“But now, for the first time, I see you are a man like me. I thought of your hand-grenades, of your bayonet, of your rifle; now I see your wife and your face and our fellowship. Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. Why do they never tell us that you areContinue reading “Eleven o’clock on the eleventh day of the eleventh month”
Tag Archives: French Collection
True Inspiration for Fiction #5: the Ghosts of World War I
At 11 am on this day in 1918, the guns fell silent on the Western Front. Ninety-nine years later, none of the combatants in that terrible war is alive, but the memories still echo down the years. In France, where I live, the smallest village has its war memorial. Often, several men with the same surnameContinue reading “True Inspiration for Fiction #5: the Ghosts of World War I”
Book Cover Design: the Story of French Collection
When people buy a book, their choice depends on many factors: recommendation, a favourite author, a catchy title, a genre they like and so on. The cover also has a big influence on book buying. For that reason, instead of exercising my minimal (no, zero) design skills on my forthcoming collection of short storiesContinue reading “Book Cover Design: the Story of French Collection”
True Inspiration for Fiction #1: the Christmas Truce 1914
“There, the night before we had been having a terrific battle and the morning after, there we were smoking their cigarettes and they smoking ours.” This was the slightly bemused verdict of a British Tommy on one of the most extraordinary and poignant events of World War I: the Christmas truce of 1914. Up andContinue reading “True Inspiration for Fiction #1: the Christmas Truce 1914”
Vanessa Couchman 