International Burns Day

I thought that it must have been International Burns Day with the victims on parade, their different scars on display. Marks I had not seen before. Hair up, showing pigmentless flesh below the ear. Flashmark along the arm. Puckered skin running down the rear of a shoulder. Are these the marks that all lives leave, […]

To dream the impossible etc

News of the bus misadventure high in the Canutes caused me to reflect on an incident from my school days. Those of a certain age will remember the tightening of the local school curriculum, when a scientific fine tooth comb was drawn through the hippy length hair of what in those days passed for the […]

One of many reasons I love Tim Powers

The real reason to write fiction, after all, isn’t to make money, nor to show the human heart in conflict with itself, nor to give a picture of one’s time, nor to call attention to the plight of any oppressed classes, but to show off. You want to be able to say to visitors, “Sit […]

A very good month

Hello David, Congratulations! Your story ‘Avoiding Gagarin’ has been accepted for publication … That makes me a very happy old builder. Second acceptance for the month … year … century … Details to follow …

SURPRISE

SURPRISE Cancer too is a prize You don’t have to queue at the newsagent’s to buy a ticket. They slip it in with the teddy bear, the Beatrix Potter china setting, the first photograph album, unnoticed. The final draw may be foreshadowed in the missed stitch in the booties grandma made put aside, only used […]

Hip to the max

Don’t say I’m no hep cat, I’m hip to where the youngsters are at. I keep myself youthful by staying in touch with my inner child and staying alert to the latest jive. Wanna stay young, have to keep with it, dog! Been listening to Katy Perry singing Roar … (Do you get the feeling […]

The sweetest thing

Dear David Stevens, Thank you for sending us “Good Boy”. We love it and would like to publish it … No, thank you!! Big smile! The things that get us through the day.

Cheerful Apocalypse

“But David”, I hear you say, “you drag us down with your dismal ends of the world, your Cormac McCarthy, your environmental collapse, your negativity. What about a cheerful apocalypse?” Girls and boys and mutants, look no further! “And it won’t be a pretty sight” cha cha cha … … (Thank you Daylight Savings and […]