The contents are: Peter Hurd: The Literary Chicken; Carbon Footprints; A Matter of Principle. Tim Hulme: The Sugar Loaf; The Mckechnie Plunger; One More Day. Carol Falaki: Equal Footing; I Am; Eran . Peter Caton: The 437; Grandads; Zi and The Boy. Adele Cosgrove-Bray: Food; Party Time; Shell Boy . Andy Siddle: Old Poet; The Old Wirral Line; The Present. Eileen Brown: Waiting; Autumn . Catherine Evans-Hewitt: Celebrity . Clive McLaren: Crippen's Couplet; Water Refelctions; Handsome Is As Handsome Does. The anthology costs £3 and is available  from Riverside Writers' events; Lingham's Bookshop in West Kirby, Wirral; Hoylake Library; West Kirby Library. By the way, Shell Boy features Rowan, albeit in an anonymous capacity.

 If you like children's books, then give  Ingo by Helen Dunmore a try. This story about mermaids off the Cornish coast was imaginative and thoughtful, and introduces the reader to two modern-day children who are grieving for their father. The mermaids may be enchanting but can they be trusted? I can’t wait to read the second in the new series. Also good was   North Child   by Edith Pattou , which has elements of Beauty and the Beast and The Snow Queen. The heroine comes from a farming family who’ve run into hard times. She is pushed into a dangerous and scary life with a talking polar bear - but who is the polite stranger who sleeps beside her each night? Several members of Riverside Writers enjoy reading children’s literature. They admit that having kids or grandkids is a great excuse to indulge in the latest stories. I have no such excuse - but who cares! On Monday, May 24th, local author and playwright Marc Gee will be giving a public talk about his w...

Amazon Shorts will cease to be available from June, so if you wish to purchase copies of my two Shorts, A Wirral Otherkin Trilogy and Quiet Lives , you’d best act now. You’ll find these on Amazon, or you may prefer to use the clickable links on my website. According to the email sent out by Amazon, their Shorts program has been replaced by Kindle. If I wish to make my Shorts available on Kindle (an e-reader which costs nearly $300) then this self-publishing option is available to me. Otherwise, all Rights revert to me. My views about self-publishing can be read here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Self-Publishing-Pitfalls Amazon Shorts were short digital downloads which enabled a customer to try out a writer’s work for a minimal fee. For the author, Shorts offered a way of supplementing their income and promoting their work to a wider audience. At least, this was the theory. In practice, few people seemed to grasp what an Amazon Short was. Was it a piece of clothing designed for ...

Ashton Park’s rose garden has a path lined with cherry trees, and they’re all in full blossom right now. A slow stream of ice-pink confetti drifts down on all who stroll beneath. On the park pond it’s serious nest-building time. A pair of coots are trying their best to attach a pile of sticks to the base of the fountain. That a 30’ jet of water streaks past their little heads is no deterrent. Maybe this is the same pair of coots who successfully built a nest there last year. The dogs and I virtually had the beach to ourselves earlier today. Right now, they’re flaked out - one stretched out along the back of one couch, and other curled up on a tuffet facing the sunshine streaming in through the French doors. Tonight is Riverside Writers’ AGM. Is our anthology ready to go to the printers tomorrow? Will the Chair, Secretary and Treasurer be re-elected (again)? And will we break our own record for the fastest AGM, which currently stands at ten minutes flat? Let’s be honest here - ha...

You're invited to read this interesting interview with published poet and author Adrienne Odasso:- http://hubpages.com/hub/Interview-with-Poet-and-Writer-Adrienne-Odasso

I hope you'll use the link below to read this interesting interview with published author Heidi Ruby Miller, the Educational Marketing Coordinator at Frank Lloyd Wright's House on Kentuck Knob and adjunct creative writing faculty at Seton Hill University in America. http://hubpages.com/hub/Interview-with-Writer-Heidi-Ruby-Miller

Yaay, we have sunshine! This means that my two little dogs are gazing at me with their best pleading expressions, which roughly translate into English as, “Walkies! Walkieeees!! Waaalkieeeeees!!!!!” Ok, ok; I get the message, pooches. Un momento, si? As may be guessed, the dusty language CD has been dusted down and (Attempt to) Learn A New Language proceeds (as poorly as before, actually) despite me being rather busy posting adverts for Richard’s studio across every reachable corner of our cyber-realm. After Easter, his tattoo studio will be open six days a week - Monday to Saturday, 11am - 5pm approx. This week, he tattooed a lady who was in her seventies. She wanted roses flowing over her breast and shoulder, and she intends to have the design extended so it will continue down her arm. Chris brought in his new acoustic bas guitar and sat down playing that - and if you visit the studio today you’ll hear Chris and Lee jamming on their guitars together. Lee’s performed in folk...