it's a bloodbath

I have a reason. Really. There has been nothing new to read here for ages and ages and ages because any writing minutes have been spent putting together the first two short stories to go into an anthology.

With good luck and a following muse, I may muster ten of them and, at the moment, the anthology's working title is "They All Die At The End". You may gather that these are not stories for children and you can probably figure out how it's going to go for the protagonists.

I may alter the formula occasionally and kill someone off at the beginning before telling the tale in flashback. Technically that still counts as death at the end but everyone likes a bit of variety.

The working title, incidentally, comes from a habit I have thankfully now shaken of telling people about to see a film that the characters would all die at the end. I figured that if I consistently said this then people would realise that I was not spoiling the ending. Sadly, for films where no one made it out, I was sometimes accused of ruining the suspense and, granted, if I only said it to someone once and was, by chance, correct on that occasion, then the accusation would be justified. I don't do it any more.

Last week was half-term. N and I saw the changing of the guard, the National Gallery, Southend-On-Sea (which has the longest pier in the world - but does anyone else build them other than the crazy Brits?), Kew Gardens and some other places. Photos may follow - please come back repeatedly to see whether there are any as this will make it look like I've got more readers than I actually have.