Stuart Aken's Blog
June 1, 2026
50 Years Since 1976 Drought & Heatwave, Breaking Faith Is Set In That Year.
My novel, Breaking Faith, a Romantic Thriller is set in England and Scotland during the extended drought and heatwave of 1976, 50 years ago. We’ve just suffered (or enjoyed, depends on your love or hate of heat!) another unusual heatwave here in England. It didn’t last as long this time, and many places continued to …
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May 23, 2026
Have You Read An Excess Of…?
Continuing last week’s theme, here I’m letting you know more about my latest published novel, An Excess Of…, which refuses to be classified in a single genre. Some categories that fit will, I hope, also suit your reading preferences: Eco Thriller, Literary Fiction, Environmental Disaster Novel, Shipwreck Survival Story, Future Pandemic. A short introduction: Six …
May 16, 2026
Have You Read Breaking Faith?
I’m trying something new today. I’d like more readers for my books and you might be tempted to become one of them. There’ll be one a week, in no particular order. My first published novel, Breaking Faith, is a romantic thriller. With elements of betrayal, excitement, tragedy, sex, despair, hope, longing, fulfilment, and love it’s …
May 1, 2026
More Progress On The WIP
I’ve finally finished the stage of adding contemporaneous events to the storyline. Rendering such happenings in a way that allows them to integrate seamlessly with the story, rather than appear as mere markers in time, isn’t easy, but I believe I’ve managed it. Now I need to begin the slightly more tedious technical edit to …
April 26, 2026
Further Progress On The WIP
I should’ve done this last weekend, but life events can sometimes get in the way of best intentions, can’t they? No matter, here’s the latest update on the current novel I’m wrestling into presentable form. I last updated you on 3rd April, here. At that time, I’d already started inconspicuously inserting historic events into the …
April 10, 2026
The Greek Myths, by Robert Graves: #BookReview.
The edition of this book that I read is the two-volume hardback from the Folio Book Club. It is illustrated and very well presented, making it a pleasure to hold and behold, but the content is the same as that published in the ordinary single volume. The Greek Myths: what a tangled web of history, …
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April 3, 2026
Progress On The WIP?
As promised, surprisingly I’m managing to convert intentions to action, so here’s a brief report on current activity on the WIP. See my post on 22nd March here. The process of adding factual, real events to the novel is moving forward. Perhaps not as rapidly as I’d hoped, but movement is movement and we have …
March 26, 2026
Whose Death Is It Anyway?
I don’t often post about such matters as this here on the blog, reserving them for the other blogging platform I use, Medium, where I posted this piece a couple of days ago. However, this particular topic is of significant importance to me, so I’m placing the post here to gain maximum traction. Thank you …
March 22, 2026
So, What About This Work In Progress?
I realised today, whilst doing some work on the WIP, I hadn’t reported on progress since Boxing Day last year! My apologies for that neglect. It wasn’t intended. It was incidental, partly dependent on events and priorities beyond my control. No excuses, but please accept my heartfelt apology for what looks like neglect of my …
March 7, 2026
Small Hands, Pale and Fragile: a Short Story
The story posted today was originally published in the Autumn 2024 issue of Scribble, a print and online literary magazine. Enjoy the read. I’m afraid this will be the last short story posted here for a short, unspecified time due to other commitments. Small Hands, Pale and Fragile. Nathan had first seen the house from …
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