Advent Train Stories: The Gift

This year I have been honoured to take part in Ari Meghlen’s Advent Story Train. If you have not been reading the previous stories, you may not realise what the story train train is about. Basically, a set of authors have been given the prompt ‘The Gift’ and have one thousand words to write a story (flash fiction length). Each day of advent, one flash fiction story is released. When Christmas 2022 arrives, there will be twenty four flash fiction stories of different genres and different styles that represent the phrase ‘The Gift.’ Links to all of the stores can be found here (some have not been released at the time of posting!). Today (if you are reading this on 7th December 2022) is my turn. My flash fiction story is set almost five hundred years ago and takes the form of diary entries. I hope the idea of ‘The Gift’ is a little different to what you would expect, but that you still enjoy the story. You can read ‘The Gift’ below, or head over to my wattpad site where you will find lots of other stories I have written. Please feel free to comment both positively and with criticism…

---

The Gift

18th March 1678

I found the creature whilst taking my morning constitutional. The beast looked in a terrible state, leg twisted back, cuts down its side. I moved closer to inspect, realising it to be some sort of dog, jet black with dark eyes. At first I thought it to be the Devil’s work, some creature from the depths of Hell. Inside its mouth, I saw sharp needle-like teeth. But it did not flinch when touched, and its whine showed it to be in considerable pain. Who am I to leave such a poor, defenceless creature to the mercy of the elements? I scooped it up, realising it to be smaller than I first thought, a tiny babe of fur in my arms. I knew I could give it little, but the one gift I was able to bestow was life itself.

25th March 1678

A week has flown by and the creature has gained strength. It grows at an incredible rate, and I must say I am becoming attached. I gave him no name, not wanting to form a bond, but feel my guard is dropping. The cuts on its side are mere scabs, and it no longer hobbles on the twisted leg. It shan’t be long before I must release him, but I am in two minds. The creature has no mother or siblings that have sought it out. Maybe I could be its family. I never had children, the death of my beloved Sarah too great a weight to bear, thus my reason for living as a sort of hermit in these dense woods far away from civilisation. Could it be this is my time to love again, that this creature has been sent for such a purpose?

18th March 1679

A year has passed since Sebastian came into my life, for that is what I named the dog. He whined and sulked when I tried to free him. I could have left him outside, ignored him for days and he would have gained the message. In truth, I feel I need him as much as he needs me. My heart is fuller than it has been for a long time. His warmth kept me going through long winter nights. He has made me stronger, fitter. No longer can I refuse to take a walk when the frost nips at the ground or rain pours. He does add much joy to such a mundane activity. After Sarah passed, taken by an unknown illness with our babe in her belly, I thought all joy gone from this world. That such a creature as Sebastian can bring me back to life is amazing. Maybe I did not give him the gift, but he presented it to me.

25th February 1680

I checked the cuts on my arm, bathing them regularly in water and herbs. They are healing, but every time I look at them, I dread what will come. Sebastian continues to grow, his height almost above my waist. With the increased size comes increased ferocity. I understand he wants to be here with me, he whines and howls when he injures me, but he also longs for the wild. Yesterday was the first time his play fighting drew blood, I fear it will not be the last. Am I to be alone once more? A hermit imprisoned with only his own thoughts for company. I will put it off as long as I can. The bitter frosts are holding my hand, making sure Sebastian stays by my side next to a roaring fire. Yet, when spring comes, I will no longer have an excuse.

19th June 1680

He is gone, and loneliness engulfs me again. I could take scrapes of claws across my skin, the sharp pain and blots of blood. Sebastian noticed every time, stopping where he was and pulling away with a whine. I know he did not wish to hurt me, it is just his nature. Despite long walks and freedom to hunt small mammals, still his playful side appeared. But just two days ago, he sank his teeth deep within my arm. The pain became unbearable, and I lashed out, smacking him across the head. I cried as he retreated to the corner, his face sullen, how he curled himself up attempting to reduce his size. I could not be mad. It is my fault. I should have let him loose long ago. Even though spring came, I kept hold, grasped too tight. When summer arrived, I had no excuse. It was a small mercy that, as I watched him, I realised it was best I lost Sarah and my unborn child. If this is how I treat a beast, how would I cope with a human life? Fate has a way of showing us our true selves. Maybe it is that I am the beast and not him.

8th May 1681

It happened not far from here, on a path to the nearest village. I have missed Sebastian since he left, yet did not expect to see him in this way. So often I am alone, and when I see travellers, we just walk by. I should have thought the hood covering his face an omen. The knife was out, and he pounced on me before I knew. I do not understand how I stopped the blade piercing my skin, but for a few seconds his weight pinned me down. All my strength was used to hold off the attack. Moments later he was bowled from me, and I heard a deep growl. As I sat up, the attacker turned and ran. In front of me, a jet black dog. The creature whimpered and turned away. I wanted to follow, but knew that not to be the best course of action. So I sat there, understanding that my gift had been repaid. I had once given the beast life, now Sebastian had repaid the favour.

