Mad Iguana

Congratulations, Sandra! 😊 And well done to Ath and Daeds. All brilliant entries!

Thanks for the prompt, Janette, that encouraged me to try something completely different 👍

Smashing story, Sandra. Very well deserved win!

Wow, who would have guessed that no take-up would transform into four superb entries that I can’t fit a gnat’s wing between. I’ve read and re-read, and gone out for a walk – and here are my conclusions, before I change my mind:

Sandra – Catalyst

A gritty, rich voice taking us through a concise, gripping read and an unexpected but brilliantly…[Read more]

Rose the Cat

One day when I was seven, my sister Rose turned into a cat. I expected it because Rose had said ‘You won’t catch me here much longer. Not like this.’ Mr Cobden, the old man at the end of the road next to where the people had little walls all over their garden that my mum said were ‘common’, said to us that we would both live long…[Read more]

Transformation

It’s easy to transform. You just change, from one state to
Another. Nothing much to worry
About. Examples are (quite literally) everywhere you
Look. Consider the universe. Just
Took the universe a picosecond to drag itself
Out of an incomprehensible
Mess, shrugging on the laws of physics, sorting
Its chaotic nature into f…[Read more]

last (24hr-ish) shout for the monthly comp (do we still want to keep this going in its current form?). Already we have two excellent entries, but one or two more would be lovely.

Fantastic review and blog, Sandra. She really understood your book and your writing! Bravo and well-deserved.

UNTITLED (as usual!)
89 words, so a bit on the short side, and I don’t mind if this makes no sense to anyone but me 🙂

I saw the prompt and thought I would
Write a poem, if I could,
I took a vintage text (or two)
And tried to fashion something new,
Nothing worked till I caught sight
Of Sir Gawain and The Green Knight
And so my Transformation…[Read more]

Fab review! Well done – she clearly really enjoyed it & picked up on all the things that I love about your writing! 🙂

What a brilliant review. I hope this generates some activity/interest/sales!

Incidentally, I see that Carol McKay wrote a pandemic novel that just beat the actual pandemic to publication, as did Kimmery Martin and Lawrence Wright. But they got splashed all over the papers and radio for it. Not a fair world.

This is fab, Sandra. Congratulations.

One week left for the March comp, with one excellent entry as yet.

Wow, that’s not far from me at all. Half an hour by car. A pilgrimmage might be in order

That’s probably one reason it was chosen as a refuge for the band. And yes, it does sound worth a visit.

If you’re curious, this page has a photo of the house as it was when the band was there, though it appears to have been taken from the back garden. A click will blow it up.

Libby said:

Thanks, Richard. Have you been to Farley Chamberlayne? It’s worth a trip for anyone in the area. I can’t remember what the house looks like, and the internet isn’t obliging, but FC is a deserted medieval village with a pretty church. It feels remote and wild despite close proximity to Winchester.

R

Libby said:

Thank you for the blog, Richard.
A school friend was a fan of Fairport and Denny. I enjoyed listening but not enough to keep up an interest after school. Was the house in Hampshire Headley ?Grange. Led Zep recorded there. I still listen to them occasionally but after I left school I switched to classical and have stayed there ever…[Read more]