philwhiteland's blog

Firstly, Happy New Year to you all, I hope you have the sort of year that you would wish for yourself. Secondly, my apologies for the appalling pun in the title. In my pre-Christmas blog post ' Christmas Stuffing' I set out a plan to write and publish (on here) three seasonal stories. I did this because I knew it would force me not to be as bone-idle as I am by nature and actually do something in the run-up to Christmas and New Year. In my...

Being about stuff I'm planning to do for Christmas, of course! For the last couple of years, I've tried to come up with some Christmas-themed stories in addition to whatever is going on in Josiah and Archibald's rather odd world (which is also Christmas-themed at the moment, by happy coincidence!). This year, I've made a start with Christmas Pan-to , which considered the likely conversation between some of the items in a hardware shop window at...

This is the 2024 version, which is remarkably similar to the 2023 version etc. A couple of years ago, having finished dressing the Christmas Tree, in a bout of whimsy I wrote a story about the supposed conversation between some of the perennial characters on the tree. I rather enjoyed this process but the story itself, although it appeared here on ABCtales, rather slipped under the radar, possibly because it was one of three that I uploaded at...

I was reminded today that, this time last year saw the podcast debut of Josiah and Archibald! It was really interesting, from my point of view, because this was the first time that they had been brought to life and interpreted by anyone other than me. I thought it worked out pretty well, but have a listen and see what you think Yorick Radio - A Dubious Undertaking

I've been going back over some of the stories I've written from the point of view of the dogs at my daughter's care farm. I think the approach of Christmas has made me a bit sentimental! This is a bit of a sad one.This story is from the Christmas after one of the dogs (Packham) had sadly passed away, leaving India on her own and before the arrival of Rohan, the puppy. I always hoped this would get more attention than it actually did: https://www...

Every Friday, I try to publish another episode in my 'Dead Reckoning' series about my two Undertakers, Josiah and Archibald. There are always weeks when I'm not in the right frame of mind or events overtake me and make it difficult. And then, there's this week... I hope there will be a new episode, tomorrow, but right now, I'm not so sure.

Given the date, I thought it would be appropriate to revive this short story: https://www.abctales.com/story/philwhiteland/trick-or-treat

Some of you may remember this story being serialised on ABCTales during the dark days of the pandemic? Sometimes, I thought it was the only thing keeping me sane! Well, for one day only (Sunday, 8th September), this rather overlooked little book is absolutely FREE as a Kindle version. What people have kindly said aboout it: " Really enjoyed this right riotous rollicking story, Ethel, a young lady of good family has somehow found herself homeless...

...why the next episode in the 'Dead Reckoning' series hasn't appeared in the normal manner, I'm afraid it's because I've been busy being 70 (I know, I know, where does the time go to?!) Normal service (for a septuagenarian anyway) will be resumed as soon as possible I've also got an additional one-off silly story to post, coming soon (hopefully).

Ok, here's the thing. I've got two paperback copies of my first full-length Josiah and Archibald novel, 'Bring Out Your Dead' to give away. All I ask in return is a fair review (doesn't have to be good, just fair) on Amazon and/or Goodreads and anywhere else that takes your fancy. If I get more than 2 enquiries, I'll draw names out of a hat. Offer closes midnight BST on Saturday, 17th August. If you're interested, pop a message in the comments...