Katherine Black, Harpie, Sooz, I’ve never met any of them apart from on the page. Our literary friendship was fostered on ABCtales. She was honest in a way I (and few others) could be. My favourite books are no longer in print or available online.
Harpie, Good Night and Thanks for the Vodka. 24th June 2002. A diary kept for fourteen years. The small terraced house in Darkton and her beloved dog, Kali.
‘The word diary, journal and blog are terms used interchangeably to mean the same thing’.
The past is never really past. And fiction is the direction your thoughts and feelings take you. Anne Frank wasn’t burned because she was a diarist, or for what she said, but she was edited by her dad. Katherine Black went unfiltered. Lots of it made me laugh, when I really shouldn’t be.
‘When the world gets screwy, I find it helps to write… I’m here to prove the cynics wrong. I can write the truth, and stick to only telling the truth. How hard can it be?’
Harpie Thanks for the Vodka 2003.
Lizard’s Leap was her Joe Dunthorne moment. A poet and fellow writer on ABCtales, Submarine (2008) Dunthorne’s debut novel, was later adapted into a critically acclaimed film, directed by Richard Ayoade in 2010. Katherine Black had a film producer looking at Lizard’s Leap. The coming-of-age story she follows is one so many of us scribblers follow.
Writing is the easy part. Getting your writing noticed, also called marketing is the impossible part. Let’s call it fictional that a book is published on Amazon every five seconds and sell around twelve copies. Listen to the Weathergirls (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3m6-U89Fxs) and imagine a world raining books instead of men.
The problem isn’t that it’s raining books. Just not your book. You’ve no Leverage:
‘Go on Beth, it’ll be a laugh.’ …Every Friday night we go to the quiz at the Black Bull…
Will you be my friend?
“Our friendship was like our writing in some ways,’ Ann Patchett says of her friendship with one my favourite writers, Lucy Grealy. ‘It was the only thing that was interesting about our otherwise dull lives.’
Notes.
Some of the most famous literary friendships from the 19th century include:
1. Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins: Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were both Victorian novelists who became close friends in the 1850s. They collaborated on several plays and stories, including The Frozen Deep and No Thoroughfare.
2. Mary Shelley and Lord Byron: Mary Shelley and Lord Byron were both Romantic poets who became friends in the early 19th century. They spent a summer together in Switzerland, where they challenged each other to write horror stories. Byron encouraged her to write something about vampires in the publishing industry. This led to Mary Shelley’s famous novel Frankenstein.
3. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both Transcendentalist writers who became friends in the 1830s. They shared a love of nature and a belief in the importance of individualism. Neither of them believed that individualism should be stretched so finely and thinly that a moron’s moron could be elected American President. Thoreau’s book Walden was inspired by his time spent living in a cabin on Emerson’s property addresses this lacuna.
4. Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson: Emily Dickinson was a reclusive poet who corresponded with Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a writer and abolitionist. Higginson encouraged Dickinson to publish her work, and helped to edit some of her poems in the same way Katherine Black helped my work.
Literary friendships in the twentieth century:
Leo Tolstoy had a significant literary friendship with the renowned Russian author, Ivan Turgenev. Their relationship, however, was not without its complexities and conflicts. Despite their differing political views and artistic styles, they shared a deep mutual respect for each other’s literary talents.
Tolstoy and Turgenev’s friendship is a fascinating example of the complexities that can arise between writers who admire each other’s work but clash over personal and ideological differences. Despite their disagreements, their literary friendship endured, and they continued to correspond and engage with each other’s work throughout their lives.
In the 20th century, there were several celebrated literary friendships that left an indelible mark on literary history. One of the most notable was the friendship between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Despite their contrasting writing styles and personalities, they formed a close bond and exchanged letters discussing their craft and sharing their successes and struggles as writers.
Another iconic literary friendship was between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, two legendary authors of fantasy literature. Their friendship blossomed through their shared love of storytelling and their mutual admiration for each other’s work. They often met at the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, where they discussed their ideas and offered feedback on each other’s manuscripts.
Virginia Woolf and T.S. Eliot were also part of a notable literary circle known as the Bloomsbury Group. Although they had different writing styles and interests, they shared a deep intellectual connection and engaged in stimulating literary discussions that influenced their respective works.
