June 2025

Barbra La Bush

I started Drag back in the early 80s. I was doing Karaoke and I felt it needed something else to keep the attention of the crowd. So I put on a wig for the first ever time one Easter Sunday and I’ve never looked back.

​I came up with the name Barbra Bush but at the time there was an act in London with the same name a very good friend. ( you could say, well he says one of my oldest pals) put La in the middle and be Barbra La Bush. So I did and it’s stuck there ever since.

​I’m a traditional Drag Queen with my DJs Craig and Ross. I sing live and mime I do a lot of stand up comedy I’m also known to be a bit of an insult comic but not too over board. I enjoy seeing people’s face when I’m telling stories and how they react, and at the end of every show I do a reveal. Me standing in my pants with makeup scrubbed off but still with eyeliner stuck creating that panda eye look.

​I travel all over Scotland and the Uk for shows I do a lot of cabaret work and Hen/stag nights weddings. I currently have a residence in Arta Glasgow doing regular shows on a Friday and Saturday night soon to do Drag Bingo on a Saturday afternoon so keep your eyes peeled for that.

​We all don’t know what the future holds but I don’t see me hanging my wigs and frocks up just yet. If the bookings keep coming in I will be out there doing What Barbra does best making people laugh.

Yvonne Hughes 

Yvonne Hughes is a female Glaswegian who has been doing comedy for about 4 years. She has performed around the UK and this year got to the Semi-Finals of the Not So New Comedian of the Year in London. She is host of Giggles Fae Glesga and is left-handed.

​This week we turned the tables on our usual interviewer to interview them. Yvonne Hughes has been in the press recently due to her unique story about living with cystic fibrosis. Hear more about her life in the questions we put to her. Enjoy.

  For those who might not know you, can you please tell us about yourself?

I am Yvonne Hughes (52)and I live with my partner Alan, and my dog Snoop who is a wee champion. Alan is not bad either. My day job is in Community Development and I work in Paisley, live in Clydebank. My claim to fame is that I am the only female comedian in the UK with cystic fibrosis – so far.

   I know your comedy journey but for those who don’t how you began, can you please give us your highlights of your comedy journey so far.

I started my comedy journey later in life due to a bizarre fact. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system. You are born with CF and there is no cure. Since I was a baby, I was on medication that treated symptoms like chest infections or blockages and is standard medicines for any respiratory condition such as asthma or COPD, so inhalers, vitamins and antibiotics. There are very few CF specific medicines.

​By the time I was approaching my 30’s, my lungs had deteriorated to the point that I could not breathe without the use of oxygen and I was constantly in and out of hospital, which I view as my second home, to get further antibiotic treatments and chest clearance or physiotherapy.

​I was very ill, to the point that  my CF consultants had given me about 12-18 months to live. I needed new lungs but unfortunately, I was unfit to be approved for a lung transplant due to medical complications. So I began to make memories with my mum, dad and family.

However, in 2020 a new treatment which treats the disease at cell level was approved for use in the UK (and other countries). This is a ground breaking gene modifying drug, specifically for CF. In short it gave me my life back! I took the first drug on 9 September 2020 and within days, the severity of my symptoms improved. I stopped coughing, I had more energy, I felt better with each passing day. Over time the function of my lungs improved and increased the capacity. It is not a cure but has given me a life back that I waited 52 years for.

​This is a long-winded way of saying that I found comedy once my head was clear of just trying to survive. I always used humour and music to get me through the dark times. I found a course at Strathclyde Uni ran by the wonderful Viv Gee, and loved every second. I had wanted to do something for myself so had looked online for art or music classes but Comedy 1 popped up, I took a look at the course content and something popped in me. And that started it for me. My comedy highlight was being able to do my solo show last year in Edinburgh.

   Who makes you laugh the most?

My partner Alan is very funny and we laugh a lot together. I have a cousin with who, when we get to see each other, can be in tears laughing. I like surreal and stupid stuff, my favourite films are Dumb and Dumber, Austin Powers and the like. Stupid and silly is what makes me laugh, a bit like me.

   Has comedy made you happier or unhappier in your career?

I wouldn’t say I have the comedy career I deep down desire, but overall I am happier. I never felt like I have had a community I was a part of until I started getting doing gigs. I have met some brilliant people who expect nothing of you but can become a pal. I often go to gigs alone and don’t feel weird.

I can’t believe I can even commit to going out of the house, turning up for a gig, to have the time to write and develop stuff let alone make people laugh and to hear them laugh. I couldn’t do that before.

