OCTOBER 2026
October 2026
It’s been an eventful week.
The first named storm of the season, Storm Austen, will arrive tonight bringing damaging winds and heavy rain to parts of the UK on Friday. It reminded me of the tragic event of sixty years ago when, on October 21st 1966, a colliery spoil tip collapsed engulfing Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses in Aberfan, Wales. It resulted in the deaths of 144 people, including 116 children, and was caused by the heavy rain that led to the build-up of water within the spoil tip causing it to slide downhill as a slurry. On the news last night, the King and Queen attended the anniversary service and we recalled the day a nation mourned.
Meanwhile, I’m at my desk again having put the finishing touches to my new novel. It’s now with my agent and it will be interesting to see how this new venture into a ‘cosy crime’ series will progress. It’s a shift from my usual writing and a new genre to explore.
Thank you to everyone out there who gets in touch via this website and it’s heartwarming to read the emails that come in from all over the world. There are readers who support blind and partially sighted friends and even the occasion ex-student that I taught at Leeds University many years ago. However, much of the mail refers to the 15 novels (including prequels) of my ‘Teacher’ series of novels and many fans explore the lovely North Yorkshire countryside where my stories are set.
I find time to write every day, usually in the quiet of early mornings. So the writing career that began for me on the day I retired from education goes on into its twentieth year and I’m now busy with the second novel in my new series.
I noticed that AI has dominated the news recently and I’m following this carefully. One of my readers was in touch having requested, as an experiment, the first 600 words of a new novel in the style of Jack Sheffield and told me it was difficult to differentiate between my actual writing and the AI text she received! So controversial times ahead!
Recently the paperback edition of the final novel in my University trilogy, University Secrets, was one of Amazon’s special offers at £0.99 so I hope many readers out there took advantage of this bargain. Many thanks to the countless fans from all over the world who have been in touch to say how much they enjoyed this series.
Keep safe and happy reading,
Jack