@sandradavies
Active 3 days, 7 hours ago-
Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 52 minutes ago
Body of evidence.
It’s not as though this is the first body I’ve seen, and it’s not as though this is the first person I’ve killed. As a death it was unremarkable: quick, expected, and I imagine she knew nothing about it. A clean shot through the back of the head in mid-conversation. Only a few of my targets have been so lucky, but my intenti…[Read more]
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John T posted an update 3 weeks ago
Hello all. I hope you’ve all survived the summer heat. Sorry for the prolongued absence. While battling the heatwaves, I’ve been deep in editing. Some of you might remember a short story of mine called One Kiss, back in WordCloud days. Well, it became a novel called A Policy on Kissing that was longlisted for the Bath Novel Award in 2016, but…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 weeks ago
The original idea came from Harry Bingham on the WordCloud, who presented a bottle of something similar to Champagne as a prize each month. When it began to fall apart it was taken up by Wrathnar the Unreasonable (sans Champagne) and then by the winner of the competition each month.
It was adopted by the Den when the Cloud finally closed
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Athelstone started the topic The 2027 Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition in the forum Competitions, Open calls and Writing Opportunities 4 weeks ago
The 2027 Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition is Now Open!
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Great monthly comp, Libby. And a well-deserved win for Seagreen.
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Seagreen started the topic Monthly Comp – September 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I don’t know if anyone remembers one of FergC’s challenges on the Cloud when he asked us to get in touch with our darker writing selves and be the villain? I hated it. Sobbed as I wrote, in fact, but my goodness I was stretched by it and just a tiny bit shocked at how wicked I could be.
I hope to stretch you now…
There’s a body.
Whether…[Read more]
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Thanks for the prompt Libby. It seems to have been an age since IÂ tested the writerly muscles…
And I second Jill’s call for virtual medals all round! 🙂
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month ago
John on holiday
John.
This is the strangest holiday ever. Chris should have been here. She even did all the bookings for us, and now I have to explain to everybody why it’s only me. The weather is perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. She’d have loved it—walking along the coast, looking down on the seabird colonies. Salt, warm seaweed on the narro…[Read more]
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Seagreen replied to the topic Monthly Competition August 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month ago
The Space Between the Notes (334 words inc title)
It was more than a holiday; it was a ritual, starting with the drive north. The choice of music; what the kids called my soppy stuff – Savage Garden, Beautiful South and sshhh, don’t say it out loud, Barry Manilow – and the way I always packed the car with a hundred and one things I wou…[Read more]
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Daedalus replied to the topic Vaulting Ambition: the BRM V16 in the forum Blogs 1 month, 1 week ago
Great blog as usual Richard. It’s a fascinating story. One of those that has so much promise of what might have been, yet also so typical of the often shambolic British way of going about things that one feels it could only ever have ended up this way. Look at the contemporary British aviation industry – much brilliance and yet so much avoidable c…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic A bit "poorly" in the forum Blogs 1 month, 2 weeks ago
Jill, the Den’s Activity Page posts extracts changes (replies, new topics etc) from the public sections of the Den. You replied directly to the Activity Page version of this thread – you can check by selecting “Activity” from the menu at the top of all the Den’s pages. It’s all still there, although you’ll need to scroll a *long* way as my…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 1 month, 4 weeks ago
Jill’s entry grabbed my attention straight away, because although my own childhood was a few years later, so much was the same. And yes, all the shops shut. In fact, almost everything shut on a Sunday apart from Church and Sunday School. “Hear the pennies dropping” for those who remember it. So much centered on the home back then. A wonderful…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months ago
A brace of fabulous entries this month. Real life has struck at an awkward moment with silly demands on time. I hope you won’t mind too much If I pinch a day from the next comp. and post the results tomorrow evening. So sorry about that.
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Janette replied to the topic Flash fiction published in the forum Podium 2 months ago
Many congratulations, Libby x
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Athelstone posted an update 2 months, 1 week ago
Perilously close to the end of July for anybody wanting to enter the monthly competition. The prize this month is the unending adulation of your sister/fellow competitors. Just 400 words could see you enjoying all that. Do you remember the bell ringing on a platform to signal an approaching train, discussing whether careless words could cost…[Read more]
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Echoes of a life twinkling in time.
As years roll away from me I look back at reflections caught in memories rainbow.
I know I was lucky. My childhood was idyllic, because woven among the colours of my life and simplicity of youth, the feelings of each moment are held, perfect and bright, like small lights of sheltering warmth against the…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Dear All,
Please note that this doesn’t have to be about an object. From the theme up there (points up) “an object, or an event, or a saying, or anything at all really that you remember as commonplace when you were young”
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Terrie replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 2 months, 2 weeks ago
Me too, Sandra, mine’s a green one . I also have my grandparents twisted metal meat skewers too. 🙂
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Kate posted an update 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Woohoo. Today is release day for book 3 in my Pix and Gabe Adventure series – The Book Trap. The characters would never have seen the light of day without Athelstone’s winter writing challenge, where they emerged in a short story. Some of you have been kind enough to support earlier books, so if anyone is interested, here’s a link. 😀…[Read more]
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition July 2026 in the forum Monthly Competition 3 months ago
Thank you, Jill. I forgot to set a word limit, so I take your entry as “the bar” and set it now at 400 words.
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