It is a miracle that I am alive. People say I am brave to be on stage but it’s nothing I have ever been scared to do as I have been through plenty of things that were brave, such as deal with mental demons all my life, or as you know them Drs receptionists. Wink.

   Do you have any unfulfilled ambitions? In comedy? I life?

Yes, I feel like I want to do it all as I missed out on so much life and experiences being so unwell all the time. If I had started comedy younger it might have been better but I would have had to give it up anyway as I got more breathless, and ill as I got older!

I want to master the one-liner and I will get there. Snort. (jk).

I love writing my hour-long festival solo stand up show. I want more success but I am my own worst enemy! I always put myself down if I think I have not done well enough – I want to stop doing that and working on thinking differently about myself at the moment.

In life, I want a garden as I live in a flat. That’s it. Oh and I would love a review of my Fringe solo show…see next!

   Do you have anything to plug?

Of course! I have upcoming WIPs in London (28 June at the Museum of Comedy) I am doing this one with Amanda Hurst/y! Then we are hopefully doing another WIP in Edinburgh (4th July but tbc) then a Glasgow WIP with Good Egg Comedy, at Gael and Grain , both on 6th July. Thanks to Ross and Ruiaridh Leslie for that one.

The Fringe, I am doing 30 July to 15 August, Gilded Balloon, Patter House in the Snug Room and it is at the glorious time of 11.30am which is brilliant for a middle-aged woman.

Yvonne Hughes; Absolutely Riddled, is my show of my barely surviving to thriving in my 50’s, a miraculous experience). I have sold a few tickets which is exciting to think that people want to see your work. Please come along!

   From the random generated images below, what image are you most drawn to and why?

It is the sunset and sea for me. I love being outdoors and love the water, love the heat and that feeling of freedom outside. Give me it all.

Stand up Journeys:  Jude C. Potter 

​The Realities of Stand-Up 

​A lot of people think that Stand-Up comedy is just someone on stage making you laugh. However, what people don’t realize is that Stand-Up is a performance on a stage. Only difference is that, instead of playing as someone else, you play as a warped version of yourself. 

​What I find brilliant about Stand-Up is that, in some ways, it is therapeutic, even as you are exposing your fears, doubts, observations whilst still bringing joy and life to an audience. 

​I have been a patron and a student of the performing arts for my whole life. An early, and favourite, memory of mine was when my parents introduced me to the magic of cinema, by taking me to see Bambi, when I was about 4 or 5. 

​Even as a hyperactive kid (I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 6), cinema was one of the only times that I was enraptured by the stories that I would see on the screen. A form of magic if you will. This expanded to other forms of media and art, such as music, theatre, etc. 

My parents had conscripted me to the Hamilton District Youth Theatre (HDYT), in 1999, and that’s when my creative and performative journey began.

​Ever since then, I would jump at the chance to perform, within the HDYT, school productions, and even doing Higher Drama at secondary school. 

​Furthermore, I would go onto College and University studying performing arts. Deep down, I knew this was in my blood and bones, my destiny, to be an actor or a performing artist, in general.

​However, funnily enough, I never saw myself doing Stand-Up Comedy. Like you had to attempt some form of extra training, as well as having the confidence and audacity to reduce people to tears. 

​Growing up, I remember being big fans of Lee Evans and Peter Kay. Not only did their material and delivery contribute to their successful shows, but it was a rare, mesmerizing energy that drew their audiences into their worlds.

​It wasn’t until later that I realised that great comedians like them had a very extensive background in Performing Arts from a very young age, just like myself. In a way, doing stand-up from my perspective (as I said before) is a performance on stage, just like acting. They are monologues, which delve into a character’s psychology or commentary of society. 

I know what you are thinking: why on earth had I never tried this art form before? Well, it had to do with the confidence to go for it, as well as training myself. However, in 2023, an opportune moment had presented itself.

Doom scrolling through social media, I came across an advertisement for Ultra Comedy. It was like my eyes popping out of my skull:

FREE 8-WEEK COMEDY FUNDRAISER BOOTCAMP!!!!!

​I thought this was too good to be true. Turns out it was the real deal. So, I thought to myself: “What will I gain out of this?’ 

I came up with a lot of pros than cons, like adding this to my skillset as a performer, not having to pay a penny (obviously, you must sell tickets and raise funds for your charity) and being taught the art of stand-up by a top comedian. All of this while unlocking another creative aspect of yourself that you never knew existed, in a safe space.

