Poets the world over, whether they are accomplished or aspiring, have been sleeping uneasily in their beds following the news that they will soon be made redundant. It was The Guardian that first broke the story on the 21st March 2021 when it presented some newly minted lines from the literary sensation known only as… Continue reading Poetry? We Have A Machine That Can Do That!
Why do we write? The answer is simple enough, isn’t it? We write in order to be read. We who write all have something to say, and we all want to make our mark in the world. We’d all like to be read by millions but, perhaps, we don’t necessarily write the things that millions… Continue reading Better Read Than Dead
Every working day for several years I would drive northwards into the great county of Angus where I visited clients in the towns and villages of Strathmore. On the way, I’d pass familiar landmarks, intimidating speed traps, and interesting signposts that pointed down country roads towards to intriguingly named hamlets and farmtouns. I often imagined… Continue reading Oathlaw – A Tale of Murder in Strathmore and Malice in Old Dundee
Music reviews are a sometime thing for the 1320Journal. They tend to be an instinctive response to something remarkable that’s happened to catch my ear. I can safely say, however, that the new solo offering from Scottish jazz pianist Steve Hamilton has done just that. Now, when I tell you that Hamilton is a jazz… Continue reading 1320 Recommends: ‘Between the Lines’ by Steve Hamilton
“It came to me one night in a dream……” Don’t all stories begin this way? Tales of dread horror and gothic fantasy certainly source an enormous variety of subliminal fears, but they often spring from single unbidden thought. I know that the phrase ‘can’t stay in, can’t go out’ was stuck in my head for… Continue reading The Strange History of the Darkling Intruder
