2023-08-27 17:10
This is a very strange book on one hand and fascinating on the other. Characters are introduced in almost every chapter but they’re never described, in fact the main character is never… Read More
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Julian Worker Fiction Writing Blog
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Excerpts from my murder/mystery stories and examples of my creative writing.
2023-08-18 02:39
This is a superb short story with historical characters as the two main people in the story, indeed the only two characters who are given names.
The historical story concerns many other p… Read More
2023-07-03 03:30
This is a book of 12 short stories by P.G. Wodehouse. The first six are excellent as they involve the familiar characters of Blandings Castle such as Lord Emsworth, his son Freddie Threepwoo… Read More
2023-06-26 00:28
The shy Unn and the lively Siss are in the same class at school aged around 11.
Unn prefers to remain aloof from the other children whereas Siss is the centre of attention and a leader in… Read More
2023-06-13 19:39
Ivan Dragomiloff is the founder and mastermind of the secret Assassination Bureau, Ltd. The social reformer Winter Hall falls in love with Grunya, who is Dragomiloff’s daughter. When H… Read More
2023-06-07 22:19
A wonderful collection of witty verses from the late 1930s and early 1940s that made me chuckle, not necessarily because they’re funny but because they’re extremely clever. Perha… Read More
2023-06-01 19:58
The star of this book is the treacherous Skeleton Coast where the action takes place at two different periods in history, in the 1950s and during WWII.
Geoffrey Peace is the skipper of a… Read More
2023-05-26 03:50
Graham Greene wrote The Tenth Man in 1944 when he was under a two-year contract with MGM. The manuscript lay forgotten in their archives until 1983 . It was published two years later.
Thi… Read More
2023-05-20 02:31
These are interesting essays by Walter Benjamin who is now considered to have been the most important German literary critic in the first half of the 20th century.
Born into a prosperous… Read More
2023-05-13 22:37
This is a compelling novel about The Gambler, Alexey Ivanovitch, who is working in the household of a Russian General – he was only promoted to this rank on his retirement – who… Read More
2023-05-08 02:51
This book was published in 1894 and is set in the Northern wilderness of Norway. The book tells the story of a summer relationship between Lieutenant Thomas Glahn who is spending time on hol… Read More
2023-04-30 02:28
John Creasey wrote more than six hundred novels using twenty-eight different pseudonyms during his career as a novelist.
This is one of the Chief Inspector Roger West books known alternat… Read More
2023-04-24 03:29
This book is rather different from other books you’ll read.
It’s the third novel in a series that began with Barabbas and The Sibyl.
Ahasuerus is mentioned in certain Old T… Read More
2023-04-18 03:51
This novel is set in a small town in Ireland and follows the thoughts of Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant who is married with five daughters. He works hard but life is still a strugg… Read More
2023-04-15 03:34
The Greeks were going to use a real horse at Troy until…
This is the diary of a time-travelling health and safety executive who tries to stop accidents through history before they… Read More
2023-04-12 04:51
Aldous should have toned down his inclination to use his wide vocabulary in favour of a more mantra-like style that would have been more in keeping with the ideas in the book.
This book d… Read More
2023-04-10 17:53
These places will NOT be found an any map or in any atlas.
This book describes a large number of little-known tourist sights from around the world. A book for the discerning traveller who ha… Read More
2023-04-05 21:27
A superb PG Wodehouse story where aged golfer Sir Hugo Drake falls for the shot-making abilities of a beautiful woman doctor called, you’ve guessed it, Dr Sally Smith.
The thing is… Read More
2023-03-28 02:40
This is a real page turner.
An old wooden ship is trapped in the Antarctic ice. It set sail from Argentina to the Falkland Islands two years after the war between the UK and Argentina was… Read More
2023-03-22 04:25
Mattis is the main character of this book that deals with human relations, emotions, and sensitivities. It’s about relationships between people and between people and nature.
Mattis… Read More
2023-03-15 03:07
Karl Braun is a cultured German gentleman who works as a piano tuner in the London of the mid 1960s. Many of his fellow emigres assume like them he fled to England to avoid the Nazis.
In… Read More
2023-03-12 03:50
This is Page 7 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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“It’s my first morning here,” I reply. “I do… Read More
2023-03-10 03:42
This is Page 6 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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The final dining option is some small, sandy-coloured nuts that are… Read More
2023-03-08 03:36
This is Page 5 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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I wake up on my first morning in my new dwelling. I find my litter t… Read More
2023-03-07 22:39
5 Days in the life of an English office – you can buy it here
There’s lots of banter and insults flying around in this story.