​Finally, it came to starting our course. The first night we all met, anxious as anything. However, we broke the ice very quickly, by shouting expletives like f**k, w**ker or the dreaded C-word. A great first impression let me tell you!

​To top the cherry off (my wrong turn of phrases is legendary), we were taught by Viv Gee, who is a legend within the Scottish comedy circuit for 30+ years.  Her expertise, wisdom and the fact we had the opportunity to be given this, is something I will always cherish and thank Viv & Ultra Comedy for being very gracious and understanding as we undertook this new venture.

​So, not only did we craft our sets throughout the training, but we discover our comedy personas, deep down within us, that we never knew existed. This helped with giving our time on stage a wonderful fire.

In everyday life, I consider myself a bright, positive & upbeat person. However, what a lot of people don’t know is that it’s not just ADHD I have, but depression and anxiety too. So, when I am not actively practising mindfulness (positivity & gratitude), my mind can go to some very dark places, exacerbated by the fact I had a very abusive school environment.

​So, in terms of my material & persona, I take my pain, trauma, fears & worries and present an extremely happy version of myself, even when I joke about very dark things.

​For example, in one of my sets, I talk about my fear about Armageddon and how when I was about 9, my gran was looking after me and watched “The Day After”. A nice idyllic afternoon of watching the world engage in nuclear war. Such a fond memory of my first existential crisis.

With my material, you may experience dread and a pit in your stomach, but hey, stay positive, right?!

However, I always want my audiences to feel safe and included. So, even though, I can joke extremely dark subjects, pain and trauma, I promised myself would never take my comedy in areas where it can become bigotry, as I don’t believe in that kind of shock value.

​If there is anyone that I would target in my sets, it would always be me, with MY fears, observations, traumas. Never at the expense of anyone else. However, you heckle me and I will tastefully heckle back.

​So far, I have done a handful of brilliant sets, performing at such legendary venues as Drygate, The Britannia Panopticon and, the Legendary, Blackfriars. However, it’s not stopping there as with my journey into becoming a professional performing artist (Actor, Singing, Podcasting) will include a spot for stand-up.

And hey, if it doesn’t work out, it was all for laughs anyway.

The Man-o-Pause Diaries

Stephen Hughes June 2025

Youth Of Today

As a gay man hurtling towards fifty quicker than a menopausal woman's short temper, I find myself getting more and more annoyed at the little things in life.  So what has been getting on my very sweaty hairy tits this week?  Apart from this gorgeous very, very, hot weather… Any other men getting home and literally peeling their pants from their body because your testilcles have been like two tangerines in a wet poundland carrier bag all day? Just me?

That however is not my gripe for this month.  This month I have been mostly getting annoyed by the yoof of today.  Yes spelled with an “f” because that’s how we did it in the 90s and quite frankly, the 90s is where I wish I still was.  Back then I rocked the “curtains” hairstyle drenched in wet look hair gel better than any boy band member.  Nowadays they are all skin faded within an inch of their lives although I have seen the “curtains” and mullet making an unwelcome resurgence, I've never been more glad to be bald.

Having to make a trip to my local corner shop I was harassed by a group of teenagers, I’m assuming 13 - 16 year olds although I can’t tell as even my doctor looks like he needs a note from his mum to actually be there.  All of them were hanging around outside the shop, very much like I used to… I was hoping to ask some random over 18 year old stranger to step into the shop and buy the goods we were obviously too young to buy.  For me that was usually 10 Regal Kingsize and a bottle of Merrydown cider, the gold label not the silver label, as silver was rank, so was gold to be fair although slightly less rank.  One two litre bottle was enough between three people to get you pissed as a fart, sick in the bushes and home by 10pm.

Anyway I digress, these yoofs outside my local shop yellled, “Oi Mr?”  I didn’t look around because when did I get old enough to be called Mister?  Never in my opinion, but they called again and accosted me from the front.  Handing me a £20.00 note one asked if I could step in and buy a mango/pineapple delight vape and two cans of Monster.  Firstly what is Monster? One explained it was a highly caffeinated drink consumed in quantity by this age group.  And the vapes were now the cigarette equivalent.

At least when I was a youth, you were greeted in a puff of decent smoke from a Lambert and Butler, Regal Kingsize or Kensitas Club, now you walk through a cloud of Raspberry Fizz or Coconut Creme and you end up getting home smelling like a Bounty.  Now realising that I am in fact “the Mister” I dutifully took their money as they explained in great detail which vape and what flavour of Monster was to be purchased.  It was like an NVQ in youth culture.

