Local publisher takes a shine to Hornsea Writers

Local publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, published its first short story anthology in 2012. It was called Fusion and one of the Hornsea Writers, Stuart Aken, was invited to contribute.

Since then, Fantastic Books has published six short story collections and four of them feature stories from the Hornsea Writers. Stuart Aken was again invited to contribute in 2015 to Synthesis.

Horror followed a year later with the 666 anthology in which Stuart was joined by Linda Acaster as an invited contributor. The collection also included a story from Penny Grubb.

The most recent collection, a railway anthology, Dreaming of Steam, showcased four Hornsea Writers; Penny Grubb was invited to contribute and stories from Elaine Hemingway, Madeleine McDonald and April Taylor were included.

Fantastic Books’ current competition, Fire and Ice, closes at the end of February. If you feel up to producing a short tale that touches on dark, twisted and dystopian, why not follow this link and have a go. Fireand Ice Entries must be in by the end of February.

Steaming to Victory with Hornsea Writers – join us at Fimber Halt 30th April

When the long list for the Yorkshire Wolds Railway short story competition came out back in January, no fewer than three Hornsea Writers were included.

All entries on the long list in all of Fantastic Books’ competitions are considered for inclusion in the subsequent anthology, so it already looked like we would figure prominently. But add to that another group member being invited to contribute as one of the professional writers, and it’s starting to look like a takeover.

The shortlist that has just been published, and two Hornsea Writers are there amongst the six finalists.

The winners will be announced at a prize-giving at the railway site on April 30th where the prizes will be presented by Mark Blakeston, Mayor of Driffield, and Lord Faulkner of Worcester, President of the Heritage Railway Association.

The site at Fimber Halt rests in the heart of the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds. Please put the date in your diary and come and join us on the 30th April. The site is open from 11 am to 5 pm. The prize-giving starts at 1.30 pm.

Things get scary

Prepare for a shiver down your spine. Hornsea Writers have been dabbling in the occult.

East Yorkshire publisher, Fantastic Books Publishing, has been running a horror competition with a difference. Entrants are invited to submit a horror tale of exactly 666 words. Play the short trailer on THIS PAGE to listen to Dan their CEO intone his spooky competition trailer. He calls these 666 stories fantabbles.

Fantabbles? Stories of exactly 666 words? Yes, we thought, we could write those. No problem. Of course we didn’t write a single word, let alone 666. We just left it at ‘we could if we wanted to.’

Then Dan called our bluff.

‘I want some 666 stories from Hornsea Writers,’ he told us.

All of Fantastic Books’ anthologies include invited professional contributions and on this occasion one of those professionals is to be our own Linda Acaster. As members of the group we have heard and shuddered at her 666 words, but I’m afraid you will have to wait.

However, you won’t have to wait to hear two other contributions. As well as his invited professionals, Dan asked me and one of his other authors to provide contributions he could use to help launch his new sound studio.

Read by the actor, Penelope McDonald, Music at Full Moon and my own Opening Doors are already available as audio downloads and will probably be included in the final anthology although they won’t be in the pot competitively.

So whose fantabbles will win the cash prizes? No one knows. The winning entries might not even have been written yet. None of the invited contributions mentioned above are eligible. The competition doesn't close until 31 March. HERE’S THE LINK. Sharpen your quill! The winner might be you.

WRITERS' VILLAGE AWARD

Madeleine McDonald was one of only five writers shortlisted in the summer 2015 Writers’ Village short story competition. The competition is run twice a year and attracts hundreds of entries from across the world. This summer’s crop produced three winners, with a further five shortlisted and ten highly commended.

One reason the Writers’ Village competition attracts so many entries is that the sole judge, author John Yeoman, takes the time and trouble to provide a short critique of each and every entry.

The Writers’ Village website offers writing courses as well as an entertaining blog. 

www.writers-village.org    

Short story competition still open

One year ago, the online newspaper News Junkie Post launched its short story competition by publishing The People's Choice, Madeleine McDonald's satirical look at French politics and the activities of a fictional President (although real-life events have since proved equally surreal). News Junkie Post intends to prolong the competition for another year and invites submissions. For more details, see: http://newsjunkiepost.com/2013/03/03/short-story-finalist-the-peoples-choice/

Image courtesy of newsjunkiepost.com