These literary friendships not only enriched the lives of the writers involved but also had a profound impact on their literary output. They inspired each other, challenged each other’s ideas, and provided invaluable support and camaraderie in the often solitary pursuit of writing.
Here are some of their most famous works:
- Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace, Anna Karenina
- Ivan Turgenev: Fathers and Sons, A Month in the Country
- F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night
- Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea, A Farewell to Arms
- J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
- C.S. Lewis: The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Screwtape Letters
- Virginia Woolf: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse
- T.S. Eliot: The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
These literary friendships remind us of the power of collaboration, camaraderie, and creative exchange in the world of literature. As ABCtales writers, we can draw inspiration from their examples and cultivate meaningful connections with our fellow wordsmiths, knowing that our friendships can enrich our lives.
Few literary friendships are as legendary as that between Truman Capote and Harper Lee. Their bond, forged in childhood, was one of mutual admiration, support, and artistic camaraderie that left an indelible mark on the literary landscape of the 20th century.
Truman Capote, renowned for his innovative non-fiction novel In Cold Blood and his novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and Harper Lee, celebrated for her iconic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, grew up as neighbours in Monroeville, Alabama.
Capote famously claimed that he played a significant role in the development of Lee’s magnum opus, To Kill a Mockingbird, suggesting that he provided inspiration for the character of Dill and even helped with the initial drafts of the novel. However, this assertion has been a subject of debate among scholars and fans of Lee’s work.
Harper Lee, for her part, remained fiercely loyal to Capote throughout their lives, offering unwavering support and encouragement for his literary endeavours. Despite their differing writing styles and approaches, their friendship served as a source of inspiration and creative energy for both authors.
Capote and Lee’s impact on American literature can be exaggerated. But To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, retains relevance, tackling themes of racial injustice, morality, and the loss of innocence in the American South. The novel earned Lee the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has been adapted into multiple award-winning films and plays. Go Set a Watchman (2015) published by her literary estate was average at best, perhaps even a crime against the author.
Capote’s In Cold Blood, (1966) revolutionised the genre of true crime writing, blurring the lines between journalism and literature. His research and immersive storytelling techniques set a new standard for narrative non-fiction, earning him critical acclaim and cementing his status as a literary icon.
Despite their literary achievements, Capote and Lee’s friendship was not without its challenges. As Lee became increasingly reclusive in her later years, Capote struggled with alcoholism, leading to strained relations between the two authors. But getting older is sometimes like that and you don’t need to be a writer.
📚 Silas Nash Series:
- “Hush Hush Honeysuckle” (Silas Nash Book 1):
- “Night Night Necropolis” (Silas Nash Book 2):
- “Lie Lie Lullaby” (Silas Nash Book 3):
- “Cold-Blooded Carnival” (Silas Nash Book 4):
- 📚 Standalone Novels:
- “Fur”:
- “The Last Matriarch”:
- 📚 Other Standalone Novels:
- “Nowhere Boulevard”:
- “A Question of Sanity”:
- “Leverage”:
- “Travesty”:
- “Lizard’s Leap”:
- “Keepers of the Quantum”:
😊 #KatherineBlack #SilasNash #AmazonBooks 📚
• 😈 Unleash the Beastie! https://bit.ly/bannkie • 📚 Share the Magic, Share the Page! 🌟 #BeastieNovel #BookBuzz 😈
Silas Nash Book 1: Hush Hush Honeysuckle: Hush Hush Honeysuckle (Silas Nash Book 1) eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
DCI Silas Nash is brought into the Task Force on a case that has the local police baffled. It’s the first serial killer the Lake District has seen. The beautiful English countryside is forever tarnished.
Four murders deep and The Florist isn’t done.
As the evidence stacks up against businessman Maxwell Jones, Nash thinks he’s nailed their killer.
But somebody’s leaking evidence to the press, and if he doesn’t get a handle on it soon, he’ll be ruined.
Amanda Keys has a message for him . . . one that DCI Nash isn’t ready to hear.
And it’s not that he’s too old for Detective work. President Biden is much older and he runs the world.
Silas Nash book 2: Night Night Necropolis Night Night Necropolis (Silas Nash Book 2) eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Alma Cullen is dead.
In a bizarre link, people from flight BX842 are dying at a holiday resort in Greece.
