In October last year Frank Key posted about the wonderful Puffin book The Pirates' Tale by Janet Aitchison, aged five and a half. He said in the piece: Janet Aitchison will be middle-aged by now... We can only hope she gets in touch if she sees this. And lo! and behold, ... Read More...
Fiction
This week, an eerie tale of astrology and tortoises... It came as something of a shock when I learned that my fate was written in the stars. I had no idea that every last particular of my life, from cradle to grave, was foretold in the barely visible movements, thousands and ... Read More...
A stirring tale of adventure and calamity from the golden age of ballooning!.... An accident, the consequences of which are expected to be fatal, took place at Cannes on Sunday last. A M. Despleschin, of Nice, had announced his intention of making an ascent in a balloon, and two gentlemen, M. ... Read More...
As a tribute to Pete Seeger, who passed away this week, here's Frank's unforgettable tale, I Had a Hammer... I had a hammer. I hammered in the morning. I hammered in the evening all over this land. I hammered out danger. I hammered out a warning. I hammered out love between ... Read More...
Look out next week for the launch of By Aerostat to Hooting Yard: A Frank Key Reader, published by Dabbler Editions for the Kindle. The ebook contains 147 stories selected by nonsense aficionado Roland Clare, and is an ideal introduction for the newcomer and a handy 'best of' compendium for ... Read More...
Nige celebrates a gem of Victorian comic writing... Born in 1803, Douglas William Jerrold was one of those industrious Victorians writers who seem never to have slept. He was a successful dramatist (his first staged piece written when he was 14), a hugely prolific critic and journalist, a famous conversationist and ... Read More...
Frank goes looking for trouble... They say the devil is in the detail, but is that a fact? I decided to find out. First of all, though, I wanted to have a better idea of “the detail”. I was pretty sure I would know the devil when I saw him, but ... Read More...
In that corner of the ethereal realm where reside the Frankish kings, it was breakfast time... ...The kitchenette was overcrowded, as usual. There was much jostling as the kings, who each had very different breakfast needs, struggled to find space to prepare and consume their morning repasts. I was going to ... Read More...
Elberry puffs his way through a new and much-hyped short story collection... Short stories, like poems, are easy to write, and like poems they are usually worthless. Brevity tempts the would-be writer - easier to write a 5,000-word short story than a 100,000 word novel; and brevity makes the poem and ... Read More...
From Fu Manchu to Fred Astaire this week, as Jonathon Green continues his slang tour of London by venturing into the East End's Chinatown and the heady scents of opium and white slavery ... It's not so much the slang coinage, because Limehouse as such didn't generate any (other than the rhyming slang ... Read More...
