Poppi and Emily enjoying an indoor sunbathe. Eagle-eyed visitors to this website will have already noticed the change of title art, which uses my latest oil painting, Liverpool Waterfront .  That's the thing with websites or bloggy places - it's fun to change their look now and again, tweaking this, twiddling with that, casting off something which has perhaps grown a little dusty in favour of something sparkly new. I have been considering starting a Patreon site.  In case you've not heard of Patreon before, its a way of sharing exclusive or advance work with a group of subscribing patrons, who agree to support the creator's work from as little as $1 per month.  The aim is to build a growing number of patrons in order to allow the creator to become self-supporting and thus be free to create more stuff.  I already attract revenue from my books, from merchandise at Spooky Cute Designs and through my articles on Hubpages but with this Patreon page I'd be posting

Rapid sketch of moorhens; 2016. I'm enjoying a spot of annual leave this week, which began with a lively and well-attended writers' event at Bebington Library on Saturday the 19th.  This featured members of Wirral Writers , Bebington Bards , the 3Ls Creative Writing Group and Riverside Writers .  I'm no longer a member of Riverside Writers due to constraints of time, but I had been invited to join in anyway. Due to there being so many writers and poets wishing to read, a strict time limit was imposed and so the audience only heard half of my 1,600 word story, Fame, which is about an obscure, ageing rock singer who has turned up on Facebook.  It's a story about reminiscing and unachieved ambitions which still tempt. My sister Evelyn came to the library event, and afterwards she and I travelled to my home with my friends Tim and Nigel, where we all socialised for a couple of hours and caught up on news. I've been generally tidying up the house.  It is now

Above and below:  Calder Stones, Neolithic tomb stones, Liverpool. Believed to have once formed part of a Neolithic chambered tomb erected some 4,000 years ago, the Calder Stones have been protected inside a large greenhouse since 1954.  The circle's current arrangement is based only on 19th century guess-work about how a stone circle should look, following an assumption that druids had created the tomb - which actually predates druidry in Britain by a considerable margin. The tomb itself was destroyed some time during the 18th century.  The six remaining sandstone pieces were then sited near the main entrance to Calderstones Park in Allerton, Liverpool.  The disturbance revealed pottery urns containing human dust and bones. None of these were preserved as (or so I was told by park staff) the groundsmen who removed them smashed them all for 'fun'.  These photos were taken by me back in the spring of 2000, when a friendly park ranger allowed Ric

City Stories: Tales of Modern Liverpool ISBN: 9781310916939 Love, terror and 21st century life! From the heart of cosmopolitan Liverpool come nine thrilling views of modern living. Blood-drinkers, killers and secrets. Old sorrows and new beginnings. The light and dark of human life set against the glittering backdrop of a reinvigorated city. City Stories. Tales of life today. Featuring:- Tim Hulme William R Jones Caroline Hubbard Andy Siddle Jason Barney Jack Horne Adele Cosgrove-Bray Pick up your FREE copy today here! Other distribution outlets will follow over the new few weeks.

I thought I'd share a few interesting videos with you. The first is an enjoyable trip around central Liverpool, where my Artisan-Sorcerer series is mostly set. The labyrinthian Williamson Tunnels are another feature of the series. You can learn about their history and enjoy some old footage of Liverpool buildings. Most of those old dockside warehouses are luxury apartments now, by the way. Morgan and his household live in walking distance of Lark Lane, in the Liverpool suburb of Aigburth. I lived there for seven years, which is one reason why I based their fictional home there. This next very short film features a drive down Lark Lane at night. This next film is a pleasure to view, with its lovely snowy images of Sefton Park. When I lived in Liverpool I often walked through this park. The Artisan-Sorcerer's house overlooks this large expanse of parkland.