The Friends of the Heroes Archive Of Authors:
Rachel Queen & Belle

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|Rachel Queen|Belle|

 

Rachel Queen
The who lives with the crazy dog

Memories Filled With Music
Boxes stood un-emptied and things had yet to find a rightful place from which to be disturbed. I sat on a thick orange carpet in the new front room barely daring to move.

Saturday night, Sunday not Mourning
"arghh! Do we have to listen to that depressing rubbish again? Turn itoff and put something more lively on!"... perhaps dragging her along to two nights of indie music at theChickfactor Ball was going to be the last straw.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 19)
"Don't worry about a thing. Everyone loves Great Aunt Jennifer!" But the diary did worry. As far as it was concerned, Great Aunt Jennifer no matter how lovely she was could not compare to the comfort of the oak bookcase.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 21)
"He'd spend 5 minutes with her and turn from a sensible English gentleman into a crazy daydreamer." Rosemary had smiled and secretly thought that maybe the transformation was for the better.

A hole in the heart
"How is my life better knowing that he existed in this world and now he is gone forever?" She would ask herself, all the while, looking and hoping, and preying that she maybe it had hadn't really happened and maybe she would bump into him again someday.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 14)
"I remember the time I taught a goat to dance," Remarked I and E casually.

Third Time Lucky
"I think I had a dream about you the other night. We were walking through a wood by a stream. Barely even looking at each other. You were telling me about an idea you had for a song about a guy who falls in love with twins..."

The day the lights changed
"If I had the choice between never seeing you again, or marrying you, I'd marry you in an instant."

A theoretical band, built over a light architecture of dreams...
"My Dear Killer"is theoretical no more. The band which started as a one-man-band now recieves contribution from a few people.

There are worse things than being alone
"There are worse things than being alone" I thought as a ran through the cold dark street dodging the drunk the drugged and the dangerous.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 20)
"You can't expect to put springs on a donkey and expect it to walk in a straight line."

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 18)
A curt goodbye and a click of a phone going dead and Rosemary returned to her rightful age. Questions raced in her head, why 2.47? how would she deal with the headmaster? And were they talking about the same S L Gleaden?

Ballboy: A Game Of Two Halves
A sense of good humour pervades as a lone voice and guitar reverberates around the dark walls of the garage. At least one member of the audience finds it hard to believe that such clear voice can exist outside of their imagination.

Fading away
And from the day before, and the day before... She felt like a bad photocopy of herself from two years ago - crackled and blurred around the edges.

Preston Station
And I found myself awash with tiredness swimming through a sea of angry, crazy cold, unhappy people. My teeth were chattering my hands were blue and air was coming out of my face in soft smoky clouds.

Stalking Scottish Popsters (on a Sunday)
As I started playing I remembered why they were one of my favourite bands. Their songs and lyrics cut clean lines air and the words they chose seem to fit together like perfect pieces in a jigsaw.

Elsa
As she slept she dreamt and as she dreamt she remembered. She remembered the elusive dream that had broken her heart.

Come to Norway. It will be fun! (part 3)
As the boat pulled out of the harbour I felt my heart swelling. Although signs of human habitation were still visible I don't think I've ever felt quite as free before. We drifted out onto the milky sea, wind whipping our faces. Breathing in the sights of

A soggy, muddy, spaghetti adventure
As we headed to the familiar stream near our house we pretended that we were trekking into the wilds of a tropical rainforest. Lost in our fantasy, and undeterred my the fact we could see the white lion pub if we turned to the right

Come To Norway. It will be fun!
Breathless we reached the top of the hill and found our hostel. It had rained that day and everywhere smelt fresh and new. A mist hung over one mountain and the sky was turning apricot. The horizon was punctuated by brightly coloured houses and I was imme

One star, one girl, one night
Chances are that if you have ever stood under an umbrella of stars breathing in clean dark night you will have glanced upon Talitha for a moment or maybe two, but I doubt you even gave it a second thought.