One person goes to the wrong place for the wee… Read More
2023-03-06 03:33
This is Page 4 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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Gemma’s most awful stare she reserves for the humans. This is… Read More
2023-03-04 03:29
This is Page 3 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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When John brought me to the house where I live now, he let me out of… Read More
2023-03-02 03:26
This is Page 2 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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Well, you can probably guess the rest. John saw me at the shelter an… Read More
2023-02-28 21:55
Polina Barskova was born and brought up in Leningrad over 30 years after the end of the siege of that city by the Germans during WWII. The siege lasted from September 1941 to January 1944. T… Read More
2023-02-28 03:24
This is Page 1 from the book Diary of a Buddhist Cat
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Hello, my name is Freddie. I am a cat.
I live in a house with ano… Read More
2023-02-24 22:04
My book Keeping in Touch is available here at a discount from 24th February to 3rd March.
We are closer to those further away than to those nearer to us.
A story about communication in… Read More
2023-02-22 04:09
The first James Bond book that Ian Fleming wrote and I recognised some of the details from the 2006 film of the same name.
Le Chiffre is a nearly bankrupt member of the secretive SMERSH o… Read More
2023-02-19 18:00
My name is Brian Snell and I am a representative of the Health and Safety Time Executive or HASTE for short.
I have a kept a diary of my more interesting experiences as it was important to… Read More
2023-02-18 22:17
How did the Yeti receive its name?
Find out in this book – available at a discount between 17th February and 24th February.
You can also read:
an obituary of a WWII flying ace… Read More
2023-02-08 05:00
This is the third novel in the original Laidlaw trilogy.
The death of his brother Scott in an apparent accident – Scott was drunk and hit by a car driven by a newsagent – has… Read More
2023-01-24 03:25
This was the first time I’d read a book by Neil Gaiman.
This is more of a fairy tale than say Terry Pratchett’s books.
In Stardust we have the story of Tristan Thorn who li… Read More
2023-01-19 20:09
This is a fine read, a really good story, set in 1934 in which we’re introduced to the character called Ginger, who’s a really imaginative thinker and notices things that Biggles… Read More
2023-01-15 04:57
First published in Great Britain in 1937, The Hobbit must be one of the most influential books of the first half of the 20th Century and should be read by anyone who enjoys a good story… Read More
2023-01-12 03:15
A few hours after marrying Angela Vicario her husband, Bayardo San Roman, returns his bride to her parents. Angela’s family force her to name her first lover and once she does that, Sa… Read More
2023-01-04 04:46
This is such a sad book with an open ending but I can imagine what was going to happen.
Ludwig is a young German from a humble background who gains employment with a wealthy businessman… Read More
2022-12-30 20:47
Nicolas Whistler is a young man who lives in digs in London and spends most of his spare cash on his car. He has a girlfriend that he rather likes and a job he doesn’t like. He regular… Read More
2022-12-30 04:54
Our Cats in Amsterdam is the sequel to The Diary of a Buddhist Cat.
This is the link to the review on Reedsy:
Freddie and Gemma’s combination of daring rescues, apprehension of t… Read More
2022-12-24 07:33
This story is not what I was expecting.
In general usage, Kraken refers to a sea monster such as a large octopus or squid. In this story, there is something in the oceans of the world but… Read More
2022-12-12 02:50
She’d loved animals her whole life.
When her friends expressed their sadness that no one was hunting the hunters of animals, she decided to rectify the situation.&nbs&hell…Read More
2022-12-09 01:56
A book on life in an English office called Office Life is available at a discount from 8th December to 14th December. 5 Days in the life of an English officeThere’s lots of banter… Read More
2022-12-08 00:55
My book Keeping in Touch is available here at a discount from 6th December to 13th December.
We are closer to those further away than to those nearer to us.
A story about communication… Read More
2022-11-27 03:05
This is the first Biggles book I’ve ever read and I am genuinely impressed.
Obviously, Biggles is always going to triumph and isn’t going to be shot dead or shot down in his a… Read More
2022-11-14 06:46
This is an extremely long thriller at over 550 pages. It needs to be though as there are so many characters not all of whom are what they seem to be at first appearance.
The good people a… Read More
2022-11-09 04:55
This novella explores fertility, masculinity, marriage, and tropical fish in contemporary Japan.
There are three interconnected scenes in the book. The connection is the narrator and one… Read More
2022-11-06 22:20
This is a superb story from Alan Bennett. As I read this, I was able to imagine listening to an audiobook of this story narrated by the author and loving the inflections of his voice.
The… Read More
2022-11-03 02:53
This is a book mainly set in The Balkans in the middle of World War II. Three Yugoslavs set out from Rome to warn The Partisans about the German battle plan that will soon be launched agains… Read More
2022-10-30 19:04
This is Julian Barnes’s first book and it’s in three parts.
