May 2018

Not long now until the Cornish Short Stories book launch on Saturday 19 May from 6pm onwards at the Falmouth Bookseller, Church St, Falmouth. Everyone welcome.

Cornish Short Stories has been invited to join in with a series of exciting short story events at the Charles Causley Festival in Launceston on 1 June 2018.  The Word Factory founder Cathy Galvin has arranged a day of activities aimed at inspiring new work in the company of Cornwall’s writers, editors and publishers.

Anyone interested in finding new ways of generating ideas will love Adam Marek’s  masterclass -The Never-ending Idea Machine – from 2-5pm. Places are limited. Adam is a wonderful, empathetic teacher as well as one of the leading young writers in the UK. His class is aimed at exploring how to generate ideas for stories. It’s suited to anyone who simply wants to stimulate their imagination – you don’t have to be a short story writer!

Earlier in the day, starting at 10.30 am, Cathy and I are running a short story reading club in the town – like a book club except you only have to have read one gripping story in advance! The club is free – simply drop a note to Cathy at cathygalvin1@gmail.com and she can send you the story everyone will be reading. If people enjoy it, we may organise some more. This will be a very relaxed, informal event.

And from 6.30pm -8pm, Cathy will host Adam, Luke, brilliant short story writer Tom Vowler and me at a Word Factory salon in an evening of conversation about the short story – and particularly the short story in Cornwall.

All the events are being held at Jericho’s Kitchen, 4 Northgate St, Launceston:

And all booking details can be found here

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April 2018

Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Writing was officially published on 2 April with books due in shops and pre-orders to be dispatched on 9 April. It’s wonderful to see the culmination of so much work find its way out into the world.

The image on the left is one of four beautiful woodcut illustrations by artist Angela Annesley included amongst work by nineteen Cornish writers including Tom Vowler, Katherine Stansfield, Cathy Galvin, Rob Magnuson Smith and many more new and established voices.

You can find out more on the Cornish Short Stories website and order copies from your local bookseller or online.

An unexpected Easter gift was a proof copy of my novella, Travelling in the Dark, from Fairlight Books. It is everything I could have hoped for – a gorgeous design, creamy paper and a surprising substance given it is a novella.  Fairlight Books will be at the London Book Fair from 10-12 April in Hall 6, Stand 6F 100, so do stop by and say hello if you are passing.

February/March 2018

I am absolutely delighted to share some excellent news. My novella, Travelling in the Dark, will be published on 11 July 2018.

My publisher, Fairlight Books in Oxford, are keen to promote literary fiction and also want their books to look beautiful. This is already apparent in the care and attention they have given my manuscript and in the gorgeous cover design.

A recent report by the Arts Council set out the very real threats facing literary fiction. In these dark days for the genre, the energy and enthusiasm of Fairlight’s approach has been an inspiration to me.

Travelling in the Dark is one a series of five novellas: the others are Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn, There Are Things I Know by Karen B Golightly, Inside the Bone Box by Anthony Ferner and The Driveway has Two Sides by Sara Marchant. Find out more here

Fairlight Books are open for submissions of literary fiction. You can find further details here. In keeping with their wish to treat all writers who takes the time to submit to them in a fair and open manner, they have a Submissions Code of Practice.

Over the next weeks and months, I’d be posting regularly about this book’s journey to publication and the intriguing literary form known as the novella.

December 2017

I’m pleased to say I’ll be announcing some very exciting news about a new publication in the New Year…

One lovely thing I am able to share with you now is the cover of Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Cornish Writing. This bold design, by the very talented young illustrator Vita Sleigh, is full of the wild energy we see around us in Cornwall in every season. Felicity and I both love it, and we are delighted that The History Press feel the same way.

It has been a very busy and productive year for me, and I can’t wait to see many hours of past and current work become beautiful books in 2018. In 2017, I’ve had visitors to this site from  48 countries in all parts of the world – thank you to everyone who has taken the time to stop by.

November 2017

I’m very pleased that my flash fiction piece I Imagined You Different will be published in Retrospective by Palm-Sized Press. You can find out more about this delightful little press and magazine here.

I also came across this lovely new review of The Lost of Syros by Victoria Field on Amazon:

Accomplished and riveting short stories mostly centred on the experiences of girls and young women, always vividly located in a specific place. There’s a sense of loss and confusion, of things not always being what they seem, a kind of fugitive grief, even if as in one story, there’s a happy ending when the lost child is found. I loved this book.

 

 

October 2017

This month, I’m looking forward to judging the prose entries for the Carrick U3A writing competition.

The WoMentoring Project offers up and coming female writers, who would otherwise not be able to afford it, the chance to work with an experienced writer. I’m offering to mentor a short story writer looking to put together a first collection through this scheme. There are more details here.

 

September 2017

I’m absolutely delighted that my flash fiction, Crue de la Seine,  28 Janvier 1910, has been selected for inclusion in Bonsai: The Big Book of Small Stories.

Bonsai will be published by Canterbury University Press in 2018. Edited by Michelle Elvy, Frankie McMillan and James Norcliffe, this ambitious project (the first of its kind in New Zealand) aims to include the very best small fictions from Aotearoa.

In honour of their 5th birthday, Elbow Room  have published a series of birthday postcards containing writing and artwork by past contributors. These lovely items are available to buy here for £1 each.