John Holland writes.

Short fiction writer, events organiser, editor, publisher and obsessive

"Three Legs" to be published by 101 Words

January 04, 2016  /  John Holland

How lovely to start 2016 with a story being accepted.  I submitted 'Three Legs', an exactly 101 word story, to  101 Words yesterday (3 Jan) and received a response this morning (4 Jan).  This was the response - "Thank you for your submission - what a lovely story! I enjoyed the flow and humour. We are interested in publishing it - let me get back to you with a tentative publishing date." Lovely.

Judges announced for 2016 Stroud Short Stories events

December 23, 2015  /  John Holland

As usual there will be two SSS events next year - in the spring and autumn. Our 11th and 12th events to date.

My fellow judge for the spring 2016 event will be novelist, short story writer, poet, editor, non-fiction writer, reviewer, blogger and podcaster Nimue Brown with whom I judged our last event - the November 2015 sell-out Eerie Evening.

More about Nimue here -

https://druidlife.wordpress.com/about-the-author/

There's a new judge joining me for the autumn event when short fiction writer, independent/self-publication guru, Hawkesbury Upton LitFest organiser, non=fiction writer, blogger and reviewer Debbie Young judges for the first time.

More about Debbie here -

http://authordebbieyoung.com/

Both Nimue and Debbie have read at Stroud Short Stories in the past. I am enormously grateful to both these really busy and successful authors for giving their time so generously to our event.

There are no dates yet for the spring event (these have to be agreed with our venue, the SVA), but if you receive this email you will receive information about submissions as soon as I have it.

I can tell you that the spring event will have an open theme, max 1500 words, previously published or unpublished, Glos/South Glos authors, max two stories, "blind" judging, and, of course, it will be free to submit.

Worcs Lit Fest Anthology Launched

November 24, 2015  /  John Holland

The Worcestershire Literary Festival 2015 Flash Fiction Anthology entitled 'A Stash of Flashes' has been launched/published. It includes my First Prize winning entry 'Sensitive', as well as two more of my pieces 'A Hot Summer's Day' and 'The Banker'.

Actor Moses Hardwick reads my story Strange Fruit - An Imagining in Cheltenham Town Hall as part of the Cheltenham Literature Festival

October 20, 2015  /  John Holland

As runner-up in the Gloucestershire Writers' Network short story competition based on the theme Crossroads I was invited to read my story Strange Fruit - An Imagining about Billie Holiday, Lester Young and the racial equalities issues raised by the song Strange Fruit at Cheltenham Literature Festival on 11 October 2015. Unable to attend because of a holiday/my son's wedding the story was read by the actor Moses Hardwick.

Here is the video-

https://www.dropbox.com/s/s6q22lqtnqqo2n2/john-holland-strange-fruit.mp4?dl=0