KazG

Quite awful accident, Richard. I sought out some of the video and still-images after reading your blog, and I have to say that Hawthorn does look, physically, like the villain of the piece. Whether he was the actual villain or not, his face relaxes into a rather smug expression that does him no favours. I was reminded of the comedian Rob Beckett,…[Read more]

Well deserved win Kate, not only for the entrancing fairy story but for the impetus reading it gave me. And thank you Alex for the competition theme – the sort of challenge which stretches and inspires.

@ Athelstone – would it be possible to put that red reminder banner up more regularly? I confess I’d forgotten about the monthly comp and was…[Read more]

Thanks Richard

Ah, I see Edmund Clydesdale’s at it again. I’ll have to catch up with him. And there’s plenty of scope for drama in those Arctic convoys. One sale made.

Kindle out now, paperback in a couple of weeks

Tickled pink

Let me say straight away, it wasn’t what you – or any of my workmates – would think. Soon as I got over my … anger, I suppose, and looked at her, saw her, I heard my wife say, clear as if she was beside me, and we’d passed her in the street, “Asking for it!” She didn’t always bother to lower her voice, and inevitably I’d look to see…[Read more]

Dream of an electrician

The day that Colin first fell asleep in his van was as cold and unfriendly as a garden privy in the small hours of a winter’s night. Two long shifts, back-to-back, rewiring the mayoral offices in the town centre, saw him close to exhaustion. He had taken his supermarket sandwich down to the seafront and, with the windows c…[Read more]

Well, my vote is another month. If you’re up for it that is. If you’re OK with that, I’ll post an entry in the next few days.

That straight road through the village is actually called Roman Road. It’s part of the old Roman road from Neath to Brecon.

I do actually have an idea of what Banwen used to look like when the mine was open, because in the corridor in the Dove Workshop (an adult education and community centre, just visible in the opening shot among the trees, top…[Read more]

Yes, and not least among its attractions is that those houses in the terraces can still be had for less than £100,000.

The Valleys have always been famous for community spirit, though anyone who was alive when the mines were open will tell you that it’s not what it was. The mine at Banwen closed as long ago as 1964 (that pretty pond was once an…[Read more]

What a fabulous place. The film suggests a strong sense of community. Do you feel part of it as an “incomer”?

Not sure I’m representative, even though I am also (considerably) beyond 45. I don’t read as much as I did when I was, say, in my late-teens or early twenties. Then I could easily clear 3 or 4 books a week, sometimes 1 a day. I read pretty much every day. At the moment I am reading a book by somebody I know to provide a review. I have a vast pile…[Read more]

Great story Alex!

Thanks for the prompt @Seagreen. Gave me a chance to work out the back-story for one the main antagonists in my WIP.