My Goodness, Poor Grainne...
Duncan McFarlane strode into Glasgow Airport, beaming with pride. He would show them! Everyone had thought he'd miss his plane, but here he was 11.30am on the dot, in the right airport, over two hours before his plane was due to take off, ready for anythi

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 16)
Each item was placed with the up-most care in a specific location that only it could occupy. For example the bright green hair clip with the butterfly on it belonged with the refined thin gold slide

Never Judge a Book By Its Cover
Edward works at a small firm of accountants in the City. Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm he sits bolt upright at his desk which is bare of clutter and focuses his eyes on his work. He rarely listens to the office gossip let alone shares any.

The Climb
Emily Harris was not the kind of girl who complained, she was not even the kind of girl who normally got angry about things, but today she was fuming.

Stuart David - The Man Of Many Stories
for some reason my head was on the floor in the tiny space between the bottom shelf and the carpet. I am not sure why. It was pretty filthy in there I think.

Crosswords
He could still remember the day that their first computer had arrived in the office. It was 1989 and for a magical 10 minutes he had truly believed that his life was about to get easier.

Seven Minutes from
Her eyes burnt into the back of his neck with an exhilarating intensity. The blast of air as he opened the door struck him right between the eyes. He blinked turned left and started to walk.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 15)
Her heart raced and she filled her lungs with the polluted London air. She could do anything she wanted to do.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (Part 9)
Her youthfulness can be attributed to the powerful emotion known as excitement. An emotion that if it could be bottled and sold would probably do the world more good than the small white flower ever could.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 2)
His change of career has not only proved that is never too late to change your mind, but has also made the ocean a more peaceful place to live.

The End
Hmm ok. Well in that case are you sure Felicity just went straight home?

Tiny Airborne Enemies
I awoke 20 minutes before my alarm clock was due to go off with a sneeze, and instantly wished that I hadn't; woken up, that is. The sneeze was a sort of ok as sneezes go.

Where am I?
I don't understand. I don't understand all the wars, the killings, all the cruelty or the pain and suffering. I don't understand how I could read about things that I didn't even know about, or invent places that don't even exist.

A long cup of coffee
I looked at him hoping he would help me out but he remained silent. We brought our coffee into the living room where sunlight streamed through the window making the room look tidier than normal somehow and sat down.

This Place Is Famous
I looked out of the window at the shabby grey street and wondered whether film stars really came here. I didn't think I would if I was a film star.

Why are love stories only about falling in love?
I said to her 'ahhh come on! Ok you want mystery! but you can’t spend you life with reactionary bastards! When some when opens their heart to you that's a great thing you know?'

Spreading the love & wrestling with national power (an interview)
I think everbody should own it 'Revolver' because it would show that being popular doesn't necessarily mean being gormless and fake, being experimental doesn't necessarily mean being po-faced and ugly, and being "serious" and insightful can also be fun.

Still searching
I thought about everything that you had said to me. I thought about how I'd watched you when you weren't looking and I thought about your smile and your laugh. And my throat tightened and my stomach turned over and I didn't know whether to be happy becaus

Life Is Always
I try to imagine all the people the stars can see at that very moment, and I start to think about all the other worlds that they may be visible from. And I start wonder about life. I start to wonder about my life.

Dear Father Christmas
I'm very good at wrapping up presents and I could probably help you look after the reindeer. How are they? Are the polar bears well? Have you had any trouble from the goblins this year?

Hope & love & confidence & an interview with Ballboy
If it wasn't for the songs I don't know how I would function sometimes. The ability to say things I want to say in a way that I can't in everyday life means the world to me.

Ghosts, Love and Gentleman rock: An interview with the German Exchange
Inspiration, so fleeting yet all consuming. I live for it. It strips you of your inhibitions in a natural (sober) fashion and makes you value the things in life that are worth caring about.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 22)
Instead they told magnificent stories filled with colour and life. They told stories that sparkled and jumped and shone like the coloured glass in the upper rooms of the house.

Niggles
It is one of those argumentative days today. One of those heavy, humid grey days. The kind of day which turns your shoulders to lead and the whole world niggles at each other.

The Long Lost Diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 5)
It was his beloved S L Gleaden who had caused all this trouble in the first place. The poor diary knew that he was not safe with this kind, head- in-the-air, dreamy boy.

And through the darkness I thought of you
It was too dark to call you. To call anybody so I lay in bed thinking and listening. Listening to the hollow empty darkness, restless and alone. I lay within a cocoon. I thought of you.

