If, during the later years of the nineteenth century, you had made your way to Walworth Road and, seating yourself upon a step or perhaps a folding-stool, had observed the local citizenry going about their business, you very likely would have noticed a short, stout, very florid fellow in a cream-coloured suit and a scarlet […]
Lettres
Wherein the Author reflects upon certain topical & personal issues of the Day.
The archive for “Lettres”
The following lettres were filed in this category:
Failbetter’s Sunless Sea
Posted upon the 9th of September, 2013
Hello, FrillyShirteans! (I feel as though my readers ought to have some sort of club name, like the Nerdfighters – something like the Gilded Pangolins or the Farcical Researchers. Though, admittedly, my readership is small enough that you could all basically just learn each other’s names without too much trouble.) I have an excellent little […]
Dribble South of the River
Posted upon the 28th of July, 2013
Superintendent Dribble was not well pleased. He’d been called out of the city on a promising report that a Woking woman had killed her brother and fed him to her pigs, and found on arriving that she had actually killed her pig and fed it to her brothers. The better part of the day had […]
Deflecting Further Awkwardness by the Strategic Employment of Anagrams
Posted upon the 4th of June, 2013
Since the publication, little more than a year ago in these very pages, of the first Deflecting Awkwardness by the Strategic Employment of Anagrams, I’ve received a great deal of ADMIRING CORRESPONDENCE… though much of it, I admit, CONCERNED DESIRING A ROMP. These idle flirtations aside, I remain convinced of the efficacy of anagrams in […]
RUDE FOLLIES OF NORTH-WEST ENGLAND
Posted upon the 16th of May, 2013
EXCERPTS FROM A LECTURE TOUR BY MS CELIA FISTING “Appleby boasts some spectacular estates, but Glansview House is surely the jewel of the Bottom of Westmorland. In addition to an original Norman lintel, this palatial residence – still occupied by the Baronets Coquemarch – holds a spacious priest hole. This installation once communicated with a […]
Conversations Held From Top-Floor Windows, Part One
Posted upon the 6th of March, 2013
First Swell: I say! Noodle, is that you? Second Swell: Eh, what? Puffin, my dear fellow, is that you up there? First: Yes! I’m sorry, I can’t come down – I’m in a deal of bother! Second: Y’don’t say – anything I can help you with? First: Well, I was hoping you’d offer – y’see, […]
Summer in the West End
Posted upon the 13th of January, 2013
A dense and smothering heat had settled over the city. By the second day, noted barristers were seen soaking their wigs in ice-water before appearing before the courts. After five days, the national passion for talking about the weather had receded almost to nothing. At the end of the first week, it was reported that […]
Making, Sharing & Filing Stories
Posted upon the 23rd of October, 2012
Remember the Fallen London Kickstarter that I mentioned a couple of months ago? Well, it was successful beyond the wildest hopes of its creators – it achieved its goal within hours, and went on to reach 455% of that goal and four of its six stretch goals! And, more exciting still, The Silver Tree is […]