Benjamin Judge

My stepmother died this year. It wasn’t the first time I lost a parent but it was the first time that I was one of the people dealing with what was left behind, a house and everything in it. It is a weird feeling, sorting through things that you have seen a thousand times and… Read more

I went to some places in 2023. Maybe you did too. These were my bset ones.   Dunraven Bay Remember in Doctor Who when the David Tennant Doctor had to say goodbye to Rose on a beach in Norway, and it was dead sad and that? Well actually the beach was in Wales and I… Read more

Do we say programmes or shows now? ‘Show’ is probably the sort of Americanism that gets frowned upon but ‘television programme’ feels a bit ‘I went to grammar school and listen to Radio 4’ to me. I don’t suppose it matters. Not really. I’m sticking with show. I even actually quite like America. As with… Read more

Hello. Today I am looking back on twelve short stories that I enjoyed reading in 2023. A lot of them were published this year but some weren’t. Half of them are from literary magazines, two were in anthologies, and four were published as a single story. [Boring housekeeping note: this list doesn’t include any stories… Read more

I thought I’d spend the twelve days of Christmas looking back over 2023, so here are twelve lists, each with twelve things in them. They aren’t ‘best of the year’ countdowns; just some stuff I enjoyed this year that I thought you might like too. As it’s Christmas Day, let’s start with food…   Walkers… Read more

4th of August, 2023 I did planning but not enough, or the wrong kind, or not enough of the right kind. A month or so earlier and there would have been an interesting species of butterfly to see. The birds that nest on the cliffs might have been easier to see if the vantage point… Read more