I have three stories in the August issue of Take A Break’s Fiction Feast (out now). There’s Ice Cold Revenge, mentioned in my last post, plus On The Bench which is a slightly spooky gardening story and Midsummer Madness which is a relationship tale.

Quite often editor’s will change the titles of stories published. That might be to suit the layout, or because another story uses something similar, or they just prefer something different. I’m always pleased when mine are kept and that is the case with two of these, and just one word has been removed from the other one. I’ll be reusing On The Garden Bench for what will be my sixth collection of garden related short stories, following on from the most recent in that series, Beyond The Garden Wall. This particular story was actually inspired by a list I made of possible book titles. An odd way of going about things perhaps, but clearly on the occasion it worked.

To be accurate, it’s one of my stories mentioned on the front of the August issue of Take A Break’s Fiction Feast, rather than me. I can’t take the credit for those few words, but isn’t the little teaser snippet fun?

As well as a bouncy castle the story features ice cream, hence the title Ice Cold Revenge. I’ve just realised I forgot to do my usual rigorous research on that particular subject. As the magazine is already in the shops, maybe I’ve left it a little too late?

An engram might not be an actual thing but if it is, it’s a memory-trace – a permanent change in the brain which would account for the existence of memory.

I have lots of great memories and this photo represents many of them – they’re some of the flowers from our wedding. They were grown in our garden and delivered to the venue in our campervan to an event shared with friends and family.

Obviously there was cake involved and I even signed a copy of my first novel which was released earlier that year. Oh, and my dress was purple.

What do you think? Do the things we experience physically change our brains in some way?

Historically a host is a large number of people, or an army. In Christian religion it may be the consecrated bread used to represent the body of Jesus, or the heavenly host may refer to angels or perhaps other bible figures – although the heavenly host can also be used to mean the sun, moon and stars.

A host might be a person who has received a donated organ, or any living organism which carries a parasite or disease. The landlord of a pub, compere of an event, or person who invites others into their home could all be described as hosts.

If I’m ever your host, I’ll probably bake you a cake.

Well, either I’ve suddenly got taller, or I was standing considerably closer to the camera than Barbara!

Here’s what Mandy Shearing, Solent Writers’ Circle secretary and photographer, said on our Facebook page –

I love the illustration for my story in the current (June 24th) issue of My Weekly. As you might guess, sunflowers are important to the plot. I’ve never had much success growing them, myself, but I love seeing the big cheerful flowers in other people’s gardens – especially when they peer out over fences, or pop up in unexpected places.

The story is set in Little Mallow – the same fictional village as the cosy crime novel I’m currently editing. It features some of the same characters too. I wrote quite a few short stories set in Little Mallow before I began the novel. I suppose you could say I was getting the measure of the place and characters!

If, for any reason, you would prefer to listen to my stories and articles, you can. Hundreds of short stories in a variety of genres, as well as articles on gardening and writing, plus some recipes are available here.

These are all produced automatically, so not of the same quality as audio books, but perhaps better than nothing if you can’t read well from a screen, or want to access them whilst on the move. You can listen to (or read) three per month for free, or subscribe to all my work as well as that of thousands of other writers.

I do have three books, and a few short stories, properly produced by professional humans. You can find more details, plus download links, here.

I’m delighted that another reader has enjoyed one of my books so much that they’ve taken the time and trouble to leave a review. If you’d like to read this book for yourself, you can get it here.

There are currently four collections of slightly spooky stories. I’ve been working on a fifth for a while now. This review has motivated me to get on with it!