Beside the Dying Ash Tree
by Michael Bloor [first published in Literally Stories, March 17th, 2026] Andy put down the phone on his sister, though she was still sobbing intermittently. They’d already been talking for half an hour; he realised that there was no more comfort he could offer, til he saw her tomorrow at the undertakers. And he needed…
The Canadian Poet and the Sicilian Prince
by Michael Bloor [first published in Literally Stories, March 1st, 2026] ‘Lampedusa’ (2020), the second novel of the Canadian poet, Steven Price, is an imagined account of the last years of the Sicilian author, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957), as he struggled with illness and self-doubt to complete his only work of fiction, ‘The Leopard’…
And Now For The Good News
by Michael Bloor [First published in Saragun Springs, July 25th, 2025] Davie Millar paused in the middle of the Faery Bridge, leant on the rail and stared down at the Blackwater. Like a few other things in the town, the Faery Bridge was misnamed. When it was built, it was first called the Ferro-Concrete Bridge,…
The Unsung Freedom Fighter
by Michael Bloor [first published in Saragun Springs, July 24th, 2024] It was a shock when old Andy Baranov died. Sudden deaths are always a shock: it was a car crash – brake failure on the steep, winding descent of the Braeport, near his house in Dunblane. As well as a good neighbour, he was…
The Second Letter
by Michael Bloor [first published in Saragun Springs, July 23rd, 2026] Charlie Robertson had spent his entire working life on the Kilblane estate. When he’d retired as head gamekeeper back in 2015, Sir Ewan had presented him with a silver watch and made a rambling but heart-felt speech about Andy’s knowledge of, and love for,…
The Forensic Psychiatrist’s Tale
by Michael Bloor [first published in Saragun Springsc, July 22nd, 2025] Bob Duncan, like a lot of ex-policemen, is of a philosophical turn-of-mind. He reckons that the Inverallan Allotments are a bit like the army in the days of the old National Service, where all sorts of people had to learn to mix in together.…
Allegra
by Michael Bloor [first published in Saragun Springs, July 21st, 2026] When John started his apprenticeship at Sowter & Son, Allegra was already working in Old Man Sowter’s office as typist/receptionist/assistant book-keeper. John would see her every morning as she made her way through the workshop to the rear office: Allegra kept office hours, whereas…
An Imagined Final Conversation at Polhoegda, near Oslo, 1930
by Michael Bloor [first published in Saragun Springs, February 16th, 2026] On June 17th 1896, a bizarre encounter occurred in Franz Josef Land, in the Arctic wastes. Fridtjof Nansen (1861-1930), the Norwegian scientist and arctic explorer, met Major Frederick Jackson (1860-1938), the leader of a British arctic expedition. Their meeting was an incredible piece of…
Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘The Master of Ballantrae’
by Michael Bloor (first published in Literally Stories, February 8th, 2026) Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) had a short life but was a prolific author. His first work (a history) was published when he was just 16 and he went on to write 13 novels, 6 collections of short stories, and several books of non-fiction. They…
Menopausal Male Bombshell
by Michael Bloor (first published in Saragun Springs, January 23rd, 2026) Alan had won second prize in a writers’ magazine poetry competition for his ‘Ballad of the Menopausal Male.’ The postman had just delivered the prize, a copy of The Chambers Thesaurus (5th edition). As Alan hefted the thesaurus in his hand, he recalled that,…
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