Being the conscientious adult that I am, I went into the shop and looked for the requested products.  My mind was racing at the audacity of these youngsters and the utter cheek of asking a complete stranger to get age restricted items.  Instead of buying the vapes and caffeine drinks I took the decision that these yoofs needed an education.  I asked for a bottle of White Lightning Cider as apparently Merrydown is no longer a popular choice of cider.  Also 10 Richmond Superkings, only to discover you can no longer purchase cigarettes in packs of 10.  What is the yoof and indeed the world coming to.  Anyone for a time machine back to 1996?

A Day in the Life

Jonathon Soutar-Findlay  ​

I  wake up first thing in the morning, open my curtains with the birds singing away to me, and I end up feeling like a cheeky wee Scottish, Disney princess.

​I then go and take the numerous medications that I'm on, to make sure my delusional wee brain stays in tact, and doesn't get to the point of me battling a Disney villain, out in my street, with a mop, thinking it's a sword. 

​I get myself ready, take my dog out for her morning walk, stoating through the woods, like little red riding hood...and yet again, feeling like a Disney princess, speaking to all the woodland creatures. 

​I get home, make myself some breakfast, and reflect on the antics from the day before, and make a list of things that need to get done for that day. 

​I start getting myself ready by going for a nice wee bubble bath, yet again...feeling like a pampered wee Disney princess. Get dressed, and frantically work through my list for that day.

​I get home, slave away with the cooking and cleaning, feeling like I'm being held hostage by an evil stepmother...like a Disney princess. Sit down to dinner with my husband, have a wee chat about what we got upto that day, and before bedtime, we both sit down to chill and watch a wee movie before bedtime. Nine times outta ten, we end up debating on what to watch, cause he usually wants to watch a good auld, Disney classic...and I absolutely detest Disney. So therefore...we both end up watching different things, on our phones. My night time meds then kick in, and I fall into a deep sleep, like a Disney princess, waiting to be woke up by 'true loves' kiss.

On The Road with Dee Maxwell 

The Realities of Stand-Up on The Road

I have been active in the Arts and Comedy for about seven or eight years. I have been mostly travelling to Glasgow and Edinburgh, mostly Edinburgh, which is where I've worked the most outside of Glasgow. Edinburgh has a completely  different atmosphere to Glasgow, it's amazing how leaving the Glasgow area can change the whole dynamic of your comedy, like some things that will work in Glasgow won’t in Edinburgh or Aberdeen.

If you’re Glaswegian and you go out of Glasgow, (I'm no Glaswegian, I’m actually Ayrshire, a lot of people think that I'm Glaswegian) but when you go outside, the jokes land different and I find that the other areas are not as ruthless as what Glasgow audiences can be, a Glasgow audience is very hard to please.

Sometimes they want value for their chips and cheese, I mean they want value for everything! I’ve had great experiences performing in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and Corby. The town of Corby is located in Northamptonshire and is known as  little Scotland due to the high level of Scottish immigration because well I think it was the mining industry, correct me if I'm wrong. The people of Corby have been so inviting and I'm looking forward to going back again.  I'm also doing Liverpool soon, so I’ll be able to share that experience, but Glasgow's great. It's like the working mans Club. it's apparently meant to be for the working class.

I kinda debate that because sometimes I think the working class are kind of left behind and other people pretend to be working class to get places full. And maybe that's just a real resentment within me. But I find that with the audience your jokes are different.

I think that's when you really learn your craft, designed in and get it walked in when you go outside your own comfort zone outside Glasgow, especially if you're loved in Glasgow. Like my predominant, audience was Glasgow, and for a long time, it stayed Glasgow but it's such a different feel to go to different areas and in some ways better to travel outside Glasgow.

They're no translated the same to other areas in Scotland. I mean, we go out to Scotland to expect people to understand us, but it depends where you go in Scotland and If you understand each other. Sometimes I go to Aberdeen and I'm totally baffled  by what people are saying, I'm thinking, what actually did they just say there? but I would say, definitely to get your own craft and go outside.

Glasgow was definitely the right place for me to start, I mean, you could be really popular in Glasgow, and go elsewhere and your jokes wouldn’t land but I find that it’s harder to please a Glasgow audience,  that it's your right audience for getting the right critics in general, because they're going to tell you exactly how it is.