The Lost Diary of Miss S L Gleaden - Part 10
It's a little known fact that when a fish swallows a book it becomes one of the fastest creatures on earth. Scientists have been puzzled by this mystery for many years but owing to the question of whether it is really ethically correct to feed innocent fi

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 17)
Its funny how unimportant difficulties can seem when you are amongst friends. For once it was Molly who decided to break the silence.

The Long Lost Diasy of Miss S L Gleaden (part 8)
Its reward for being a faithful travelling companion, not once complaining about the use of inferior quality biros or its cramped living quarters in the left side pocket of her rucksack, was to be absent mindedly forgotten.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (PART 6)
Its strange what dreams can do to a person. They are powerful enough to make a person lose their inhibitions, to gain a certain determination verging on insanity. They are powerful enough to drive a person, an innocent horse and a girl with a white coat i

Lucy and the dream of flowers
Lucy was a girl who lived far away from where people normally live, in a place not too many people know about. It was a good place though, but not too different from here you understand...

Are Geneticists evil? (and other questions)
Mendel noticed, undoubtedly on a pre-breakfast trip to the garden, that the peas inherited characteristics from their parents in certain numerical ratios.

Gordon McIntyre: The new Crazy Frog? (interview)
Most musicals are about extraordinary people and/or extraordinary times. We wanted to have one where people step out of the ordinary pattern of their lives by the tiniest amount, but it is enough to change their lives for ever.

Breakfast with Jet Johnson
Music is amazing. It reminds you of things that have happened and even some that have not. You could imagine for a while that you were somewhere else, that you were someone else. "Tula" has the strength to do just that.

Not In My Name!
On a sunny a day at the end of September protestors young and old, from a wide range of ethnic groups marched peacefully blocking the busiest roads in central London.

Happy Birthday Friends of the Heroes!
One year and 50 issues later and the friends of the heroes is still going strong. We've pestered bands, and celebrities, made new friends and been joined by many lovely people...

The Stolen Day
Or maybe they weren't quite turning yellow yet. Maybe we just imagined it because autumn was your favourite time of year and you had told me you wanted to share it with me.

When you are a kid...
Perhaps we aren't quite there yet. It's a start though.

A Real Diamond...
Picture this: an isolated road in the middle of the Yorkshire countryside, a seagull circling the dark purple sky, glowing with life in an almost deserted part of the country. I say almost because stood by the side if the road are three hitchhikers.

The Long Lost Diary Of Miss S L Gleaden
She discovered that by rolling them up and stuffing them in her shoes she was able to save valuable space in her rucksack. In her euphoric state she failed to notice a small book which lay forgotten underneath her bed. Her diary

Squashed Sandwichs & Warm Beer
So, I'm sitting on a train packed full of people "rallying round". Snow sits on the ground and the train being the sensitive type is feeling unwell and does not wish to move just now.

Awkward customers
Ten days later and the complaint from MR X came into head office. "Why the hell did a journey from Birmingham to Southend which should take me just over 3 hours take me 8? And why was I sent via Manchester?"

Walking In The Silence
That is beside the point. I am telling you about falling in love. I fell in love with a tall man with dark green eyes which smiled when he talked. His nose was very straight. (You notice these things when you fall in love.)

The day we caught the train... (not really a ballboy review)
The audience stood in the semi darkness mesmerised, pressing forwards, clinging to the softly poweful words ringing around them.

The Long Lost Diary Of Miss S L Gleaden - part 3
The boy, who had such romantic notions of messages in bottles washing up onto beaches, was exceedingly disappointed to learn that the diary did not contain any treasure maps or promises of rewards.

The White Car
The car was parked directly opposite ours. It didn't seem like an accident anymore. We walked all around looking for clues, but there were none so we decided to sit and wait until the owners returned.

The Long Lost Diary Of Miss S L Gleaden (part 24)
The first time I saw Miss S L Gleaden she was 11 and she was sent to my office. She was a scruffy child, the kind of girl who always seemed to have a ladder in her tights and her shoelace undone.

The case of the missing smile
The girl had studied this couple on more than one occasion. She had spotted them last week in the local supermarket buying a loaf of bread, some rich tea biscuits and 3 bananas.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 12)
The girl she was looking for, came from England, could be in Burma, or Bangladesh or somewhere else entirely. She had slight criminal tendencys and a peculiar abilty to pack random, but entirely useful objects.

