My first Street Stories novel, Painted Black, owes much of its success to a wonderful writers group I had at the time in Illinois.  Bend Me, Shape Me also has a writer’s group to think for all their help, the Seattle Fiction Writers.

Here is a photo we took after a meeting we had recently.  All the key players are there save an important guy named Robert Lint, plus we had a writer-in-training in attendance, Adaa, the beautiful daughter of Rahul Pratap and his wife Chandana.

Thanks to each of you for all your help!

My cousin recently posted an article on his blog about the abandoned French village of Goussainville-Vieux Pays and reminded me of this Buzzfeed article I’d found a few days ago with some beautiful, if ghostly, pictures of abandoned places around the work.  Click this link if you want to see all 33 places, but here are a few of my favorites.

If you click a picture, it will take you to an article about that particular place.

Holland Island in the Chesapeake Bay

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The Kerry Way walking path between Sneem and Kenmare in Ireland

El Hotel del Salto in Colombia

Hafodunos Hall in Llangernyw, North Wales

via The 33 Most Beautiful Abandoned Places In The World.