Twenty seven “Great British Short Stories”

So, my various three and four letter (self-diagnosed) disorders  can be “super-powers” IF I hone the routines required. I am trying to hone these routines.  One of the ways is this – 

  1. Daily read a short story from the book “Great British Short Stories, wot I bought for a quid last week. There are 27 of the blighters.
  1. Daily BLOG about it, in a tight format that says what the premise is (but no plot description because a) time and b) spoilers, a brief review, a score outa ten, keywords and the following

i) quotable bits

ii) words I didn’t know

iii) stuff I went and looked up.

iv) afterlives of the story/connections to other stuff

v) Is it online?

Success metrics

Did I do BOTH the reading AND the blog review? Any damn fool can read (I’ve been doing that for five decades), but it’s about the discipline of brief daily writing…
The introduction, by JB Priestley (him of being censored by Churchill in 1941 and also An Inspector Calls) is short and sweet. He says that the 20s was the best decade for short stories, throws shade at Somerset Maugham and reveals that he didn’t choose the stories – that was done for him.

Those blog posts in full

  1. 8/9/2025 – “Evidence in Camera”
  2. 9/9/2025 – “Miss Bracegirdle does her duty”
  3. 10/9/2025 – “The Amorous Ghost“
  4. 11/9/2025 – “Patience” by Nigel Balchin #GBSS04/27
  5. 12/9/2025 – “The Little Fishes” by H.E. Bates – moorhens cameo! #GBSS05/27
  6. 13/9/2025 – “The Apprentice” by Hilaire Belloc #GBSS06/27
  7. 14/9/2025 – “Death, Fire and Life” by Arnold Bennett #GBS07/27
  8. 15/9/2025 – “The Avenging Chance” by Anthony Berkeley #GBSS08/27
  9. 16/9/2025 – “Running Wolf” by Algernon Blackwood #GBSS09/27
  10. 17/9/2025 – “The Demon Lover” by Elizabeth Bowen – creepy af #GBSS10/27
  11. 18/9/2025 – “The Hammer of God” by G.K. Chesterton #GBSS11/27
  12. 19/9/2025 – “The Traveller’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed” by Wilkie Collins #GBSS12/27
  13. 20/9/2025 – “The Brute” by Joseph Conrad #GBSS13/27
  14. 21/9/2025 – “The Higgler” by A.E. Coppard #GBSS14/27
  15. 22/9/2025 – “Parson’s Pleasures” by Roald Dahl #GBSS15/27
  16. 23/9/2025 – “Winter’s Morning” by Len,Deighton #GBSS16/27
  17. 24/9/2025 – “Physic” by Water De La Mare #GBSS17/27
  18. 25/9/2025 – “The Poor Relation’s Story” by Charles Dickens #GBSS18/27
  19. 26/9/2025 – “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” by Arthur Conan Doyle #GBSS19/27
  20. 27/9/2025 – “The Gifts of War” by Margaret Drabble #GBSS20/27
  21. 28/9/2025 – “The Birds” by Daphne Du Maurier. Horrific, and a solid 11 out of 10 #GBSS21/27
  22. 29/9/2025 – “Fireworks for Elspeth” by Rumer Godden #GBSS22/27
  23. 30/9/2025 – “The End of the Party” by Graham Greene #GBSS23/27
  24. 1/10/2025 – “The Sea” by Neil Gunn #GBSS24/27
  25. 2/10/2025 – “The Cotillon” by L.P. Hartley #GBSS25/27
  26. 3/10/2025 – “August Heat” by W.F. Harvey – short and creepy. GBSS26/27 
  27. 4/10/2025 – “How Soon Can I Leave?” by Susan Hill #GBSS27/27
  28. 4/10/2025 – And “what I learned”

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