Home of The Naughty Stories Series
How will Kateryna woo Shevshenko? Will the Count elude confession on his death bed? Can a true Scot really appreciate a holiday in the Med? How will you grow old? Gracefully or with a bottle in your hands? Are you a Naughty Girl or Nice Girl? Have you ever encountered your double? Can you read the cards, or do you stick to the runes?
Carte Blanche is a collection of naughty short stories, a series of sly vignettes and comic tableaux, compiled and curated by best of friends, Maude and Mabel. Why not become a member of the lazy book club, and get your news from nowhere? Carte Blanche is the indulgent companion for idle days by the pool, the longeurs of the airport lounge and the post-industrial metro of the modern world.– M T Sands
The two of them sat side by side in the brasserie, comfortable but not with long conversation. It was an old ritual and one which they had both learned to tolerate. Francoise was normally a flamboyant dresser, but for her father she put on a plain dress and held back on the makeup. Guillaume was …
After taking early retirement from his job on the council, at fifty, Gregorio was beginning to feel that nothing very much was going on in his life. One evening, on a whim, and while his wife was away on business, he arranged to meet his ex. They had not seen each other for more than …
Jamal and Raif lugged the huge item back to the shop. “What in heaven’s name have you got there?” asked their father. “A giant teapot!” they exclaimed proudly. “Why?” said their father. “We had to buy it – it is so cool!” answered Jamal. “Oh really?” said his father. “How much?” “Um…” “HOW much?” “Six …
No one could deny the romance of the Highland Sleeper Train. Who could not love the old-fashioned carriages, the earthy and ever pleasant stewards and the rattle of the track as the train spend northwards? It did not matter whether you were in the Aberdeen or Edinburgh section of the train, when dawn broke you …
“You will do as you’re told.” “No, I won’t.” Punishments sometimes stick in the memory in odd ways, as it did for Sylvia with the locked cupboard. When her mother finally opened the cupboard and burst into tears, Sylvia had been filled with a sense of power. Sylvia had only been five years old, but, …
“We don’t grow older. We grow riper.” Pablo Picasso “Someone cites it, and I steal it.” Mary Sands Golden Years was a song, I recall, we could not get enough of in our early twenties. Overstall, I recall, was obsessed by it, as he was the Ficus Benjamin, which still stands tall in the hall …
Mrs. Rattigan who lived at 14 November Street was one of Ed the Postman’s favourites. He had tea with her on Fridays. Mrs. Rattigan was in her early eighties and lived alone in a classic, but ramshackle Victorian terraced house. What broke Ed’s heart was the garden which was completely overgrown. “I can’t do it …
A soldier of Caesar’s army died in battle leaving a widow. The widow had four sons who were forced to grow up around the Roman camp while she plied her trade. Fed up with their wild ways, she decided to knock some sense into them. “Each of you will go to the lupanar[1],” she said. …
Alfred and Molly were now very much in the camp of the ancients although they liked to think of themselves as young at heart. Although they were both frail ninetysomethings, they refused to let ill health or the occasional mishap deter them from enjoying life to the full. They were on the ball, alert and …
It was the beginning of the asparagus season. The old man, as was his custom, drove to an area, not far from town, where he knew the best wild asparagus grew. There, among the drystone walls and prickly pears, the old man bumped into a lady of a certain age. Her name was Irena. “I …