---

Welcome to the Advent Calendar Story Train, where you can read through 24 stories under the theme The Gift. Thank you for reading today’s story. The next one will be available to read on December 8th, titled “The Gift“.  The link will be active tomorrow when the post goes live.

If you missed yesterday’s you can go and read it here.

New Vlog: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day may have been a few days ago, but I still can’t stand it! In fact, my wife and myself did absolutely nothing for it. We would much rather surprise each other with treats and outings at random points. I think Valentine’s Day puts too much pressure on people to say ‘I Love You,’ and maybe even suggests that the 14th February is the only day you need to show you love someone. So, taking that into account, I wrote a poem about my feelings and, as usual, recorded a vlog of me reading it. You can watch the video below, or head over to my YouTube channel where there are even more vlogs of me reading poems and short stories. I hope you enjoy. If you do, you could even like the video and subscribe to my channel!

New Poem: Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. This is the one commercial holiday I can’t stand. Where as Easter talks of new life, Christmas is an end of year celebration and the birth of Jesus, Valentine’s Day is just, yeah, love. Almost as if it is telling you that you must show you love someone on that one day, but all the other days of the year don’t matter. Yes, I am slightly hypocritical because I do not celebrate Easter or Christmas in a religious way, making it more about fun, presents and too much food. But they are good excuses to party. Valentine’s Day is just pressure though. Surely if I give my wife presents and treats, take her out and shown her I love her on random days for no reason, then that is much more special. Oh well, just my thoughts; and I have thought this way for years, but have only just written a poem about my feelings. So, here it is, inspiringly entitled ‘Valentine’s Day.’ As usual, you can read it in my poetry collection on wattpad, ‘Bad Poetry You probably never want to read.’ There are also lots of my other poems there too. Otherwise, why not read it below…

Valentine’s Day

I love you

But only for today

I want to make you happy

But only for today

I want to shower you with gifts

But only for today

You see…

As long as I follow this commercial holiday

As long as I give you flowers today

As long as I take you for a candlelit dinner tonight

As long as I buy you chocolates on the 14th

As long as I treat you like a princess for 24 hours

Then I can forget about you for the other 364 days of the year

Well, maybe I’ll get you something for Christmas and your birthday

Love You

In the Dark, Soft Earth by Frank Watson – Review

Randomly, out of the blue, an assistant from White Plum Press contact me on facebook asking if I would like to review an ARC (advanced reader copy) of a new poetry book by Frank Watson. Yes, me! I was as surprised as you! I guess they found me through my poetry, and clearly have never read it because it is pretty bad! Straight away my head said, “free book, say yes.” Then my heart said, “free book, say yes.” Also, as someone who struggles to get reviews of my books, I thought it would be unfair not to review it. So here we are, here is my full review of “In the Dark, Soft Earth” by Frank Watson. A cut down version of the review is on Amazon and Goodreads, but you are here now so might as well read the full one!

The first thing to say is that I am not a connoisseur of poetry. I prefer my poetry a little more contemporary, I’d much rather read a Pam Ayres over a William Wordsworth. I suppose I find some work that tries to emulate the older, more romantic style of poetry can come across rather pretentious. So, from the start of the book I realised I was not the target audience. The book is split into ten smaller books, each with a set of poetry that links to an area of romance, spirituality and nature. Each poem is short, a maximum of one page per poem. Interspersed are classic paintings. My first thought was that the style of the pieces were a little grating, I found the excess of similes and metaphors, that appeared almost meaningless, angered me. At times I felt that Watson put words on the paper to sound mysterious, rather than there being any meaning to it. However, after a while I got used to his style, and many of the more jarring metaphors disappeared as I worked my way through the book. By book three I really started to picture the worlds in which I was being brought, but also felt that I might actually be looking at things in the wrong way. Maybe that is simply down to my ignorance concerning classical poetry. In each book there were poems that were forgettable, and I found the ones that were smaller and more succinct were those that I enjoyed. Not because the longer were bad or poorly written, but more that the shorter ones threw out the uneasy metaphors and told you exactly what you needed to hear.

The best book in the collection, in my opinion, is the tarot card section. Watson takes each card and writes about the character that inspired it. I really did get an understanding of each card and like the way Watson build the mythos around it. I feel that Watson has a great way of describing people and situations, so it was poems that explained places and characters that I really enjoyed. When the poetry become more about love or other feelings I was lost in a jumble of words that held little meaning to me.

