Introduction
Welcome to 'A Story a Week', the story/essay collection from woodblock printmaker David Bull.
This collection of stories had its genesis in the pieces I submitted to various weekly papers in Tokyo. These newspapers and magazines are aimed at Japanese people who wish to improve their English reading and comprehension skills, and the editors learned that my writing style - straightforward and familiar - is very suited to their needs. One thing led to another, the published stories got quite good feedback from readers, and so I decided to publish similar pieces on my own, here on this web site.
Are you scared off by the thought that these pieces had their origin for 'language training'? I have to say that when I write them, I don't give any thought to such considerations; they are not 'written-down' to a beginner level at all. If they happen to be easy to read, that just follows naturally from my own style, and they provide pleasant light reading for native English speakers too ...
Each story is accompanied by a recording of myself reading the story, accessible through the speaker icon on each story page. These recordings (in mp3 format) can be downloaded to your own computer if you wish. The audio files are also available through the iTunes podcast directory, so if you are an iTunes user, you can subscribe to them with this link.
Access to all the stories on the site is completely free for everybody. Just follow the tab above marked 'The Stories' to see the index to them all. If you would like to be reminded by email whenever a new story is published - usually every Sunday morning here in Japan - click the 'Email Updates' tab above to find the sign-up form ...
'A Story A Week' books are also available, in both eBook and traditional printed formats. A new one is published every six months, and can be ordered from my Mokuhankan print shop!
I hope you find my stories interesting and entertaining. I should also mention that each story has a Comments Page attached to it, and I look forward to reading comments and discussion from readers (anybody is welcome to contribute to the Comments Pages).
Thank you for your interest in my work!
"Give me five minutes a week, and I'll give you ... Well, I'm not sure just what I'll give you, but I'm sure you'll enjoy it!" :-)