Story Calendar

June 2018

A story for June: Rain

Rain 1. If there is one rule that authors should observe above all others it is this: keep out of the story. Of course everybody now understands that is impossible—indeed naïve—and so the rule has been recast. Pretend to keep of the story is the modern version of the injunction. It is, in general, […]

May 2018

A Story for May: A Fine Performance

‘A Fine Performance’ originally appeared in the Good Housekeeping magazine “Freedom,” said Anna, looking out of the window. From behind her, half buried behind a newspaper, her husband, Tom, made a non-committal sound. It was difficult to know what to say when, quite out of the blue, your wife says Freedom. “Two weeks of freedom,” […]

April 2018

A Story for April: The Director

The Director first appeared in the New Statesman magazine 1 This is the story of a friendship. It takes place over a number of years, starting when the two people involved were eight and ending when they were twenty-nine. It starts in Scotland and ends there, although part of it takes place in Australia. It […]

March 2018

A Story for March: Scandinavian Noir in Twelve Chapters

As Scotland, indeed the entire UK, lies deep under snow (just as February ends and Spring is meant to be on the way), Alexander turns to an area of the world where the winters are even colder and the area of writing now referred to as Scandinavian Noir… Scandinavian Noir is now established as one of the […]

February 2018

A Short Story for February: Australia

Australia. This story by Alexander McCall Smith first appeared in the Melbourne Age newspaper. An odd thing has been happening to me. If I consulted a therapist about it, I can imagine the exchange might go as follows: Therapist: So, what’s the trouble? (Now, I’m not sure that therapists actually say anything quite as direct as that. […]

December 2017

A Story for December: Bertie’s Christmas

Bertie’s Christmas was first published in The Scotsman newspaper in 2010. Bertie’s Christmas: Several factors had combined to improve summer for Bertie Pollock (6), son of Stuart Pollock (39) and Irene Pollock (38), of Scotland Street (44). The most important of these was the cessation, at least for the months of July and August, of […]

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