They say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder,’ and I think that in poetry that is not more true. Watson’s beauty is not the same as mine and therefore I felt slightly displaced amongst his words. If you love classical romantic poetry you will love “In the Dark, Soft Earth.” If, like me, poetry is more about being playful and straight to the point with language that is easy to read, it will be more of a challenge. Overall, I think it is worth a read, but it is not a book I will be revisiting.

Final Verdict – 3 Stars

You can get In the Dark Soft Earth on Amazon here…

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Soft-Earth-Poetry-Spirituality/dp/1939832209/

US – https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Soft-Earth-Poetry-Spirituality/dp/1939832209/

Bad Poetry (+a love poem)

My first poetry book will be updated whenever I write a poem

Every now and then I write a poem, I did a few as part of World Cup Dreams but have also posted some on this blog. The other day I was working when I heard some students in an English lesson discussing love poems they were writing for their coursework. I thought, ‘you know I could write a love poem, but not one of those mushy ones, a real one about what love really is.’ So a little time later I wrote a poem about what love is not, in fact that is what I have entitled it. I have often thought of putting my poems into one book but never had enough to collate them. Then I remembered Wattpad, I tend to not use it anymore as I find it is mainly teenage girl’s fantasies and fan fiction but it is the perfect place to slowly update a book before it can be formatted for Smashwords when complete. I really don’t understand poetry and I feel I am terrible at it but I do like rhyming and getting some quick thoughts and opinions out on paper so I do enjoy writing the odd poem. I have had the title ‘Bad Poetry you probably never want to read’ in my head for a while so have used this. I know it is rather self-deprecating but I honestly don’t think I am good at poetry, also there is no common thread throughout my poems so no other title seemed to fit. I even made a horrible brown cover to make it look less enticing and like a bad 1960s self help book.

 

Anyway, the book is now up on Wattpad, I can’t say I will update it regularly but whenever I write a poem it will be up there. Please note that I will not be including the poems from World Cup Dreams. Have a look and tell me what you think. In other news, I have been writing more of my Movember story so that should be out before the end of the year (hopefully long before!). It will be free as Movember has been and gone but I have enjoyed writing it and I am hoping you will enjoy reading it.

Does every tale need a love story woven in?

Recently I read To Kill a Tsar by Andrew Williams. Whilst I enjoyed the book I found the love story between Anna and Hadfield to be a bit of a distraction. I understand it is a literary device to bring an Englishman into the Russian Revolution and in many ways make it more accessible to British audiences, however I really did not enjoy it. At one point there was a sex scene which seemed a little at odds with the rest of the story. I wanted more of the revolution, of people’s struggles and the differences between the revolutionaries and the government. Maybe I am just more intrigued by historic fact, by what people are hiding rather than what they do and say. I like the mystery, I like to be kept guessing and coming up with my own theories of what is behind character’s decisions. I feel good when I am proven right but love it more when a twist in the tale moves it in a direction I was not expecting. This got me thinking about other books I have read and the shows that I watch on TV. Nearly all have a love story woven in, by that I mean boy meets girl or boy likes boy or even girl falls for girl. But I do not read or watch for that reason. I am fed up of the X-Factor style sob story or the idea that a character is motivated by doing it for the love of their life. I don’t mind the love between a family but that lusty, sickening I can’t live without you stuff just makes my head spin and my stomach churn. The only genre that seems to dispense with this ideal is comedy. Not many Terry Pratchett novels have a love story and most sitcoms use it as more dysfunctional couples or are set in places where love like that is abnormal, I am talking about things like The IT Crowd or Father Ted. These are shows and books that I feel most passionate about. It was then that I started to think about my own writing. Not a single piece I have written or plan to write has a love story in it. I am in a very settled place in my personal life, I have a wonderful wife and a gorgeous son so don’t need to think about this stuff. OK I do do the odd romantic thing but I am not thinking ‘I would die for you!’ The thing is I would die for my wife and son I just don’t portray that in everyday life. Therefore when I write I don’t thinking about these things, yes I feel uneasy writing a love story and would feel physically sick writing a sex scene, I think that is largely down to mentioning anatomy that is generally hidden from view and it all feeling a bit low-class porn, however, in some stories I actively avoid it. The Wings of Aysh-Karal is about ideas other than love and a teen fiction book I am planning moves away from that as I feel it would detract from the story. So the thing that I realise about myself is that I like subterfuge, I like twists and turns, a story taken into an unexpected place and don’t want a love story cluttering that up or taking me away from the real point of the tale. But is this the correct way to think? Do we need a little love to bring different audiences in? Can we really have a tale devoid of the traditional idea of a love story? I think we can, I think we need to be bold and I think we need to tell the story we want and not have to place in plot devices that we feel do not fit just to conform to social norms. I intend to send one or two of my stories to publishing houses, it will be interesting to see if they notice the lack of a love story and want that woven in just to reach a larger audience or they see what I write for what it is, a story that is intended to intrigue and entertain, and hopefully keep people guessing.