Browsing Archive: February, 2018

Living Language

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Monday, February 26, 2018, In : Linguistics 
A few days ago, I finished reading a book called Mother Tongue: The English Language by Bill Bryson. A linguistics study of the English language and the foreign, social and cultural influences on it might not sound much of a page-turner, but I found it fascinating.
    There are many facts in it with which to dumbfound your friends at parties, such as how many different ways William Shakespeare spelled his name, but to my mind, what is most interesting is how English has always evolved and ada...
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Hairy Heroes

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Tuesday, February 20, 2018,
Dogs have always played an important role in literature, and as the Chinese Year of the Dog has just begun, what better time to look at canine characters?
    Without his faithful hound, Argos, to recognise him, who would have believed that Odysseus had finally returned in Homer's The Odyssey? The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, without a big black dog, wouldn't have left Sherlock Holmes with much to investigate. Every age group and genre of literature from See Spot Run by...
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For the Love of Pancakes

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Wednesday, February 14, 2018,
When was the last time Shrove Tuesday, otherwise known as Pancake Day, was followed by St Valentine's Day? I can't remember if it's happened before. It probably isn't a problem for pancake lovers–sweet or savoury, they're free to indulge themselves, but for sweethearts it could mean some difficult choices. That's because the day after Shrove Tuesday is also Ash Wednesday i.e. the first day of Lent. If your loved one is giving up chocolate, cake or alcohol, what are you going to give them to...
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Think Before You Click

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Thursday, February 8, 2018,
Those who were born before the millennium might remember a time before computers adorned every desk, even word processors were a rarity, and electric typewriters were the serious writer's best friend. Actually, that's wrong–Tippex was a writer's best friend. More than three mistakes on a page–tippexed or not–and you were advised to start again. Worse still, because you couldn't save your files in umpteen different places or print off a pristine copy whenever you needed it, you had to ma...
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Sorry, Sorry, Sorry

Posted by K. S. Dearsley on Thursday, February 1, 2018,
My apologies to everyone who downloaded Discord's Child from Smashwords since the Christmas sale, expecting to find a code at the end for a free copy of Discord's Apprentice. I stuffed up! I wondered why it hadn't been used, despite my banging on about it for the past month. I was beginning to think that no-one loved me. Now, I know why, and I wouldn't blame anyone for being angry–I'm angry with myself. It was only when I reopened the file for the novel to remove the code, as it was no long...
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About Me


My writing career began as a freelance feature writer for the local press, businesses and organisations. Now a prize-winning playwright and short story writer, my work has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic. I write as K. S. Dearsley because it saves having to keep repeating my forename, and specialise in fantasy and other speculative genres.

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