philwhiteland's blog

A while ago, I had a bit of dialogue running through my head and I've learned, through bitter experience, that sooner or later I would have to commit it to writing before it drove me completely crackers! So, I did, and it became a short story called 'She Who Would Valiant Be!' here on ABCtales. It was totally unlike anything I'd ever written before but I was rather taken with the characters and wanted to see what might happen to them next, so I...

A story that sprang from a fragment of dialogue that was going around in my head (and simply demanded to be written down) has now, to my surprise, generated seven episodes, to date, and looks likely to provide quite a few more, before I'm done! Therefore, in an effort to try and tidy things up, I've collected all of the stories about Aefelthrith and Gwladys together in a 'collection' and sequentially numbered the various episodes. If you haven't...

No, they haven't been locked up (yet!) My two hapless Undertakers have their latest collection of stories, Grave Expectations, available FREE for one day only (Thursday, 21st January, 2021) and, as many people on ABCtales have been kind enough to read their stories and comment on them, I thought you might appreciate a 'heads up' as our transatlantic cousins insist on saying :-) Even when it's not free, it's just the ridiculous price of 99p but,...

FREE TODAY (Tuesday, 8th December) my e-book collection of Christmas stories, including a number originally published on this site such as The Undertakers at Christmas and my alternative version of the Nativity. Get it here: A Christmas Cracker

For the past year or so, I have, from time to time, been posting stories on ABCtales about the two dogs at TURN Education, Packham and India and seeing the world from their perspective. My thanks to everyone here who kindly read the stories and commented. I've now gathered alll of these stories together, plus a few new ones especially written, in a paperback book for children released in time for Christmas. I think the best thing I can do is...

Way back in the music history of the 1980s, a lady called Audrey Hall had a one-hit-wonder with a song called 'One Dance Won't Do'. You may remember it? If not, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbWf5tb_CA I've come to the conclusion that I can sympathise with her! Not in terms of dancing, one dance with me would be more than enough for anyone! No, I'm thinking, instead, about readers and, in particular, a couple who have...

Thanks to ABCtales, I've been able to try out my short stories about my two undertakers, Josiah Oakshott and Archibald Thurble, over the past few months. My thanks to all of you who have very kindly commented on the stories and have encouraged me to continue with them. As the stories I've published so far this year link together quite nicely, and make a nice 'narrative arc', I've decided to group them together in a book (see above). This will be...

When I published the first of my 'nostalgedy' books way back in 2005, I had no idea that 'Steady Past Your Granny's' would prove as popular as it has. Over the past 15 years, over 6,000 copies (print and Kindle editions) have been sold (never given away) worldwide! Not bad for a little book of stories about growing up in Burton upon Trent in the 1950s and 1960s. Now my granny's making a leap into audio entertainment with this double CD version...

For some time now I've been posting stories about my two hapless undertakers, Josiah and Archibald, to ABCtales and I'm delighted to say that they seem to have proven quite popular. Therefore, filled with a (doubtless misplaced) confidence, I've collected all of these stories together and published them in a Kindle book that rejoices under the title ' A Dubious Undertaking and other stories '. In addition, I've included another series of stories...

"A selection of darkly humorous tales about two hapless undertakers, Josiah Oakshott and Archibald Thurble, and the troubles that befall them and their clients. Also, some stories about two precocious children you really wouldn't want to tangle with - Peregrine and Prudence. If you want to know who blew up the crematorium, why Mrs Anderby had an unfortunate encounter with some potting compost and how an Anti-Santa found himself in captivity, you...