Jonathan

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The pirogue nudged its way between the cypress stumps, lily pads parting in its path and reuniting in its wake. The only sounds came from the rustle of leaves in the slight breeze and the occasional slap and roil of a feeding bass. It was late afternoon; a low sun dappled the brown surface of the bayou and the shadows pointed like…[Read more]

Well done, Raine!

The same sort of appalling victim-blaming appears to have been prevalent in the much more recent Yorkshire Ripper enquiry. According to a recent documentary, the police assumed the ripper, Sutcliffe, was punishing prostitutes when, in fact, he was preying on their vulnerability. At one point they failed to “credit” a victim to him because she…[Read more]

Could not agree with you more on that, @Raine. There is no shame in surviving. Doing what you have to do in a system stacked against you.

This is so interesting, Richard. I don’t have any special knowledge about the Ripper case but it does sound like this is historical writing being bent to fit at agenda. I recently met with an Australian writer, Clare Wright, who won a major prize down here (the Stella Prize) for her book on women at the Eureka Stockade – an historical event that…[Read more]

Read this Richard as I’d watched the recent programme with the woman who is the lead in Silent Witness, an ex-prison governor with experience of serial killers and an ex-cold case copper, which looked at the Ripper story in light of modern techniques.

It was fascinating – a lot of the info I’d heard before, but what came clearly across is that…[Read more]

Thanks guys!

The wall or one’s head, @katemachon?!

Oh wow, what a story @philippaeast. Suspense and pacing tight as a drum, cool and utterly unnerving. Brilliant!

This story (in its various drafts) got rejected eleven (11!!!) times before it finally found a home last month with Barren Magazine.

https://barrenmagazine.com/the-catechism-of-ms-o/

Fab work, @Elle!

Nice one, Libby.

Thanks for that @clebs, great to see your enthusiasm. Some good thoughts there. I’m bogged down in various commissions with time running out fast at the moment, but will gather this all together asap

You have to be a member to access though.

Oh, I didn’t think it was for younger people. Read it as adult for sure. Hope it finds its form in the end, and that your other projects are going okay meantime. X

Another hugely entertaining tale of the rails, and very informative too. Thanks Richard.

Hey @bellam, I just saw an extract of your book on the JW slushpile live video (with the Bent Agency). I thought it was great, and I’m so intrigued about your characters, especially Molly. Hope you’ve worked our your narrative device…. 🙂