My volume of short stories, A Waltz through the Dark Wood , will be published in August 2023. To mark this occasion I thought I would tempt readers with a brief description. The Girl A forty-something, angst ridden screenwriter meets his much younger girlfriend at a cafe, and hears a startling revelation. The Lover A married businesswoman meets a charming…
Tag: Adam Dickson
Strange things happen when you embark on a life writing fiction. Your characters start to come alive in your imagination, developing quirks and attitudes you hadn’t anticipated. Your sleep is hijacked by new ideas and insights which come to you in the dead of night. Novels are notoriously difficult to write – or at least to stay the course long…
Most men spend their lives in search of the material, a way out of the conditions they’ve been born into. Status, wealth, opportunity. All these might come their way, causing them to rejoice at their good fortune. Even better if they’ve won the love of a good woman to share the journey. For centuries, man has taken on heroic struggles…
The first and last word in any undertaking is persistence. Without it there can be no breakthrough, no fanfare, and no remuneration for the years of wasted effort. Until success comes along, the dream lies buried, a vain and preposterous hope that might never be realised. Most people give up because the road is too long and the work too…
California, 1939. A young couple sail off the coast on board the yacht Indigo. We don’t know much about them, but soon realise things aren’t quite as they seem. The yacht isn’t theirs. Something’s happened to the previous owners, but even this isn’t clear. There’s a sinister element at play, an undercurrent that drives the couple away from their troubled…
In his book, Meditations, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius talks a lot about fame and the ultimate futility of ambition. Widely regarded as a classic in philosophy, the book explores a diverse range of themes, all of which are still relevant in today’s hectic and fast-paced society. As the Numero Uno in the ancient world, Marcus had his pick of…
When you think about it, all personality disorders are characterised by flawed thinking. I’m not a psychologist, but perhaps my decades of direct experience with mental illness gives me a voice of some sort. After years of clinical depression, I was finally diagnosed with bipolar disorder. This helped explain my somewhat erratic behaviour and inability to maintain a ‘normal’ life.…
Life is hard – or maybe it’s just that being human we naturally make it harder. Reflecting back over a particularly difficult year, I should feel blessed to have gained valuable insight into this, my lifelong condition. But blessed in what context? Perhaps, like someone who’s discovered the lifeboats on a sinking ship and now has the means to save…