Category Archives: Fiction

Prophecy

Posted on September 28, 2026 by Jamie Jauncey

When I posted about the myth of Pandora, ten days ago, I was writing with specific reference to AI and the fact that, if the media are to be believed, it is already out of control.  I didn’t spell this … Continue reading →

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Vampires, wolves and Victoria sponge

Posted on May 3, 2026 by Jamie Jauncey

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Back in March I wrote about our sister city Asheville, North Carolina (here), and the bestselling American novelist and Asheville resident, Elizabeth Kostova, who was here in Birnam and Dunkeld on a two-month writing residency. Last week, before she returned … Continue reading →

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Sister Cities

Posted on March 27, 2026 by Jamie Jauncey

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In a city centre park in Asheville, North Carolina, there is a signpost with markers indicating six Sister Cities around the world. One of these points to Dunkeld and Birnam (3808 miles). I live there. Dunkeld and Birnam is not … Continue reading →

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Of earth and sea

Posted on March 16, 2018 by Jamie Jauncey

On Monday night I returned from Melbourne after a month spent mainly in New Zealand, the first ten days running Dark Angels workshops in and around Auckland, the following two weeks touring the North and South Islands. This is one … Continue reading →

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An honest opinion

Posted on November 17, 2017 by Jamie Jauncey

In the mail last week I received a parcel from France. It contained a paperback novel with an attractive jacket featuring bands of medieval illumination enclosing the image of a lone fortress on a hilltop. I knew at once what … Continue reading →

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Spanish Crossings

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Jamie Jauncey

A couple of years ago, on our advanced course in Spain, my Dark Angels partner John Simmons woke up one morning with a line in his head. It stayed with him and today, in summer 2017, it’s the opening sentence … Continue reading →

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The Gutenbergs

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Jamie Jauncey

No one would deny that Gutenberg is a name with which to conjure. Johannes Gutenberg transformed society with his invention of mechanical printing in the 1440s. Half a millenium later, in 1971, Michael Hart, an American student, wangled himself time … Continue reading →

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The stories we tell

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

Here is a story. Fifteen years ago, Catherine Lockerbie, then the literary editor of The Scotsman, was appointed director of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. For several years I had regularly written book reviews for her. We had also sat … Continue reading →

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Be prepared

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

It’s nearly book festival time again – by which I mean the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Every August, Charlotte Square Gardens sprout canvas and are transformed into a kind of intellectual carnival of some 800 events that seem between them … Continue reading →

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Publishing pains

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Jamie Jauncey

Longstanding readers of A Few Kind Words will be familiar with the saga of The Artefact, the third in a series of young adult novels, with which I have been grappling for a number of years. To wind back a … Continue reading →

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