DCI Silas Nash and his second in command, DI Molly Brown, go undercover as the body count rises.
The guests have stopped dying—but there’s a new threat. One by one, the remaining guests go missing.
Nash must solve the mystery before it’s too late.
In this interconnected standalone paranormal detective thriller, Katherine Black delivers more intrigue and clues for the reader to find as she delves into the dark recesses of the human psyche.
How do you hunt a killer when you don’t know where to begin?
Silas Nash book 3: Lie Lie Lullaby Lie Lie Lullaby (Silas Nash Book 3) eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Online charm. Lethal harm.
In the chilling undercurrent of an ice-cold case, Detective Chief Inspector Silas Nash is hitting brick walls. Each lead drags him down a burrow of frustration.
Around the murkier corners of the internet, a sly conman weaves his web on a dating site, ensnaring unsuspecting women with practised ease. He’s a shark in a digital ocean, preying on the vulnerable.
Clara Watts, devastated and embittered, plays a dangerous game when he slithers back into her life eight years later. But he’s no ordinary villain.
Silas Nash book 4: Cold-Blooded Carnival Cold-Blooded Carnival (Silas Nash Book 4) eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
In a circus of shadows, death takes centre stage.
In the shadowy heart of Prague, beneath the looming towers of Vysehrad Castle, DCI Nash finds himself ensnared in a web of malevolence. As a once-celebrated circus unravels into a maelstrom of death, the macabre discovery of a fifteen-year-old trapeze artist signals the start of a nightmare murder spree that disrupts the colourful façade of the big top.
With the spectral hum of an uninvited carousel heralding a curse, Nash is thrown into a case where the performers live by superstition and folklore.
With time running out, Nash battles the clock to unmask the mastermind behind the madness. But the circus is a place where crazy isn’t always fun. Every smile conceals an agenda. As the secrets unravel, the real monsters aren’t in the funhouse . . . they walk among the innocent.
‘Cold-Blooded Carnival is the best Silas Nash thriller yet. Written in a more vivid style than Black’s trademark stripped-back prose, it’s a pulse-pounding thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the shocking reveal. Brilliant. A movie-worthy masterpiece.’ — Brian Dawson
Step right up, if you dare, for a performance where fear and suspense fly under the glittering lights of the big top.
[Barrow is the arse-end of England] on the Southern tip of the picturesque Lake District. [her words, not mine] His beat extended to the border in all direction. First victim. Alma Cullan aged 64.
Fur Fur eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Every family has a limit. Every secret has a price.
15-year-old Samuel May is a neurodivergent young man with a unique mind. When his best friend vanishes, it triggers more than just a search. It plunges Sammy and his parents into an emotional labyrinth with unimaginable consequences.
From the beginning, tensions rise and secrets emerge as the family is pushed to the limit. Sammy has to come to terms with a world that doesn’t understand him. With each revelation, they’re forced closer to breaking point. Can they endure the strain?
Sammy’s in danger. And everything hinges on finding his friend.
Fur is a gripping and soulful look at a dysfunctional family dynamic, set against a backdrop of unfolding mystery and heart-stopping moments. Prepare for a journey that’s as emotionally rich as it is suspenseful.
The Last Matriarch The Last Matriarch eBook : Black, Katherine : Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Violet Woods buries her firstborn child.
Not lacking in fortitude, she soon produces five replacement boys. Violet, a matriarch with barely concealed neurotic psychosis, stifles the Woods brothers under her protective wing, and keeps them safe from wanton girls.
As her hotel empire grows and the decades pass, the boys coerce their way into adulthood, each with his secrets and flaws.
And Julie Spencer is pulled into the depraved family dynamic—trapped in their world.
Through Katherine Black’s signature style of probing the darkest depths of twisting suspense, The Last Matriarch is a story of power, vengeance, and intrigue . . .
As they rise, the Woods show no mercy. However, when Consuela Vengarse checks in, vengeance arrives with hatred in her overnight bag.
28th May 1973. He shuffled down the corridor clutching his Scooby Doo lunchbox in his left hand. He looked confused. He always looked confused.
At the Great Gables Home for Special Children.
