Author Archives: Patrick Miles

Cambridge Tales 7: ‘The Folding Party’

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Guest post by Harvey Pitcher: Melikhovo 2004

This recollection goes back almost twenty years, but it does not seem that long ago. As I grow older, time does not slow down, as one might expect, but races away at an alarming rate. Chekhov had died in 1904 … Continue reading

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Cambridge Tales 6: ‘The Tower’

A small brown-man had a narrow bedroom, a spacious living-room, and a gyp-room (more like a galley) at the top of a Gothic quadrangle. The living-room contained a fluted white mantelpiece with a gas-fire, a moth-eaten charcoal grey sofa against … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 23

16 May 2023 The suspense about the Ukrainian ‘counter-offensive’ is terrible. I hope it will last. It winds the Russians up and keeps them guessing. Moreover, except at Bakhmut, Russian forces have been in deep defensive positions for months now, … Continue reading

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Short story (concluded): ‘My First Communist’

In the Easter holidays Peter went on a skiing trip to Switzerland organised by the headmaster. I could have gone myself, but my parents didn’t have the money. Privately, I was intrigued that the Freres could afford it either, but … Continue reading

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Short story: ‘My First Communist’

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Writing’s weird workings…

My fortuitous review of Keith Dewhurst’s excellent novellas, combined with John Pym’s spontaneous submission of his post about Henry James’s story ‘The Death of the Lion’, has suddenly concentrated my mind on my current project and alerted me to things … Continue reading

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Guest post by John Pym: Henry James’s ‘The Death of the Lion’

An unnamed young Englishman, a lowly journalist with literary ambition, begins to tell a story (cast in the form of ‘meagre’ private notes): the author Neil Paraday is recuperating at home in the country from a grave illness; he’s published … Continue reading

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Keith Dewhurst: a new Spring of writing

Keith Dewhurst (whose Wikipedia entry does not log half his achievements) was born in 1931. I would say he is the greatest survivor of the British post-war theatrical renaissance that is often compared to the Elizabethan-Jacobean phenomenon. As well as … Continue reading

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Guest post by Jim Miles: Call My Agent!

One of my jobs is teaching English at a language school in Cambridge. I have students varying in age from teenagers right up to retired adults, and from countries all over the world. This makes the work very interesting but … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 22

24 February 2023 A recent study made by a reliable Moscow source indicates that 22% of the Russians polled were fervently in favour of the war on Ukraine, 20% were deeply opposed to it, and the rest (58%) ‘had no … Continue reading

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Cambridge Tales 5: ‘East of the Rhine’ (Concluded)

One afternoon in the last week of November, there was a soft knock on the door of my room. Before me stood an elegantly thin woman in her late twenties, wearing an extremely expensive-looking bleu nuit cashmere coat with a … Continue reading

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Cambridge Tales 5: ‘East of the Rhine’

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 21

7 January Almost themed, one could say, in Calderonia, Cambridge academic Ruth Scurr has written a meaty review in today’s Spectator of Claire Harman’s experiment in biography All Sorts of Lives: Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything. Anyone who writes … Continue reading

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Guest post by Damian Grant: ‘Radio Scotland’

We live in France. In Lille, where the language is French. About a year ago — not knowing anything about the animal — I bought a HomePod online. I had thought it was just a superior (and very stylish) kind … Continue reading

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From the diary of a writer-publisher: 20

16 December 2022 The Times has a long piece today entitled ‘Putin’s absence fuels rumours of Noah’s Ark plot’. It reports Putin cancelling his annual ice hockey match on Red Square, his annual press conference, and his annual ‘conversation with … Continue reading

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