The first and third sections are set in Metroland – a strip of suburbia in outer London – in 1963 and 1… Read More
2022-10-27 04:29
The original text for this book first appeared in Punch magazine but was turned into a book and published in 1892.
Weedon Grossmith drew the illustrations that illuminate this book.
Th… Read More
2022-09-25 02:44
I really do appreciate the Blandings Castle books of PG Wodehouse.
The characters are larger than life and magnificent in their individual traits.
Here both of the pigs vying for the S… Read More
2022-09-17 21:42
This is autofiction, a form of fictionalized autobiography. Autofiction combines two mutually inconsistent narrative forms, namely autobiography and fiction.
The protagonist of Marshlands… Read More
2022-09-13 01:17
Our room is a lovely blue colour with sunlight coming through a window high on the wall, so we must be in a cellar somewhere. Four beds, two in a bunk bed, and two separate, round beds are p… Read More
2022-09-12 01:16
As the train speeds up from Lille, the sun comes out, and it looks lovely outside.
“It looks lovely outside, Gemma,” I say, trying to engage her in conversation.
“I&r&hell…Read More
2022-09-11 01:15
At about 7pm, Mrs Elkins arrives with two cat carriers, two toys, and what looks like an overnight bag. The black cat carriers are rather luxurious and lined with material. There is a small… Read More
2022-09-10 01:14
By the time I wake up, John and Mary have already left for the airport. I walk around the house looking at how neat and tidy they’ve left everything. They did a lot of washing yesterda… Read More
2022-09-09 01:39
This just might be the best fiction book I read in 2022.
It’s utterly brilliant and yet I can’t work out why. In a way, it doesn’t matter.
It combines a heroine who h… Read More
2022-09-09 01:13
On the rest of this today, and the next today, the humans pack and unpack their bags several times each and change their suitcases twice. This suggests indecision to me, but they eventually… Read More
2022-09-08 01:12
“Hello Freddie and Gemma, how are you, and who are your friends?” asks Rufus.
“Hello squirrel,” says Gemma, “to answer your question, those were our friends… Read More
2022-09-07 01:11
…then there was Our Cats in Amsterdam – Freddie and Gemma have been recruited to help Europol in Amsterdam.
“Can I have some books, please?” I ask politely, &ldqu&hell…Read More
2022-09-06 01:10
First there was the Diary of a Buddhist Cat.
Rufus stands still and looks at the human. I am closer to the window and observe Rufus is transfixed. I grab his tail and drag him across the… Read More
2022-09-03 02:13
Well better late than never for me to discover this poem about non-violent opposition to the oppressors, a message that will be taken up in increasing numbers as governments become more and… Read More
2022-08-29 01:51
For some reason I adore these books about Blandings Castle and yet I don’t like the Jeeves and Wooster books.
I think it’s because everyone in the Blandings Castle books is so… Read More
2022-08-17 21:30
This is a review of Avalanche Express.
This is a cold war escape story of a high-ranking member of the Politburo of the Soviet Union who defects in Romania and is flown to Milan, just be… Read More
2022-08-10 19:09
This book is written by Edward Marston who writes the Railway Detective series. The style of writing is very similar, plenty of dialogue driving the plot strongly forwards like the engines o… Read More
2022-08-05 01:54
This Van der Walk book grew on me as the story progressed.
Initially, the story didn’t grab me as the police appeared to know who the culprits were very quickly, but it was the reas… Read More
2022-07-30 21:22
Written in 1936, this is a lovely story about rich males who seem able to drop their jobs / business dealings to support the son of a friend who is being threatened by unscrupulous types… Read More
2022-07-26 01:46
Rex Fortescue, Adele Fortescue, and Gladys Martin all die within a few hours. Rex was poisoned by Taxine, a poisonous constituent of yew plants, Adele was poisoned by potassium cyanide, and… Read More
2022-07-18 20:47
Book Number 6 in the Inspector Singh series is called A Calamitous Chinese Killing. It is an enjoyable tale of a Singaporean policeman investigating the murder of a Singapore student in Beij… Read More
2022-07-14 19:07
The Odessa File was the bestseller written after The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth.
In the book, Odessa are an organisation formed to protect ex-SS members and to try to impl… Read More
2022-07-11 02:03
The DH Lawrence novella about two girls, Banford and March, whose existence is terminally interrupted by the arrival of a soldier, whose grandfather lived on the farm that the girls are work… Read More
2022-05-28 03:48
A book I didn’t want to end as for me there are many questions left unanswered about the characters, but I can’t say what those questions are otherwise I will give away the endin… Read More
2022-05-14 03:14
Georges Simenon books are so easy to read. There’s snippets of conversation, vivid descriptions of the countryside, and a mystery thrown in for good measure.
