Author Archives

James is a full-time writer.

• Plastic dust-covers

  By James Ellis on February 28, 2023 • ( 0 )

  

  I love seeing my books in library. I like it even more that people are taking them out. But I really, really love those plastic dust-covers! Transports me to my childhood when I walked to the village library, kicking through… Read More ›

• Tender is the Flesh book review ****

  By James Ellis on October 25, 2022 • ( 0 )

  

  I have just read ‘Tender is the Flesh’ back-to-back with Stanley Tucci’s ‘Taste’ (which I loved) and quite honestly you could swap premises and they would read the same – human waxes lyrical over eating animal; human waxes lyrical over… Read More ›

• Passing the time with a six-month-old

  By James Ellis on July 23, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  One of the joys of being a second bloom parent is that when the Baby King looks closely at my face, he instinctively reaches for the loose folds of my skin. At least he’s too young to comment. At his… Read More ›

• Still learning after all these years

  By James Ellis on April 4, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  We love our house. It’s quirky and unusual and a bit bonkers with unexpected nooks and crannies and secret doorways. But love it though we do, before our new little housemate was born I was concerned its very quirkiness might… Read More ›

• A note to my newly born son

  By James Ellis on January 28, 2021 • ( 0 )

  

  Dear little one – you might have noticed a change of surroundings and are asking yourself, what the hell happened the other night? Well, you’ve been born. Don’t panic. We’ve all been through it. The experience will fade and you’ll… Read More ›

• A Christmas message to my soon to be born baby

  By James Ellis on December 24, 2020 • ( 1 )

  

  Dear little one, it’s your father again. You may have noticed your accommodation has less legroom than before. That’s because you will be born soon! I know. It’s amazing. Did you read that pamphlet on Ontology and Existentialism by Heidegger?… Read More ›

• A note to my yet to be born baby

  By James Ellis on November 5, 2020 • ( 1 )

  

  Dear little one, it’s your father here. How are you doing in there? Do you have everything you need? If you want any extras, put them on my bill. Now you’re minus-three-months-old I thought I’d write because there’s something I… Read More ›

• Kumi’s Cake shortlisted

  By James Ellis on October 30, 2020 • ( 0 )

  My short story, Kumi’s Cake, was shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Prize International Short Story Competition and I am still amazed, overjoyed and dumbstruck in equal measure (if you can imagine that expression, please send me a drawing). I’ve been… Read More ›

• Dear Auntie… stop using the third text message!

  By James Ellis on August 4, 2020 • ( 0 )

  

  Dear Auntie, could you please stop your continual use of the third text message? I know what you’re doing and it won’t work. Like yesterday. I told you I was going out, so you sent me a message. Have a… Read More ›

• Huy Truong’s outstanding envisioning of The Wrong Story characters

  By James Ellis on August 1, 2020 • ( 0 )

  I am indebted to the brilliant artist Huy Truong for his outstanding envisioning of some of the characters from The Wrong Story. These are the characters who inhabit the head of cartoonist Tom Hannah, and appear in his eco-cartoon strip…. Read More ›