Brandon Lim

The Pool

One of my favourite things is tromping around in the wilderness. The place in this photo is part of the reason why. At the end of a narrow and winding path a short walk off the main road through Eskdale you will find this little grotto. Well, once upon a time. Since the first timeContinue reading “The Pool”

The Troll

I have to introduce this week’s story prompt photo with more than my usual amount of vagueness. I took the photo on a family outing to… somewhere. I’m moderately confident that it’s somewhere in the north of England. I recall the holiday to a wee place just off the A1, and I think this wasContinue reading “The Troll”

Tree-Forge

The origins of this week’s story prompt photo are a little muddy in my memory. I know I took it on a family walk during lockdown 1. Okay, that’s not true — at this point the lockdowns blur together somewhat, but I think it was the first one. I’m mostly sure that it was inContinue reading “Tree-Forge”

Faltha’s Celebration

Way back when I first wrote Summer Sorcery (in that no-one-else-gets-to-see-ever first draft) I imagined a backstory scene with Faltha and Malachite. There’s a nod to it on p125, but the book didn’t need derailed with the plot-irrelevant personal history between two important but ultimately secondary characters. However what made it into the book plantedContinue reading “Faltha’s Celebration”

Beneath

This week’s image is from a trip to Bolsover Castle some years ago. Unfortunately, the only copy I can find of this picture was messaged to me recently by my wife when it came up in her ‘on this day’ gallery. The upshot is that its not the highest image quality thanks to the joysContinue reading “Beneath”

Gloaming

For this week’s story prompt image is of Dunfermline Abbey. It was taken about a year ago, or as I think of it now, the good old days. This year has been a beast so far, and not in the good way. You’ve not come here for the whining though so we’ll leave that beContinue reading “Gloaming”

Curiosity

Another one from the Highland Wildlife Park archives. This photo, from November 2019, was an opportunistic snapshot as we walked past the snow fox enclosure. I’d actually stopped to tie my shoelace and looked up to see this guy studying me intently. I wonder what he thought I was doing. Perhaps he was just lookingContinue reading “Curiosity”

Pocket Dragons

Once upon a time I made computer games. Well, tried to anyway, the venture never really got off the ground. A lucky escape, all things considered, although I didn’t think it at the time. One of the games that I was looking at involved dragons. I’ve always found 3d modelling to be easier with aContinue reading “Pocket Dragons”

Wizard and the Imp Location #2 – The Faerykirk

For as long as I can remember one of my favourite things has been finding out that places in stories are real locations that can be (theoretically at least) visited. Of course, as a dyed-in-the-wool sci-fi fantasy fan you can imagine how often I stumbled upon the places that I’d read about. Annoyingly, the woodsContinue reading “Wizard and the Imp Location #2 – The Faerykirk”

The Invading Dark

This week’s story prompt image harks back the Isle of May Trip earlier this year. In all honesty the photo wasn’t taken with the intent of using it for anything. I was trying (with minimal success) to get better at catching moving subjects. This one was on the boat-ride in. The fog-laden air progressively filledContinue reading “The Invading Dark”