Maigret investigates a… Read More
2022-05-04 21:37
I’ve never read a Henry James book before and then I saw a copy of this book in MacLeod’s bookshop in Vancouver and thought I should give it a go.
Well, I’m glad I did… Read More
2022-04-24 03:11
This is the sequel to Three Men in a Boat and it is really rather good, especially when the three men – George, Harris and J – are travelling around the middle of Europe interact… Read More
2022-04-17 00:44
This is a high-level guide to The Holy Grail charting the origins of the quest from the early Christian gospels through to modern day stories and films.
The book introduces all the charac… Read More
2022-04-11 23:53
This story won the Pulitzer Prize for Thornton Wilder in 1928.
This is a fictional story that explores the lives of five strangers who die in the collapse of a rope bridge on the road fro… Read More
2022-04-08 23:20
This book dates from around 1250AD though many of the poems contained in it are a lot older and occur nowhere else, showing what a valuable service the unknown monk who copied them down onto… Read More
2022-04-03 22:35
This is the story of Yorick, a sentimental traveller, who on a whim decides to journey from England first to France and then head towards Turin in Italy. His journey takes him via Calais, Am… Read More
2022-03-27 04:34
I enjoyed this book but nowhere near as much as Guards ! Guards! , Men At Arms, and especially Feet of Clay, the three City Watch books before Jingo.
The gas-powered appearance of the isl… Read More
2022-03-13 04:14
William Golding won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. His first novel, Lord of the Flies, is probably his best known work.
Pincher Martin is on a navy vessel escorting a North Atlan… Read More
2022-03-12 03:47
Thomas Mann subtitled the novella An Indian Legend as the story is based on an old folk tale from India.
Two friends Nanda and Shridaman see the lovely Sita bathing in a local pool and ea… Read More
2022-03-11 03:17
This book was written in 1898 and comprises 245 fantastic fables from Ambrose Bierce.
These tales lampoon greedy politicians, judges, holy men, poets and many others.
I would suggest t… Read More
2022-03-07 05:02
Leo Tolstoy was born into an aristocratic family in 1828. His real name was Count Lyov Nikolayevich Tolstoy. Both his parents and two guardians died before he was 12. Leo and his siblings en… Read More
2022-02-28 03:45
Another wonderful story concerning Professor Dr Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld by Alexander McCall Smith.
I’m not reading these books in the correct order, but it doesn’t matter… Read More
2022-02-23 01:07
This story is by Mikhail Bulgakov who wrote The Master and Margarita, a considerably longer book than this one.
Mikhail Bulgakov’s work was read and publicly criticised by Josef Sta… Read More
2022-02-17 03:41
This is one of those books we all should read once in our lives , in fact perhaps more than once. I read this story about 30 years ago and I’m sure it didn’t make me feel like it… Read More
2022-02-11 02:07
In this Fanstory contest , I had to write a rhyming love poem to Xi Jinping and/or the Chinese Communist Party to thank them for hosting the Olympic Games.
Obviously, this is an absurd id… Read More
2022-02-11 02:01
This is a short story from Reedsy
“Are you there God? It’s me.”
I was kneeling on a red cushion in a pew in the cathedral with the soft light from the stained glass… Read More
2022-01-31 23:35
We apologise for the inconvenience.
I’ll let you find out the significance of these words by reading almost to the end of this fourth book in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Gal… Read More
2022-01-30 01:42
This is an excellent story about Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the institute of Romance Philology whose quest to gain respect for his intellectual interests goes awry in a hilari… Read More
2022-01-28 02:17
For some reason Goodreads has this book as #4 in the Chronicles of Narnia and it isn’t it’s #6, so I hope that can be corrected.
#4 = Prince Caspian.
Prince Caspian is in t… Read More
2022-01-21 02:37
This is an absolutely superb book. Agatha does it again.
A country house weekend where the highlight was going to be Sunday lunch with Hercule Poirot who was staying nearby. The Angkatell… Read More
2022-01-19 22:10
I enjoyed reading these stories although ultimately they left me with no overriding emotion other than I’m glad to have read a book by Philip Roth and I probably won’t be busting… Read More
2022-01-16 16:05
This is a very entertaining book and extremely well written. John Updike must have been ever so pleased with himself after writing this book about such a smug, clever, and witty writer!
H… Read More
2022-01-14 18:04
This is the classic horror tale from H.P. Lovecraft about the mystery of the cult of Cthulhu, conjuring up a dark and terrifying world. An island appears from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean… Read More
2022-01-12 17:42
Do YOU have trouble putting IKEA furniture together? Yes? Here’s a Buddhist group who can help
40 odd groups that are surrounded in mystery. Little is known about them, hence the sh… Read More
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