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 ›
Writerly Things
Dear Auntie… stop using the third text message!
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
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 ›
#LockdownLit: The Therapist
She said, it had been traumatic. She said, not traumatic like explosions or being in a war. She hadn’t been buried alive or anything. It wasn’t that sort of traumatic. She said, if she didn’t talk about it she’d go… Read More ›
#LockdownLit: One Hell of an Evening
Max thumped his steering wheel. “Come on.” In the distance, the traffic lights changed from red to amber to green but the line of cars barely moved. They were backed up as far as he could see, in front and… Read More ›
#LockdownLit: Early Days
Andrea said to me, our life is too shallow. I said, define shallow. She said, when you wake up what do you think about? I said, what shirt to put on. She laughed. See? I said, okay, let’s talk deep…. Read More ›
#LockdownLit: The Beast
Before dishwashers became a standard feature in most people’s kitchens, every town had at least one crockery cleaning kiosk located near a car-park or taxi rank, or within easy reach of public transport. In those days it was common during… Read More ›
#LockdownLit: The Fire-Diver’s Assistant
The fire-diver was called Gregory, and I assisted him by chalking arrows on the walls of seaside towns; writing things like This Way To See The Great Fire-Diver – Three O’Clock, or, It’s The Greatest Show On Earth – Don’t… Read More ›
Book launch deferred
Darn – Happy Family‘s book launch can’t happen on April 25th. But it’s not cancelled, just deferred. We’re moving it to when we can all gather and mingle in safety. Details to follow. In the meantime, keep buying books (especially… Read More ›
Facebook school friends: let’s move on
I am in contact with only two of my schoolfriends. By contact, I mean we actually meet face to face – until COVID, that is. With everyone else, either the bonds weren’t strong enough or I was too lazy to… Read More ›
JAMES ELLIS in words 