Mrs Quigley (I knew a Mrs Quigley)
Nowwhere Boulevard Nowhere Boulevard : Where Crazy Comes Out to Play eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
I am a humbled man. (dad) I can’t define greatness… In my world greatness is a fourteen-year-old tornado with a mouth that never stops talking…
Stephen Bell wants to be forgiven for reading his daughter’s diary. But he’s compelled to dredge every secret as her world changes.
This is the story of how Sarah’s perfect existence is shattered when everything trusted is stolen from her. Dad’s quit his job. Mum’s got pregnant and gone mental. But the boyfriend is a welcome distraction…until crazy is dialled to the max.
Sarah tries to be normal among her peers — but normal won’t let her be.
In a change from Black’s usual style, she breathes life into a family at breaking point. But readers will be left with no doubt that this is Katherine Black at her psychological best.
In her trademark signature of getting into the darkest corners of the psyche.
A Question of Sanity A Question of Sanity eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
‘Sometimes things are too big and sad to hold in memory.’ Evelyn knew about the nuts and bolts of writing.
Author Ellie Erikson is dying from a rare degenerative disease that even the experts don’t know much about. But that’s just the start of her problems. When her boyfriend is beaten and left for dead, Ellie is the prime suspect. He names her as his attacker—but she has no recollection of hurting him. She’s told to expect changes to her personality—but the doctors never mentioned insanity. As she looks to her childhood for answers, everything about her past and upbringing is brought into question. When psychosis comes for her from a damaged mind, a wasting illness is the least of Ellie’s troubles. And as the secrets unravel, it opens a nightmarish instability.Ellie Erikson has nothing left to lose when even her time is forfeit. Can she combat the evils in her life before time runs out? A novel of fear and suspense. A Question of Sanity is Katherine Black’s darkest, most perverse and chilling work.
At first she thinks someone is trying to frame her for all these minor crimes. Then she sees her attacker, who looks just like her, wielding a knife coming towards her, but so do 2 witnesses. Then she knows there is an identical twin that she never knew about. But the police check the knife and discover it contains only her fingerprints. That’s when she knows she must be going mad, and maybe she has a split personality when she sleeps. It looks like a Jekyll and Hyde situation. But the truth, in the end, is even worse than that.
This story is a mystery! A story within a story that seams so familiar. Twists and turns throw you off track but the tannoy keeps you on track. What’s waiting for her on the other side of that door?? Must read!
Leverage Leverage eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
‘Go on Beth, it’ll be a laugh.’ …Every Friday night we go to the quiz at the Black Bull…
Will you be my friend?
Leverage is testament to how one innocuous ad in the local newspaper can turn your world upside down.
Two people come into Beth’s life:
One gives her a reason to die.
The other takes away her choice.
She appears out of nowhere and wants to be Beth’s friend.It would be sweet if it wasn’t such a sinister obsession.
Beth is ensnared, her tranquil life spiralling into a vortex of chaos that she can’t escape.
Black’s signature talent for probing the human psyche and unearthing the hidden pockets of humanity that we dare not acknowledge is at its peak in Leverage. In this book, she bypasses black and goes to whatever black becomes when it gets darker.
This is a story about power—how much influence can one person have over somebody else?
Be Beth’s friend and find out.
Oh my word, this book is one hell of a page turner. Beth is an independent woman with her own home and a good job. But her best pal, Maggie, reckons she needs a man in her life. She drags the reluctant Beth along to a speed dating evening. A date is made with an attractive young man who rapidly turns out to be just about as despicable as they come. Too late, because before Beth fully realises the danger she is in, he is standing right between her and escape. Things get as graphic as they become violent, and it all ends very badly indeed.
This is where I got annoyed with Beth. All she had to do was go to the police; they would have believed her version of events, because she’s covered in evidence. But Beth chooses not to. She also chooses not to confide in her best friend… something else I didn’t understand. However, women are attacked every single day, and a great many prefer not to speak up. Who can blame them, when the system seems to demand that they be paragons of virtue in order to deserve justice in the first place? So, I got over my irritation with Beth’s refusal to take control of her situation, and got on with enjoying the story.