Secrets
The hardest thing of all is not being able to tell you. That is the hardest thing of all. Well that and the pain and the regret and the endless sleepless nights.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 13)
The hedge, who it has to be said was not normally of a grumpy disposition, had good reason to be displeased. Weeks earlier it had been given an incredibly gruesome haircut by a well meaning but incompetent hedge-trimmer.

A reason to be cheerful on a grey sunday night-Interview with Dave Gorman
The man is insane... he is also one of my all time heroes and I was over the moon when he agreed to do this interview.

Come to Norway. It will be fun! (part 2)
The woman behind the checkout explained to us that entry to the museum was to our right where we would find the largest collection of chairs in Norway. Yes you heard me right chairs!

Spreading the love & wrestling with national power-an interview with M J Hibbet (PART 2)
The world is a wonderful place full of fantastic things, and as soon as you learn to quieten your Inner Teenager and ACCEPT the beauty that's all around you (man), then life becomes much happier and much more rewarding

Make Poverty History, Edinburgh, 2nd July
Their messages were written in brightly coloured felt tips. They were forthright and to the point and written with a simple naivety and wisdom that only a child can have. Most of all they were written by people who were probably sick to death of being tol

And the cars drove too fast...
Things did not happen like this on the 4th of November 2004. Instead at the very moment that Mrs Gibson passed Mr Richardson, and Stephanie stood waiting to cross the road, and Simon remerged from the newsagents, things changed with a bang.

The Long Lost Diary of Miss S L Gleaden (Part 11)
This girl is so dippy! Ten times worse than you I'm telling you! She's already got on the wrong plane and ended up in Burma of all places. Now she's hooked up with an odd pair, and they are on a mission to smuggle a small white flower with anti-ageing pro

6am Christmas morning and the reason why
This site is dedicated to waking up with excitement at 6.00am feeling like a three-year-old...

The Giants
Tom felt like a giant. Yesterday he had learnt how to tie his own shoes, and today he had stopped a whole row of cars with a touch of a button. The green man shone brightly and he strode slowly across the road, swinging his school bag to and fro.

Everyone has a secret
Valerie leaned forward and tapped Martin on the shoulder. "Excuse me gentlemen, you may not have noticed but there are children present on this bus. You may like to watch your language." The bus fell silent. People leaned forward in their seats.

Breakfast with Jet Johnson (the interview)
We had brought a Ukulele, and one evening when we were sitting on the balcony looking at the sea I thought of this song about how I hope there are cats in heaven when I die.. (not that I believe in heaven.. but you know..)

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (part 23)
We were to tell the receptionist that we were guests of Doctor Yellow Hat and that he would be paying for two nights accommodation for the three of us.

The long lost diary of Miss S L Gleaden (Part 7)
While this was incredibly good fortune as far as they were concerned, it was not for the poor heroic diary, who had more than enough of life changing experiences . It would have given anything to settle down on a quite book shelf somewhere in the house of

The Long Lost Diary of S L Gleaden (part four)
Without a second thought Ralph swapped the tickets then marched straight out of the building, stopping only to tie his right shoe and place the diary into his knapsack.

The Plan
You were going to do the talking, because I can't talk without stuttering when I'm nervous, and because you are such a charmer. I was going to do…well I was going to do the rest.

The Start of the Year
You'll forgive our surprise. Darren wears jeans to christenings, seems to believe that football shirts convey a sense of style and has been wearing the same shapeless faded grey jacket over the top of everything he has worn for the last decade. Century. M

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Belle
The dog who lives with the crazy girl

A GUIDE TO TRAINS
Trains should be treated with extreme caution. If, for whatever reason, you do find yourself confronted with one of these monsters, try to relax and make the best of the situation.

A guide to the beach
The sea is shiny and smooth and I was quite surprised to discover it was wet. Very wet. In fact the sea is made entirely out of water which stays quite still while the sea moves.

A guide to kitchens...
Every dog deserves a place like this to sit and mull over the the puzzles of this crazy world and what better room could it be, than in than in the best room of the house?

