My collection of short stories Picking at the Bones is now available as an EBook from Amazon.co.uk (£3.33) and Amazon.com ($5.19) – you can read the first story (and part of the second one) free from the ‘look inside’ button on the site. However, if you’re tempted to leave a review based on reading this alone, please resist. There are 22 stories in the collection and they are all different. So the review would not be fair comment.

If you would like to purchase a paperback copy (£6 plus p & p), please contact me via this site by sending a reply to any post (I won’t publish your contact details on here, and any comments you make will not be published either, unless you specifically request this).

If you look at this link Festival Fringe Readings you will find further samples from the collection there, which were performed at the Scarborough Festival Fringe Event recently (one complete story and two short extracts from longer stories).

The majority of the collection contains ‘slice of life’ stories that slide underneath the surface of characters’ lives in an attempt to distinguish the truth from gossip and lies. Vulnerable narrators drop in now and then to pick at the bones of the characters’ failings to add another dimension to the reader’s perception of what is and isn’t true. 

Changing the subject slightly, I was approached in the town centre of Scarborough recently by a pleasant young man who was representing the British Red Cross Charity. He was raising awareness about the service it provides in the UK. You’ve all seen the advert, no doubt, where the hooded girl declares, ‘I am a crisis. And I don’t care who you are.’ I spent a good while chatting to him and was impressed by his level of knowledge about the organization and staggered to learn of the diversity of the work that is carried out in the name of the British Red Cross, some of which equips vulnerable people with the means to help themselves and thereby become self-sufficient.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many of us these days, I was unable to sign up to make a regular direct debit payment as a donation. But I can’t get the charity out of my mind. It touched my soul, perhaps because my writing tends to be about vulnerable people, and I want to try and support it. Therefore, if I’m fortunate enough to sell any books, I pledge to donate 25p from my royalties share from Ebook sales and 50p from Paperbacks to this cause, as a starting point.

If, when browsing the samples of the stories from this post (or through reading anything contained on my website), you yourself feel inclined to make a small donation of your own to this charity, please visit this link to the British Red Cross website.  You can give anything you like as a one-off payment or as a regular commitment.

I thank you in advance for your precious donation, whether it’s made directly to them or through the purchase of a book.

   With love and prayers to you all,

   Julie