Enter Jennifer; a creepy little woman-child who encroaches relentlessly upon Beth’s life, causing it to spiral out of control at breakneck speeds. Jennifer is a sickeningly twisted, master manipulator, and poor Beth soon finds out that there are far worst places to be, than the place she occupied in the hours after her date. Two women in a near constant battle of wits, and the stakes just keep getting higher. The drama is intense, relentless. Time and again I was shocked by the lengths Beth goes to just to keep Jennifer sweet. Time and again I was stunned by how utterly wicked Jennifer really is.
In the end I discovered that Beth’s date, that despicable man… he was just the starter course, an amateur at evil. Jennifer is the real thing and, when life pitches you head to head with her kind of evil, you have to put on your big girl pants, bear your teeth, and get stuck in.
Leverage is a pitch black and thrilling ride that plumbs the depths of human depravity. Definitely not for the faint hearted, but my heart is made of sterner stuff and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Katherine Black uses emotions and characters to manipulate your senses until they ache.
This is a collection of fictional stories born of dark things living in the author’s head. It’s about the power of the human condition—and the weakness. A collection of intense stories written with passion and insight. Some are so tragic they can break a heart. Every piece in the book is tinged with human emotion—kindness, colour, darkness, or autumn tones.
While some women are dipping in the supermarket freezers for frozen peas, Katherine wonders how a body would fit. Would you have to break their arms and legs to get them in? What do frozen eyes look like? She has a head full of psychopaths. Sometimes they need to be let out. This book is the result of their freedom.
You will find thought-provoking, bleak, kind, harsh, gentle—and dark— stories that will make you uncomfortable.
If it wasn’t so shocking, it would be a…Travesty.
‘Cobwebs’ In later life Elsie spend a lot of time revisiting memories… the good and bad of early marriage and raising the family.
The webs had no substance they were much like her life.
And in family reading: fantasy/adventure
Lizard’s Leap & Lizards Leap (Guardians of the Frame Book 1) eBook : Black, Katherine: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
You know that feeling of absolute boredom where nothing good is ever going to happen in your life?
Yeah, so do these guys.
Even the seagulls are bored.
But for Vicki, Mark, Kerry and Emma, their luckis about to change.
When they discover that the photo frame Kerry bought lets them step into a picture—whichever image they use—they leap into all kinds of worlds and all kinds of trouble.
Until somebody almost dies.
You’d think that would be the worst of it, but Adobe—an evil being from another place—wants the frame and he’ll stop at nothing to get his hands on it.
With tensions mounting, danger and action await them. And adventure rides shotgun.
If they make it out alive.
Lizards Leap is in the grand tradition of ‘Group of children have magical adventures’ – in this case, three girls and a boy discover a picture frame that can take them wherever and whenever they choose. Cue a string of varied, exciting, and frequently hilarious capers, from rescuing a wolf, to inadvertently starring in a musical, to solving puzzles in a surreal and topsy-turvy castle.
Keepers of the Quantum
Sylvia might die. The Frame is already dead.
The kids are older. The leaps are wilder . . .
Vicki, Mark, Kerry, and Emma have a magic picture frame portal, leaping them into a cascade of otherworldly realms filled with magic and malice.
But danger is ever lurking and the perfect leap can turn on a heartbeat, transforming their adventures into near-death encounters. A particular brush with death leaves them teetering on the brink.
Adobe is an enigmatic figure from a parallel dimension, his intentions shrouded in darkness. He yearns for the frame, a tool for evil intentions.
Keepers of the Quantum is a high-stakes adventure, brimming with suspense, intrigue, and relentless action.
A question hangs in the balance:
Are they destined to remain prisoners in a time far removed from their home?
So, strap yourself in, as Katherine Black redefines survival and every breath holds the potential of a last gasp. Her pulse-pounding escapade promises to be a wild, unforgettable ride, studded with unimaginable thrills and spine-tingling suspense.
Harpie Good Night and Thanks for the Vodka. 24th June 2002. A diary kept for fourteen years. The small terraced house in Darkton and her beloved dog, Kali.
‘The word diary, journal and blog are terms used interchangeably to mean the same thing’. The past is never really past. And fiction is the direction your thoughts and feelings take you. Anne Frank wasn’t burned because she was a diarist.
‘When the world gets screwy, I find it helps to write… I’m here to prove the cynics wrong. I can write the truth, and stick to only telling the truth. How hard can it be?
Harpie Thanks for the Vodka 2003.
odonnellgrunting 