Collecting the prize

At the end of last month, Sherry Morris came to stay with us, together with her partner Phil. I suppose you could say she came to collect her prize as winner of the… Continue reading →

X is for Xavier

Apart from having a name that begins with X, Xavier isn’t an interesting person at all. But he does indirectly lead to Cat Tales, the anthology drawn from last year’s Book a Break… Continue reading →

R is for Rover

One of a writer’s tricks, I’ve learnt, is to defy expectations. You think Rover’s a dog? Aha! Rover is the name of the cat in Waifs and Strays, Louise G. Cole’s story in story… Continue reading →

K is for Kyoto

You may have gathered that every so often, I’m partial to a bit of philosophy. What could be nicer, on a dreary afternoon, than a nice thick smoothie of Schopenhauer or Kant? Except… Continue reading →

J is for Jimmy

He caught up with me by the swings, long legs taking him across the distance in half the time mine did. But instead of teasing me further, he let me sit down and… Continue reading →

C is for Couvelaire

That’s the name of the family in What They Want, Jill Barth’s story in story in Cat Tales, the anthology drawn from last year’s Book a Break short story competition. Quite a family,… Continue reading →

Meet the Winners

I just have time to slip in a post or two before Smith takes over the blog for a month of A to Z. So although he’ll be writing about the 2016 Book… Continue reading →

Final Call

Book a Break Short Story competition: final call.

Cat Tales is out!

Well, it took a while, but Cat Tales, the anthology of 21 of the best stories submitted to the first Book a Break short story competition is now available. And there’s no better… Continue reading →

And the winner is…

  As promised here is Atthys Gage’s text accompanying the result of the first Book a Break Short Story Competition. I’ve modified nothing, except to add the authors’ names after the corresponding numbers.… Continue reading →