But again it's the regional thing. As soon as you get outside of your region, that’s when you're tested, that's when your whole comedy and everything else is tested to see what lands somewhere else. And I think it’s the same anywhere, the audiences are completely different to Glasgow. Like Glasgow I would say is definitely where anybody should start because that's when you're going to know whether you're a good comedian or you're not because if the audience don't land with them, then that's you’ll know!

But it's a great audience too and  at the same time anyone very critical as they will tell you exactly how it is!

GAMING 

BY Euan Scarlett

This month I’ve been on a bit of a bender exploring career options I may have pursued in an alternative universe through a variety of different simulation games. Simulation games have a bit of a bad rep as there has traditionally been a small cottage industry of seemingly mostly Eastern European developers, who release a never-ending stream of titles annually all with the word simulator at the end, many of which are basically just terrible and barely functional.

However there are plenty of simulators that are more than worthy of your time and could possibly provide you with valuable life skills and the ability to impress potential life partners with your specialist knowledge.

​Many of the more popular simulation games follow a standard model – the player inherits or starts a business, you take on basic contracts which earn the business monies then the monies are invested back into the business by buying upgraded or new types of equipment which allow you to then take on more interesting or complex jobs and so on, eventually reaching a point where you don’t need to engage with the business part anymore and can just fanny about. Ultimate life goals.

​I started my virtual career fair by playing Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 which is available on Xbox Series Consoles and PC, though recent rumours suggest it may be on its way to Playstation and Nintendo’s new Switch 2 which releases this month. Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest running software product line from Microsoft and the first version was released in 1982, a full 3 years before the first version of Windows, fact fans.

The latest version iterates on the 2020 release which used streaming and satellite imagery to produce a quite extraordinary almost 1:1 representation of the whole planet, featuring every airport and airfield in the world except for the secret ones in South America which ship the world’s cocaine supplies. Weather effects in game represent actual realtime weather at that point on the planet and every real world aircraft and ship / boat is mapped by real world telemetry.

Since the release in 2020 the developers have slowly updated the game to make the recreation of cities in particular more accurate, and with World Update 17 they added a photorealistic version of Glasgow, obviously the most important city to people from Glasgow like myself, and you can pilot aircraft from anywhere in the world as a starting point and attempt to land a variety of aircraft on Argyle Street, or plan 9/11 style atrocities involving various Glasgow landmarks such as the St Enoch Centre or the College of Building and Printing, or Kelvingrove Park Bandstand.

This may sound unrealistic but the actual 911 terrorists trained how to hit the twin towers by using a pc running Microsoft Flight Simulator X and using store bought full cockpit flight simulation controllers. As there is a career mode in the latest 2024 version allowing you to train for various types of piloting license I chose to set up at Cumbernauld International Airport and have been ferrying some pensioners on a joyride over Moodiesburn, which they seemed to enjoy.

Next up we have Euro Truck Simulator 2, and sequel American Truck Simulator. You don’t need to know the plot of the first Euro Truck Simulator to play the second one. Both games involve setting up a trucking business and then driving across country and borders to deliver things people both do and do not need.

Euro Truck Simulator 2 features a scale representation of most of central Europe, various different map packs can be bought to add further parts such Italy and Scandinavia, whilst in American Truck Simulator, various extras states can be purchased to expand the base map, the ultimate goal being that the whole of both continents are available for you to deliver eggs and combine harvesters to.

Road traffic rules have to be followed, the driver must stop for rest and refuelling must be done, as well as navigation of different road systems. Both games are strangely compelling and relaxing, especially if you follow my house rule of switching the ingame internet radio to local stations based on where you are driving currently, meaning your journey can be sound tracked variously by Czech Hardcore Metal, Italo disco and thumping thumping Berlin techno music.

​Maybe thinking that an outdoors job might suit me better than sitting in a vehicle all day, I then started playing something called Treasure Hunter Simulator. This game involved wandering about a map until your metal detector beeps then sweeping it about until it beeped more then you press a button and watch an animation of someone digging something up, then you have to press a button and the thing gets examined and it turns out to be a bottle cap or sometimes a vintage flintlock rifle.

After playing through the tutorial and then a bit of the second level, I wasn’t enjoying the simulation of being a detectorist in fact quite the opposite, I was genuinely depressed at what I was doing with my spare time, so I stopped playing it. I didn’t uninstall it though, and do not know if it was an accurate simulation of the activity, but objectively it was not a good game.

