates. It all looked fine on the test site before I went ahead, but as the testing team (me) had limited time to test, I may have missed something. Any bugs or issues you spot, please let me know. Thanks. Ath.
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Enemy Within in the forum Blogs 1 year, 3 months ago
You’re quite right, and I made an over-generalisation instead of a point! What I was trying to say was that even though the superficial details of policy may change from government to government and party to party, the underlying assumptions are adopted almost intact. To borrow a cliche, the playing field remains the same. It may develop over…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Enemy Within in the forum Blogs 1 year, 3 months ago
“The country needed someone like her” is one of those things people say when they vaguely recall the 60s and 70s through the prism of relentless rightwing media. It’s as though the fact that you could buy your own telephone with better features than a Post Office one after the GPO was broken up for sale was a sign of Liberty leaping over the…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic The Enemy Within in the forum Blogs 1 year, 3 months ago
I remember as a young child of nine or ten learning about the coal mining industry in Britain. The teacher confidently predicted that there was enough coal to keep Britain self-sufficient for as long as the next thousand years. Most sane, or I should say morally-sane people know that exploitation of fossil fuels in a way that releases pollutants,…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 3 months ago
Fabulous! I loved each and every one of these. Sandra, very well done. I’ll remember this as I tuck into my light supper tonight.
Thanks for the prompt Seagreen.
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 3 months ago
I was mooching around the bookstore with my daughter when I read the dedication in Onyx Storm, and it immediately brought to mind my eleven-year-old self – pink, NHS framed glasses, front teeth that I still had to grow into, and a passion for escaping into some book or other, looking for adventure. I posted the dedication as the monthly comp in…[Read more]
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Thank you for your kind comments, Sea. However I think such a subject would maybe better suited to @johnt3, or perhaps another Welsh writer whose genre is children’s stories.
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Athelstone posted an update 1 year, 3 months ago
Some of you may remember Gary Steward from the Wordcloud days. I see that he’s just published the book he was working on way back then. I *think* it was called “The Lemon Grove” back then, but you can find his book on Amazon, kindle or paperback, as the similar sounding “Where Lemons Grow”.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 3 months ago
Katherine is typing…
JohnG91 19:44
Hi Kath. I’ve been thinking about what you said. You know, about being decisive. I’ve made a decision. You’ve bullied me into it.
JohnG91 19:57
Just read that back. The bullied thing was supposed to be a joke. Well light-hearted anyway. You’re not a bully. I know when you talked about people who don’t mak…[Read more]
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 3 months ago
Oh, for goodness sake!
Bilbo, not Frodo. Where is my head at? -
Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 3 months ago
We have a week to go.
Still time to access your inner burglar and be the next Frodo Baggins ????
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 4 months ago
Including figurative dragons, of course ☺️
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Seagreen started the topic Monthly Competition – February 2025 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 year, 4 months ago
This is the dedication from Onyx Storm (new book from Rebecca Yarros)
To the ones who don’t run with the popular crowd,
the ones who get caught reading under their desks,
the ones who feel like they never get invited, included, or represented.
Get your leathers. We have dragons to ride.
400 words or less on if, and how, you or your MC would…[Read more]
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