Sophie Jonas-Hill

Good topic John. Will DEFINITELY enter this one (and apols to Raine whose comp I failed to contribute to)

I didn’t know about that one – lucky it wasn’t catastrophic. I admit to a fondness for the LMS streamliners, and, contrary soul that I am, prefer them to the much more successful LNER ones. This is partly because I was given a ‘Coronation Scot’ for my train set in my childhood (including a carriage by my grandmother, which I think was the last Ch…[Read more]

Well, I didn’t see that coming. Thanks, Raine.
Well done to all the entrants for taking part.

Fascinating and absorbing stuff as ever, Richard. As well as the wonderful clarity and readability of the technical matters, I find the culture of the railway companies and the way it affected how they ran their services really eye-opening. We have it pretty bad these days, with the worst combination of competition and monopoly, but at least we…[Read more]

Another interesting and entertaining story from the world of railways – thank you Richard.

Hope so @elle! In truth the numbers game is a problem for me, as I struggle to write enough to get the hit rate. Will keep trying though. The Barren editors are lovely, they gave me the nicest rejection ever 🤣

Thanks @@daedalus. In all honesty for every publication there are about a dozen rejections as well. It’s kind of a number’s game. People who run Barren Magazine are just great, so thoughtful of writers. Who knows 2019 might be the year for you.

Well done Elle. I’m impressed with all these publications. I still haven’t had one since my first nearly four years ago, despite a concerted effort recently. I did have a very kind rejection from Barren Magazine recently, which still counts as ‘a miss is as good as a mile’.

Thanks @philippaeast!

Road to Redemption

It was the hour before dawn on Christmas morning. Robert stood under a pair of bay trees at the far end of the garden and breathed deeply, calming himself. The darkest hour it’s sometimes called, but he could see the light was coming fast now, a sliver of red showing on the eastern horizon and he knew he’d have to hurry. Sho…[Read more]

Congrats again, @Elle!

My last story of the year has been published today by Reflex Fiction https://www.reflexfiction.com/a-thin-blue-line-flash-fiction-by-laure-van-rensburg/

Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy the holidays! xx

That’s brilliant news! Congratulations, cannot wait to read your story in Disturbing the Beast.

Thanks Ath and Libby!

Yes I think my experience was unusual in the sheer volume of rewriting I ended up doing. It really didn’t help that I began writing the novel with absolutely no idea about plot or where I was headed. I’m pretty sure that if I’d had a clearer outline and idea of the shape of my book from the start it wouldn’t have needed 24…[Read more]

The Penlee lifeboat disaster was 37 years ago today, Twitter reminds me. If you haven’t read Richard’s blog about it, above, I highly recommend you do