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Writing Competition - Make Your Story Stand Out

 September has been (and still is being!) our blogging month. October will be our reading month. Then, most of the Crowvus team will settle into writing in November. Our reading is, of course, ghost stories - the stories you have submitted to us for consideration in our competition. We love this! It is a highlight of our year, and it is always difficult to make that final decision on those which will appear in the book, and those which will win the big prizes. Enter the Crowvus Christmas Ghost Story Competition ! Crowvus HQ last Hallowe'en Night What we're looking for is not always the same thing. This is why there are a number of judges, so that different styles and plots can be accommodated. Over the years, there have been stories which have stuck with me which never even made the book. By the nature of the judging system, I have no idea who wrote them, but there are some stories out there that I hope managed to find their home, as they have left a haunting impact on me. Give...
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#HistFicThursdays - Christmas Snippets

Christmas is coming, it's only four days away! For someone who loves Christmas so much, the festival and celebration of Christmas does not feature in as many of my books as I would have expected. All the same, I've drawn together a couple of snippets concerning Christmas from various stories I've written, and I present them to you now as my #HistFicThursdays offering (you can also find a couple from Beneath Black Clouds and White here, as well as last year's offerings here).


Philip was almost grateful of the laborious journey, as it numbed his body to the pains which lay ahead. Instead, he concentrated all his thoughts on the imminent arrival of Advent. It had always been his favourite season of the church’s year. The coming of peace. And he was ready for peace.

~ from The Year We Lived



The presents were distributed by Hamish and Roger and all those present had a gift matched perfectly to their recipient. The day continued with games and carols, for which Catherine accompanied them on the piano, drawing smiles from Hamish and Imogen who shared a joke with her husband. Henry stood in the doorway at the back and smiled across at the gathered family who sang with great enthusiasm if not always great pitch. Toby walked over to him and his father smiled down.

“I have tried, with all my new family,” Toby began,“to find anyone who has a bad word to say about you. But no one has anything but the greatest respect for you. Do you know how hard it is to be the son of such a man?”

“If they have no bad word to say, Toby, it is only that they do not know me.”

“Do not say that, Father. I realised today, you see, that I should stop being so selfish. I was thinking only of you in relation to me. I am so proud of you, Father, and if I can do even half of what you have done for other people I shall be amongst the best of men.” 

~ from To Reason Why


Merry Christmas, Readers!

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