There was a packed house at the Cotswold Playhouse for the 19th Stroud Short Stories event, Mazurka & Other Stories. Ten Gloucestershire/South Gloucestershire authors read.
All the information including images of the authors is on the SSS website - http://stroudshortstories.blogspot.com/
The 19th Stroud Short Stories event ‘Mazurka & Other Stories’ has sold out. That’s the 14th time in succession. And this for the 150-seater Cotswold Playhouse.
The event will be on Sunday 10 November at 7.30. Authors performing -Peter Adams, Sallie Anderson, Ali Bacon, Georgia Boon, Nimue Brown, Philip Douch, Sophie Flynn, Sarah Hitchcock, Kate Keogan and Rick Vick.
My flash fiction piece ‘The call of Owls’ has today been published by Reflex Fiction. Here it is -
https://www.reflexfiction.com/the-call-of-owls-flash-fiction-by-john-holland/
SSS closed for submissions on 29 September. 84 authors submitted 115 stories for our 19th event to take place at the Cotswold Playhouse on 10 November.
The Final Ten authors to read will be announced by Thursday 10 November at the latest. Tickets, priced at £8, are on sale from the Cotswold Playhouse website from Friday 11 October.
Playhouse website for tickets - https://www.cotswoldplayhouse.co.uk/whats-on
The online flash fiction literary journal Reflex Fiction is to publish my piece ‘The Call of Owls’ between 20 and 26 October.
On Tuesday 8 October I will be reading my story ‘Cows’ at the Stokes Croft Writers Talking Tales event which is part of the Bristol Festival of Literature. It takes place at LeftBank, 128 Cheltenham Rd, Bristol, BS6 5RW at 7.00 (doors 6.30). Free admission.
I very much enjoyed the two Stroud Theatre Festival gigs I did with Philip Douch. Two wonderful audiences. At the first (in Star Anise cafe) I read ‘Lips’, ‘The Most Beautiful Thing she has ever seen’, ‘Christmas’, ‘The Fat Man’ and ‘Combining’.
In the second at the Lounge 16 Cafe I read ‘A Visit from the Vampires’, ‘Cows’ and ‘Da’.
Tickets on the door for tonight’s (Friday 13 Sept)Stroud Theatre Festival gig with Philip Douch - ‘Tales of the Unpredictable’ at Star Anise cafe in Gloucester Street, Stroud at 8pm.
Same tomorrow but different stories at the Lounge 16 cafe - opposite the front of the Subscription Rooms.
I think the heading says it all. https://crankedanvil.co.uk/2019/09/11/jul19-shortlist-and-winners/
My story ‘The Note’ which I submitted to the 2019 Momaya Press Short Story Competition on the theme of ‘trading places’ is to be published in their anthology, the Momaya Press Annual Review 2019 ‘Trading Places’.
More here - https://momayapress.com
That’s Philip Douch and me reading our stories. Don’t forget to buy your tickets priced at only £6 here -
https://tinyurl.com/y3lv7e67 - Fri 13th September at the Star Anis cafe in Gloucester Street at 8pm
tinyurl.com/y3bkqrgz - Sat 14th September at the Lounge 16 cafe (upstairs) (opposite the Sub Rooms in Stroud) at 8pm.
Yes, SSS is open again for short story submissions. We close at the end of Sunday 29 September. The event is on Sunday 10 November at the Cotswold Playhouse again. This event is part of the Stroud Book Festival 2019.
Ten stories will be chosen for their authors to read at our event. It’s free to submit, as ever.
It’s an open theme this time so any subject, any style so long as it’s a short story to a max of 1,500 words.
Tickets are available from 11 October on the Cotswold Playhouse website.
All the info you need to submit your story is on the SSS website.
My story ‘The Most Beautiful Thing She has Ever Seen’ has been long listed in the Cranked Anvil July 2019 Short Story Competition. Fingers crossed for the short listing!
As we did in 2017, short story author Philip Douch and I are doing two two-header short story reading events at this year’s Stroud Theatre Festival.
Tickets are £6. Here are the details with links for more information and ticket sales -
Friday 13 Sept 8pm Star Anise, Gloucester St - level access
Saturday 14 Sept 8pm Lounge 16, George St - stair access only
You can now watch the video of me reading my story ‘Lips’ which won first prize in the 2018 To Hull And Back Short Story Competition. This was recorded at the lunch of the To Hull And Back Anthology at the LeftBank Club in Bristol in December 2019.
Here it is.
My story ‘Nature Implores’ has been published in Reflex Fiction’s second in print anthology ‘ The Real Jazz Baby: Reflex Fiction Volume Two.’
I’m pretty thrilled that last year’s Stroud Short Stories anthology 2015-2018 received a mention by Nicholas Royle, the editor of the annual publication Best British Short Stories, in the forward to the 2019 edition.
Additionally, he praised two stories in the anthology - The Thief by Alex Clark and The Journey to Everywhere by Joanna Campbell. Praise indeed.
SSS Volume Two 2015-18 is still available - http://stroudshortstories.blogspot.com/p/anthology.html
It was a great honour to be invited to read at the launch of Adam Lock’s brilliant Novella in Flash ‘Dinosaurs’ at the Old Joint Stock pub in Birmingham City centre on Saturday 13 July. I read ‘Da’. There were also readings by Adam (obvs), Gaynor Jones, Jason Jackson, Steve Wheeler, Steve Campbell and Joely Dutton. It was a really lovely afternoon.
My short story ‘The River’ which I read at the April 2019 Hawkesbury Upton LiFest is now on the HULF website blog together with a few words from my about the festival. It’s at https://hulitfest.com/blog/