A guide to snow
Snow is a magical substance which glitters and floats down from the sky and only appears when it wants to appear.

A guide to training your person
The first time my girl moved from the front room to the kitchen and then to the fridge door was one of the proudest moments in my life.

Spiders & Happines
She said "I do not think models ever look quite that messy Belle". I went off the idea of becoming a model very quickly after that because rolling around in the mud had been great fun.

A guide to training your person
I am quite sure that if I was not with her she would have got completely lost!

A quide to food
There was no going back now. I could not give the girl the mushroom back again... and I certainly could not eat the thing... and it seemed it was going to keep singing and singing.

A quide to Christmas
"Hey, Christmas is going to be here soon, Belle!"
I waited around for what must have been at least 5 minutes and Christmas did not arrive, but that cat did.

A guide to fashion!
The girl and me have very different opinions of what looks good on a dog.

A guide to Cats

I didn't see him again for a couple of days and was beginning to think I was going a bit mad. Perhaps I had imagined him? Even cats can't just disappear can they?

Sister Janice and the Big White Boot
She didn't look altogether pleased when I went to visit though and started shouting about how irresponsible it was to leave a bone lying in the middle of a hall full of dancing people in need of salvation.

Sister Janice gets replaced
Someone told me the women in Carluke pubs all wear leopard-skin to dissuade me but it only encouraged me. However on arriving at the Kirkton I found there was not one woman attired in this way.

A guide to sheep
Unwilling to get disheartened by such a small setback I decided to ask them a few questions

The Job Application
You state that you require a reliable person to be in charge of the quality control of the chocolate you produce. Although I'm not actually a person (and don't you think you could be being a little doggist by only advertising for one species), I would be

The Party
I watched the girl as she coloured her face in and laughed. She was wearing her funny black shoes that make her limp a little bit. The woman was wearing bright shiny things from her ears. The man had put on his trousers which are allergic to me

A Close Encounter Of The Bird Kind
I walked slowly and carefully toward the nearest one and with out warning it flapped its arms and whoosh! It was up in the air again.

A guide to people
They are all so different and just as you think you finally understand one of them, another person comes along with a whole new set of rules and you are back to square one. It is enough to make your head spin!

Sister Janice Sulks
"well if you really want to waste your time on a bunch of nobody's that's your business! just don't expect me to answer any problems from a bunch of cardie-wearing fools

A guide to being alone
Its quite lonely when I'm on my own and there is a temptation to sit around moping and feeling sorry for myself but that would get me nowhere fast!

Nothing is normal when you have a bright yellow ball
The girl took away the funny looking tree from the house today. Good thing too if you ask me. Everyone knows that trees don't belong in houses.

Some Strange Behaviour
instead of eating her own food she started to eat small oval shaped sweets. Not many of them either. Just two every now and again. They didn't look like a very good replacement for some nice toast or a bowel of cornflakes.

The boy as tall as a tree and the journey to the land in the middle of the sea.
I decided to have a look out of the window to see what was going on and I couldn't believe my eyes! The room that we were sat in was in the middle of the sea!

The boy as tall as a tree and the journey to the land in the middle of the sea.
I was glad we had the boy as tall as a tree with us because he said: "it's ok Belle I'll save you". All the girl said was "Belle don't be daft it its just a plastic bag".

A guide to meeting people
You will need to know (a) where the biscuit cupboard is, (b) who to remind to get food when you think your person might be getting hungry; and (c) whether or not you'll be having chicken for tea.

A handy human phrasebook
The human language is not easy to understand so to help you out I have put together a helpful phrase book full of everyday phrases to help you get by.

a href="http://www.friendsoftheheroes.co.uk/archive/issue102.html#3">It's good to be home!
Every time I go away on holiday now, I'm always slightly worried that me and the girl have moved houses again and will never be going back to my home

The Disappearance
Alice is the dog who lives with the woman across the road. She is a nice dog but we don't have a lot in common. She likes to chase after balls and bring them back for her people. I like to chase after balls and run as far away from my people as I can.

Christmas Haircut
It was early evening, and all was well with the world. The girl had given me my food, then she had give me some of her food, and then I had rolled over and over on the carpet and to show her how happy was, and I was all ready for a quiet evening tearing a

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