​Firefighting Simulator – The Squad has a variety of fire engines, various fire axes and hoses and other tools and a number of different scenarios involving fires and the fighting thereof, mostly with water but occasionally with extinguishers or other fire fighters.

Generally a mission involves driving the janky fire truck to one of half a dozen or so different types of building and then putting out the fire you encounter. Sometimes there are Backdrafts but no Kurt Russell, there might be people needing rescued and you might have to put out a fire. It’s sort of janky and rubbish but still kind of fun but has no mode where you make a sexy calendar for fundraising purposes so not realistic.

That’s all I’ve got time for this month unfortunately as you can see above I’ve been working 5 jobs. Next month – probably more jobs.

​​INSPIRATIONS AND INFLUENCERS (True Influencers, not the social media talentless attention seekers)

Stephen King  

​I can’t do an influencer page with devoting one to the master of horror Stephen King. He has written so many classics over the years it would be a tragedy not to devote a section to him. 

I have always been a fan of horror since I was able to read so not surprisingly Stephen King has to have a mention.

Stephen King was born in Portland Maine on 21st September 1947.  His father walked out when King was only two years old, and he was raised by his mother and the family in financially strained circumstances. King, along with his mother and elder brother moved several times before settling in Durham, Maine. His mother had various jobs including a caregiver in a facility for the mentally challenged. 

King started writing at a very young age, he states that he was “about six or seven” and took inspiration from comic books and films.  His early interest in horror was in reaction to the ordinary and uneventful life he had during his formative years, and he says that he “wanted to be scared. I just did”.

William Golding’s classic 1954 novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ made a major impact on the twelve-year-old Stephen, and he credits it with his decision to become a writer, the appeal of the book was that it was about people of his own age, and that the “plot was simple and the decent into savagery believable”. 

King’s first big hit was Carrie, which was his debut novel published in 1974 and established him as an author in the genre of horror. Since then, King has published over 65 novels and demonstrated his impressive range as a writer with a variety of books from horror to science fiction and fantasy.  From psychological horror such as ‘the Institute’ to classics such as ‘the Shining’ and ‘Doctor Sleep’.

Although Stanley Kubrick is one of the all-time great directors, his film of The Shining did not provide the internal narrative of the characters, which is why I prefer the book to the film. The same use of internal narrative is also present in the book Dr Sleep but not in the film adaptation and gives a better insight into the main character of Danny’s psychology, and the impact of generational trauma.

​Misery was written by Stephen King in response to the reaction of some fans when he wrote a book that didn't have any of the horror elements that had made him famous. A darkly frightening read as King writes a fantastically frightening insane character in Annie, and how her personality veers and shifts in unpredictable ways.  Annie has held the famous Paul Sheldon, her favourite author, captive, but he’s more like a slave-turned-victim of her depression-induced insanity.

The Long Walk is my favourite King book (published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman). It's almost like an early precursor for something like the Hunger Games, where 100 kids are forced to walk until all but one are dead. Not his typical kind of horror but incredibly haunting.  The story follows the journey of a group of teenage boys who are forced to participate in a gruelling and deadly contest where they must walk endlessly until only one remains. The tension and suspense in this book are palpable and I found myself completely absorbed in the story.  As the boys break down physically, their minds deconstruct past the point of madness until they become lifeless, soulless automatons.  It's the walker who chooses to go on the Long Walk that, in the end, leads to death, no matter what we do.

"The Jaunt" is a horror short story which needs to be mentioned and was  first published in The Twilight Zone Magazine in 1981, and collected in King's 1985 collection Skeleton Crew . The story is set in the 24th century, when teleportation, referred to as "Jaunting", is another way of travelling allowing for instantaneous transportation across vast distances, even to other planets.. This story has a traumatising ending which scares me to this day. I won’t ruin it but it is worth a quick read.

​The Stand is another classic. It might be a long read, but it was one of the most enjoyable and fun reads of my entire life. I couldn't put this book aside until I had read the last page. The characters and the story were all just so exciting and involving. I truly felt transported into the world King created and the narrative he has built.  Random fact, Anthrax wrote a song about 'The Stand' in 1987 called 'Among the Living' which was a huge hit. 

When I read the book ‘IT’ I found it to be an epic story about friendship and loss of innocence, but I think it’s been terribly misrepresented by the movies/miniseries adaptations in which it is rendered as a supernatural thrill ride with a creepy clown, the book is so much more than that. 

​Stephen King has been writing for 51 years and here’s hoping it will continue for many decades more.