Jonathan Pinnock - Writer of Stuff

… is now published at Gloom Cupboard. This is quite possibly one of the silliest stories I’ve ever written. It started off as a flash during the 2007 Children in Need event, based on the prompt “I have sent you an ear”. I then expanded it a bit for last year’s VWC President’s Competition, where I think I’m right in saying it came second. I do rather like the characters Sergeant Constable and Constable Sargent, and I have a feeling that they may return at some point.

In other news, I’m rather chuffed that “Hidden Shallows” has been chosen to kick off Every Day Fiction‘s third year. September’s line-up actually looks rather impressive, featuring work by (amongst others) Sarah Hilary, Joel Willans, Krystyna Smallman, Aaron Polson, Cate Gardner and Oonagh Joslin. Quote from the editors:

All in all, it’s a power-packed month, as you might well expect since it opens with Jonathan Pinnock and closes with Oonah V Joslin.

Gulp.

I’ve got another post up at Every Day Fiction‘s blog, Flash Fiction Chronicles, today. It’s all about how problems with your plot can lead you to interesting and fruitful places.

Oh, and many thanks to Stu Sharp for his kind blog post here (thank you, Google Alerts). I’m very happy to return the compliment and direct you to his extremely entertaining blog, which I’ve just added to my RSS list.

My tribute to the bravery of librarians everywhere is now up at Every Day Poets. For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, the inspiration was the weekly Café Doom Flash Challenge, and the word of the week was “Silence”.

Well, there’s an arresting title for a story, eh? And it’s now up at Residential Aliens. A curious little vignette of misguided religious obsession. Or something like that. I do like the camel they’ve used to illustrate it, by the way. I actually rode on one in Jordan last year, not far from where they shot “Lawrence of Arabia”, and it was spectacularly uncomfortable. Wonder if I can get that past the taxman as research?

Following on from yesterday’s fastest-ever acceptance, here is that haiga, now published for all to see at Ink, Sweat and Tears. The photo was actually taken at Brighton, nearly twenty-five years ago, not long after I’d met the adorable Mrs P. Olympus OM-1, Kodachrome 25, some aperture or other.