John Holland writes.

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

Story accepted by Truffle Magazine

Dead chuffed that my story ‘Drawing a Line under the Dog’ has been accepted for publication in Issue 4 of one of my favourite online literary magazines, Truffle. This story has been short listed in a few competitions but not previously published.

I also had a story published in Issue Two.

Truffle is here.

Stroud Short Stories a Go Go

SSS_No21_Event_A4_Colour.jpg

The latest Stroud Short Stories event ‘Sharp Stars And Old Magic & Other Stories’ is now available on YouTube with links on the SSS website. This event celebrates the 10th Anniversary of Stroud Short Stories. It is our 21st event.

The stories are by Kate Keogan, Sean W. Quigley, Nastasya Parker, Diana Humphrey, Jason Jackson, Cheryl Burman, David Goodland, Nimue Brown, Mhairi Gray and Sally Jenkinson.

The videos of the authors reading/performing their stories are here

The Authors to read at the 10th Anniversary Stroud Short Stories event on YouTube on Sunday 9 May

My co-judge Chloe Turner and I selected ten stories from the 125 stories submitted by 90 local authors. We chose the brilliant stories by Nimue Brown, Cheryl Burman, David Goodland, Mhairi Gray, Diana Humphrey, Jason Jackson, Sally Jenkinson, Kate Keogan, Nastasya Parker and Sean Quigley.

The event is entitled ‘Sharp Stars And Old magic & Other Stories’.

Don’t miss the authors reading/performing on YouTube via links on the SSS website.

'Booboo' wins THIRD PRIZE in the Retreat West Short Story Competition

Delighted that my story ‘Booboo’ has won THIRD PRIZE in the 2020 Retreat West Short Story Competition. That’s £150 plus a place in their forthcoming print anthology. It’s all here.

This is what judge Peter Jordan had to say about ‘Booboo’ and his decision to award it Third Prize -

I chose ‘Booboo’ because the story is possibly the simplest with regards to both prose and story. In many ways ‘Booboo’ is the perfect template for a short story. Start late, leave early. Keep it simple. Have the surface story allude to bigger things — in this case, the mother’s new partner and how that affects her young daughter.

Ten Years of Stroud Short Stories

SSS_No21_Invite_A4_Colour.png

This year represents the tenth anniversary of Stroud Short Stories, and one more, we are open for submissions again.

It’s an open theme this time and the event will be on Sunday 9 May 2021. The event will either be recorded on YouTube or live at the Cotswold Playhouse.

We close for submissions on 21 March.

All info about the rules and how to submit is on the SSS website.