Tag: Charlotte Comley

Charlotte Comley – my story for Holmes Fest 2018 opening night

Charlotte Comley will be performing her piece at Holmes Fest 2018’s Three Cheers For Arthur Conan Doyle on 27th June at The Square Tower.

Life Is Amazing: Hello Charlotte, tell us about your story.

Charlotte: My story for Three Cheers for Arthur Conan Doyle is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Doyle’s love of mediums and centres on the often asked question, ‘is anybody there?’

Get Your Tickets for Holmes Fest 2018’s Three Cheers For Arthur Conan Doyle here.

Life Is Amazing: Why do you love Sherlock Holmes?

Charlotte: First of all, you need to know, I named my dog Watson. Holmes is actually my least favourite character in the books. Unlike the portrayal of Nigel Bruce’s Watson in the 1940s movies (with Basil Rathbone) Watson is not an idiot. He is not a bumbler (at least in most cases). He represents an intelligent war hero with a loveable gambling quirk. Even Holmes admits that he is in Watson’s debt. Despite being wounded, Watson is a crack shot with a pistol and is quite capable when Holmes requires the physical assistance of a brave man who has seen combat. I am so envious of Holmes because he has such a good friend and ally. Watson stands for loyalty. My dog Watson, not so much – unless you are carrying a bucket of KFC. That said, despite being a small white terrier he is fierce.

Life Is Amazing: What would you investigate if you could investigate anything at all?

Charlotte: I would investigate who stole my Ghostbusters poster in 1984. I was thirteen, I had two jobs and I did an extra shift on the milk round which involved getting up at four in the morning during a bitter cold December to buy the cinema ticket. And the man who drove the milk float was weird! Weird in a WEIRD way. It was my least favourite job of all time and when you think that I used to put egg mayonnaise on British Rail sandwiches, that is saying something. I was so excited about seeing Ghostbusters. And if I’m honest I still think it was Bill Murray at his best. How Murray got a Golden Globe for Lost in Translation and no awards for Ghostbusters I don’t know. I was thrilled when the cinema gave me that free poster. Thrilled. I was ready to go to Athena for a classy poster frame but I had to work and when I came back from Lenders Food factory on Saturday my poster was gone. Except for some suspicious black and red bits of paper. I suspect I know who took it and destroyed my poster, but I never had any real evidence. Which is probably a good thing that I am unable to solve this crime as my revenge would be as cold as the milk I delivered. Damn I am still annoyed. In fact, I am getting cross just writing about the incident. I would probably ask Mycroft for help. He understood people and Holmes would think the case of a missing Ghostbuster poster beneath him.

Life Is Amazing: If Moriarty and Sherlock Holmes went shopping, what one item would each buy, and why?

Charlotte: I’m not sure, but I would advise them to get life jackets and sturdy walking boots if they were going to fight near the Reichenbach Falls.

Charlotte Comley – my story for Holmes Fest 2017

Charlotte Comley

Any Housekeeper Worth Her Salt – My Story For Holmesfest 2017

Any housekeeper worth her salt knows it is not the number of staff in the household you are in charge of but the quality of the gentleman you serve. My story is a downstairs view of why we should sit back and trust our betters to look after us. Even if we don’t understand there decisions, surely the fact that they have been educated in the right school means that they are always right! Doesn’t it?

About Charlotte

Charlotte Comley is a creative writing group organiser and self employed writer of educational resources. To the outside world she devotes her time to helping with homework, and trying to earn a crust. But in those brief moments of alone time she writes and dreams of seeing her work on a book shop fiction shelf.  Her fiction has been published by Ether Books, Darwin Evolutions, Flash Flood, Chuffed Books, and 1000 words.  Nonfiction work has appeared in  magazines such as The Green Parent, Take a Break, Woman’s Weekly, The Motion Online and Grow It.

Charlotte Comley was one of the writers and script editors of Express FM’s Conway Street, a radio soap airing three times a week for eighteen months. She has also managed to win the odd writing award and came highly commended at The Winchester’s Writing Conference competition for children’s fiction. She regularly blogs at  http://www.charlottecomley.com/ . In 2012 she read at The Umbrella Festival at The Groundlings Theatre, came third place at Alton’s Book Festival The Pint Pot of Fire, at Wordsouth Havant and in the Portsmouth Book Fest 20 x 12. She was short listed for the You, Me and Everyone project in Portsmouth. She has won various poetry prizes at poetry Cafes.

Tickets for Holmes Fest 2017 available here
Wednesday 28th June, 6.30pm, The Square Tower, Portsmouth
Price: £7.50

 

Charlotte’s Latest Book

Line-up for Portsmouth’s Holmes Fest 2017 Announced

Conan Doyle revisiting the site of his surgery, No 1 Bush Villas, Elm Grove, in 1911 – by then a corset shop! (courtesy of the Conan Doyle Encyclopedia https://www.arthur-conan-doyle.com/)

 

10 brilliantly talented storytellers will be joined by musicians, a projectionist and a duellist on Wednesday 28th June at the Square Tower to celebrate Arthur Conan Doyle’s life in Portsmouth.

The writers who will be regaling us with their stories include internationally published authors of Victorian crime fiction, local authors with a knack for spinning the perfect yarn and song writers, too.

The story tellers are:

  • William George Sutton – creator of the Campbell Lawless series of crime novels
  • Diana Bretherick – doctor of criminology and author of City of Devils and The Devil’s Daughters
  • Tony Noon – experienced storyteller well-known for his appearances at the Square Tower’s Day of the Dead event
  • Justin MacCormack – prolific author across genres, with a wicked sense of humour and a sense of the creepy
  • Christine Lawrence – author of Caught In The Web, with a unique brand of story-telling
  • Alan Morris – joyous performer who loves to dress up in Victorian gear and regale us with something unexpected
  • Zella Compton – playwright, short story writer, News columnist and children’s novelist
  • Charlotte Comley – organiser of Lovedean Writers’ Group and one of the funniest, wryest and most brilliant tale tellers in the south.
  • Amanda Garrie – smooth deliverer of intriguing tales.

Find out more about the musicians and the duellists, soon.

Tickets are selling – snaffle your seats at Holmes Fest now!