The Rushford Times - A weekly newsletter from Jodi Taylor
Sent on Wednesdays to paid subscribers and Fridays to free subscribers
This week we have:
Jodi Taylor is on holiday
A David Sands Writing Competition entry: Galactose Intolerant or Soylent Cheese by A.L. Taur
This week in history: 11 December 1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales was killed.
The St Mary’s Short Stories Christmas Reading Challenge - Story Ten in the Read all the St Mary’s Christmas Short Stories before Christmas Day Challenge is Christmas Pie
December - Book of the Month: The Something Girl, Joy To The World and Storm Christopher
There’s plenty to read this week and you can see everything on the blog too. CLICK HERE for the blog.
This week Jodi is on holiday. I know, I know - a holiday, but relax, she’s only away for four days. You may, however, start to panic when you hear where she’s gone: Dartmoor, the haunting setting of The Hound of the Baskervilles. Honestly, it would be just like Jodi to leave her dark, gothic hotel for a gentle evening stroll, only to be confronted by a slavering hound baying for blood from across the misty moor. Let’s hope she sticks to well-lit paths or, better still, stays safe by sipping a glass of rosé in the hotel bar.
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This story was a winning entry in The Sands of Time Writing Competition and has since been published in the Sands of Time Anthology. All profits from the anthology support Scope, the inspiring charity dedicated to enabling and empowering people with disabilities. The book is available now in both paperback and ebook formats, directly from Rushford Editions or Amazon.
Galactose Intolerant or Soylent Cheese by A.L. Taur
“So tell me about the cheese.”
“What cheese?”
“What do you mean, what cheese? This cheese. That cheese over there. The cheese all around us.”
“There isn’t that much cheese.”
“This vessel is approved by Section 31b of the Unarian Code to be used for hauling asteroids. It can hold a lot of cheese. It is, in fact, holding truly vast amounts of—hold on, have you shoved—you have. You’ve filled the left M-dimensional pocket with cheese, too.”
“I never.”
“I am literally looking at it right now. It’s actually bulging a little. How did you even manage to fill up an M-dimensional pocket? It’s used to contain neutrino reactions. The amount of cheese it would have to hold must be, what, close to the biomass of that last planet?”
“Well. Not exactly close.”
“How can it be ‘not exactly close’?”
“Just exactly that.”
“What?”
“What ‘what’?”
“What ‘exactly that’ is it?!”
“The amount of cheese. Is the biomass of that last planet. Exactly.”
This Week in History: 11 December 1282 Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales was killed.
On 11 December 1282, on a cold winter day near Builth Wells, the fate of Wales was sealed. Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last native Prince of Wales, was killed during a skirmish with English forces. With his death, more than a man was lost. The centuries-old dream of an independent Welsh state died with him, and Wales passed decisively into the hands of the English crown.
Llywelyn had risen to power during one of the most unstable periods in Welsh history. Ambitious, politically astute, and an able military leader, he overcame rival princes and internal divisions to establish himself as the dominant ruler of Wales. In 1267, after years of conflict and negotiation, his authority was formally recognised by King Henry III in the Treaty of Montgomery. For a brief moment, Wales stood as a largely self-governing principality, its independence acknowledged by its powerful neighbour.
That fragile settlement unravelled with the arrival of Edward I in 1272. A formidable and determined ruler, Edward was committed to bringing the whole of Britain under firm royal control. Llywelyn, independent-minded and linked by marriage to the family of an English rebel, soon found himself in the king’s sights. In 1277, Edward’s first invasion stripped Llywelyn of most of his lands. Though he retained his title, the power behind it had been hollowed out.
The St Mary’s Short Stories Christmas Reading Challenge
Story Ten in the Read all the St Mary’s Christmas Short Stories before Christmas Day Challenge
Who’s up for joining in the St Mary’s Christmas Reading Challenge? You simply need to read the 11 St Mary’s Christmas stories and leave a comment below each story as you finish them. We will feature one story a week up to Christmas
This week’s book is Christmas Pie
St Mary’s has never lacked for enemies, but danger has never been closer to home. A state of war has broken out between St Mary’s and the Women’s Institute - the Raffia Mafia. Markham, Max, Peterson and Miss Sykes must jump to Restoration London in search of real Christmas pie - the honour of St Mary’s is at stake. At least that how it all begins, but this is St Mary’s after all...
December - Book of the Month: The Something Girl, Joy To The World and Storm Christopher
I do hope she steers clear of Monstrous Hounds!
4 days in a dark gothic hotel - Dartmoor Prison? What has Jodi done now? I hope our fav author does not run afoul (that's a football term) of Bill, Jan, Peter, Peter, Dan'l, Harry and Old uncle Tom on a grey mare.