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Trails- Page 4

Once upon a time... Six book lovers, united by their disappointment in what they read, vowed to rewrite the literary landscape. Armed with pure willpower, they put pen to paper, fingers on keyboard, and crafted their own stories. Yet, authorship wasn't enough; they now faced the daunting task of selling their creations.

When Life Gives You Books

September 16, 2026
That evening, sitting amidst tower blocks of Victorian drainage history, Phineas realised Mrs Brown was right. Lemons were versatile. Books were heavy, flammable and stubbornly dry. But as the rain began to drizzle over the hill, he decided that if life refused to give him citrus, he would simply have to improvise…

We Need More Meaning

It is time for literature to move beyond the superficial noise of the contemporary moment and deliver the rich, transformative meaning that readers so desperately need…

The Lazy Club

The afternoon sun hit the vinyl couch at precisely the angle required…

Literary Van Goghisation in the Third Millennium

August 21, 2026
The phenomenon of Van Goghisation, named after the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh whose artistic genius was famously recognised only after his tragic death, describes the structural delay between creative production and critical validation. In the twenty-first century, this mechanism has undergone a profound transformation. Rather than operating as a…

The Fox One Digit Short

August 20, 2026
While his eighteen-toed peers spent their evenings perfecting stealthy trots and menacing glares, Seventeentoes harboured a secret passion for Welsh ballroom dancing. Every Saturday evening, he would sneak up to the window of the local village hall, watching the humans glide across the parquet floor to the lively rhythm of…

The Dawn of the Phone Scam

August 19, 2026
The lounge was blissfully quiet until the telephone’s sudden ring pierced the silence. Dorothy Jameson set her needles aside, stepped across the rug and lifted the heavy receiver cup to her ear, speaking into the mouth-funnel. ‘Hello? Whom do I have the honour of addressing at this outrageous hour?’ ‘Good…

An Adaptation of Flesh

By this year, the one hundred and twenty-sixth of the Third Millennium, war had become history. Children learnt about it from museum walls and antique films where men in uniforms launched drones across muddy fields. They learnt the names of dead countries, dead generals and dead cities. They learnt that…

Censoring the Shades

August 18, 2026
Our story takes place in the very country where the play of Romeo and Juliet was completely banned for ‘promoting paedophilic attitudes towards minors’. Yes, unfortunately, it was this same nation where our team of biologists managed to engineer the most perfect black-hole tulips in existence. Within days, however, those…

The Missing E.P. Stone Files

August 17, 2026
It was a cheerless Tuesday morning in London and the fog was as thick as cold porridge. Detective Fred Flint sat at his battered oak desk, nursing a lukewarm cup of tea and staring blankly out of the misty window. Opposite him, Detective Barney Rubb was vigorously trying to remove…

The Ancient Radar

August 17, 2026
Ah, sweet Jamaica. It was the true fuel of the Ancient Radar. Stationed almost ninety feet above the rolling deck of HMS Defiance, Tim adjusted his woollen cap and gripped the wooden spar with the practised terror of a man who had been doing this for twenty years. As the…
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About Me

Former diplomat and globetrotter, Dan Costinas is a versatile contemporary writer, translator, and editor. A true polyglot, he has authored and contributed to several dozen books spanning mainly fiction, essays, aphorisms, reviews and criticism, journalism, and poetry.

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Books of Our Continent

From the quiet shelves of forty-four national archives and ancient university libraries to the cosy corners of independent bookstores and modest home…

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