I’d never been a member of a Writers’ Group, though some of my writing friends are long term enthusiasts. So I’m not sure why in the autumn of 2024 I had the notion to get such a group started in my home parish. Kirkmahoe is a small, rural community in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, madeContinue reading “Starting a local Writers’ Group”
Category Archives: Short story
Lost in the allotment garden
There was always a laid-back air at the Tír na nÓg community gardens. Working collectively, growing fruit and vegetables organically, and sharing the produce equally, its members, youthful in the 1960s, were continuing their dreams in later years. Some evenings, blues-inflected guitar music would drift across the plots. On hot afternoons, a few folk mightContinue reading “Lost in the allotment garden”
February’s charms and alarms
The February man still shakes the snowFrom off his hair and blows his hands (1) For the Romans it was a month of purification. British weather lore declares it brings rain or snow, or both. The Venerable Bede called it the month of cakes. From Brigid to Valentine, many saints are associated with it. TheContinue reading “February’s charms and alarms”
Six word stories
Flash fiction is popular. Very short stories. From maybe fifty to a few hundred words. But how short can a short story be? Ernest Hemingway is credited with the quintessential version. A story of just six words. Coming across it a few months back (it’s easily found on the internet) I began scribbling my ownContinue reading “Six word stories”
A direct line to Paradise
Newly arrived from Virginia, Henry and Charlotte were entranced by Westminster Abbey. They had just spent two hours immersed in this Gothic-inspired royal church, full of tributes, memorials, the graves of remarkable people, and not least, with its wonderful mellifluous bells. It already felt like this was going to be the holiday of a lifetime. AContinue reading “A direct line to Paradise”
The unreliable narrator: a Christmas mystery story
In writing not one, but two previous Christmas mysteries, I have come to be regarded as something of an ‘unreliable narrator’. One who misleads and beguiles the reader in order to gain advantage. Apparently, it’s a trope much loved by writers, but I have to say it’s not one I care for. After all, I’mContinue reading “The unreliable narrator: a Christmas mystery story”
The Infinity Pool
The pool sits high above the loch. Find the correct vantage point and the two waters merge into one. On the far side, pebbly beaches, scrubby woodland, and low hills. Above them, long wisps of white cirrus that streak the cobalt blue sky. It’s a luminous May afternoon in Argyll and the holiday weekend isContinue reading “The Infinity Pool”
Heading Home: a miscellany of writings
In late 2020, on saying goodbye to four decades of work in academia, I resolved to devote time to something that had been bubbling up in my thinking for quite a while: the desire to continue writing, but to do so in a more creative and inventive manner. True, I’d recently written a biography whichContinue reading “Heading Home: a miscellany of writings”
The missing person: a Christmas mystery
He arrives home early to Scotland for Christmas in 2022. But within a few days he is taken back to the 18th century and the strange disappearance of a young woman from the parish. A Christmas mystery story.
The Hare, the Heron and the Professor: a story for ‘children of all ages’
Late one Spring evening, with the sun’s rays slanting low in the sky, the Professor took a walk around his garden. Pausing for a moment to admire the view to the hills beyond, something in the grass caught his eye. Lying next to a stone that had been warmed in the sunshine was a smallContinue reading “The Hare, the Heron and the Professor: a story for ‘children of all ages’”
Quotidian 