The Miserable Poets Cafe: A Year Of Remarkable Misery by Nimue Brown

Friday the 12th of February 2016 saw a gathering at the SVA for Unlucky In Love: Pre-Valentine's Night of Woe. Depressing poetry was herded towards the stage and carefuly chaperoned by Bill Jones (aka Miserable Malcolm, the miserable poet.) The first such of these had been caused a year previously by a Friday the 13th preceding Valentine’s Day. Gathered under the banner of ‘get the disappointment over early’ we exposed our bleeding hearts in public and swayed without optimism to the tunes Uta Baldauf played.

Miserable Malcolm at Unlucky In Love: A Pre-Valentine's Night Of Woe  photo by Simon Gunn

Why on earth would a person voluntarily subject themselves to an evening of miserable poems? And not just miserable poems, but the worst excesses of teenage diaries, and all that self-indulgent angst can offer. I don’t think Bill had any idea, when he started this last year, of just how excited people would be about misery. Of course sometimes, misery is funny. When Bill Jones takes to the stage, or Jonny Fluffypunk puts in an appearance, giggling is a probability. 

But it’s not just that.

Having been to the Miserable Poets Cafe every time it’s popped up over the last year, I feel I should know the names of the most frequent participants/offenders, but I don’t. I realise as I come to write about it, that the event itself has the feel of a support group. Things spoken of at Miserable Poets Cafe should perhaps stay there as safely guarded secrets. Confessions of murderous intent, and the tale of the young man who dumped her via her work email, not even her personal gmail address. The ex girlfriend who smelled terrible. Secret, personal things, shared intimately with fifty or more other people via a microphone and a stage, which really shouldn't see the light of day.

Most of the time in our normal lives we’re all trying to put a good face on things. It’s fascinating what happens when you’re competing for prizes like broken crockery and second hand handkerchiefs, and there is permission to be your worst. A collective relishing of our most stupid, futile, regrettable, humiliating moments, with or without rhyming couplets. A safe space in which exposing your innate crapness will get you a round of applause, not social ostracism. It’s cheaper than therapy and considerably more fun.

Did Bill Jones intend to create a space that does for failure what Death Cafe does for that other big social taboo? Did he plan to cheer people up by letting them see that they’re just as rubbish as everyone else really? I don’t know, but I'm glad he did. After a year of misery, I'm a slightly more cheerful person than I was.

Nimue Brown lives in Stroud, writes fiction and non-fiction, has a compulsive blogging habit and can be found online at www.druidlife.wordpress.com

Kate Riordan: 'The Shadow Hour' Book Signing by Nikki Owen

If historical, extraordinary telling fiction is your thing, then this weekend is your chance to meet one of the genre’s most talented authors, as Saturday 27th February will see local writer Kate Riordan appearing at Stroud Bookshop between 11am and 12.30pm.

There to sign copies of her latest book, The Shadow Hour (Penguin £7.99), Kate is no stranger to historical fiction. Her first novel, The Girl in the Photograph was published in January last year to critical acclaim, with the Sunday Express describing the story as 'a prickly story full of tension'. In fact, so sweeping and haunting is Kate’s writing that her books have been labelled as perfect for fans of Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.

So what of Kate? Well, a writer and journalist, Kate started out as an editorial assistant at the Guardian, no less, followed by a stint as deputy editor for the lifestyle section of Time Out. She now works as a freelance writer, as well of course creating amazing, best selling novels. So, I asked Kate just what her new novel, The Shadow Hour is all about. Said Kate, “The book is a dual narrative, Gothic mystery, set in a big crumbling house on the outskirts of Cheltenham. The two strands of the story are told by Harriet and her granddaughter Grace. We first meet Harriet in 1878, when she’s in her early twenties and just about to become governess to the daughters of the Pembridge family. Nearly half a century later, Harriet’s granddaughter Grace finds herself about to take up the same position for the same family. There are lies and secrets a-plenty!”

In fact, it’s this mystery the era in which Kate writes so beautifully that forms such an interesting plot premise. When asked why, amid the modernity of today’s lifestyle, she wrote her new book, Kate said, “I still lived in Cheltenham when I started the book and I wanted to set a book in a house hidden away on Leckhampton Hill. I also wanted to write a story about governesses. Although they crop up in literature occasionally – most famously in Jane Eyre, of course, which I reference in my story – they were almost invisible in Victorian society.”

Indeed, it’s this Victorian society and beyond which forms the backdrop of her story-lines.  “Most of the governesses came from good, respectable families that didn't have much money, and this meant that they fell between two stools – higher than the servants and lower than the family. In a story with some Gothic elements, they’re the perfect heroine because they’re so isolated and vulnerable, as Harriet – the book’s heroine - in particular turns out to be.”

It’s the influences, not only of time, but of location and, of course, our glorious Gloucestershire county, that have had a significant creative impact on Kate. “It’s more the wider county of Gloucestershire that influences me,” she said. “My first novel for Penguin, The Girl in the Photograph, was set in a fictionalised version of Owlpen Manor, near Uley, and this second novel is obviously set near Cheltenham. I love the landscape in this part of the world – the hills and valleys, the greens and golds – I’ve lived in quite a few places and this is easily the most beautiful. I love the industrial history of the place too, and find it fascinating that we have the rapid decline of the cloth trade to thank (in part) for such gorgeous villages – because there wasn't enough money around for people to rebuild in later fashions.”

Talking to her, it’s clear just why where we live influences Kate so much, and not only that, but how it shapes just how she shops – including at our local book stores. Indeed that, for Kate, is something, not only very dear to her heart, but calming, too. “I've always found bookshops such restful places to be, especially independent ones. You can almost feel your blood pressure going down as soon as you step inside! It’s lovely to build up a relationship with your local bookshop and as a reasonably new arrival to this area – I live in Chalford – I'm looking forward to getting to know Stroud Bookshop even better.”

So, if you fancy a step back in time this weekend – and a calm one at that – then Saturday 27th February at Stroud Bookshop is the place to be, and Kate will be ready to meet you. Kate and, of course, her haunting historical characters. Governess stern-like stares optional.

Nikki Owen is an author and writer. Her début thriller, Subject 375 (Harper Collins), is out now. Visit her blog www.nikkiowen.wordpress.com or website www.nikkiowenauthor.com

Hannah Shaw: 'Bear On A Bike' Book Signing by Nikki Owen

The literary and artist credentials of Stroud are on the rise again as we see another talented writer celebrating the launch of her brand new book. This Saturday between 10am -12pm, Hannah Shaw, local children's author and illustrator will be signing her new picture book Bear on a Bike at Stroud Bookshop. And not only is this the chance for your children to come meet her, but it’s also a unique opportunity to watch Hannah draw on the day, as well as purchase a signed copy of the book.

Written for 0-5 year olds, Bear on a Bike is the story of a bear who likes bikes and cake and making you giggle. Bear has made Mouse a cake for his birthday but Mouse has gone off on his moped to buy things on his birthday list. What follows is a chase on lots of different modes of transport where Bear is trying desperately to catch up with mouse and keep his cake in one piece. It’s an enchanting story and, speaking to Hannah, it’s easy to see just why this illustrator has turned to writing after a long and successful career drawing fun and beautiful picture books for children. “I wrote and illustrated Bear on a Bike because I really wanted to do a younger picture book for my children. Usually I don't write with anyone in particular in mind, I create the kind of stories and animal characters that are funny and make me laugh. Luckily, they make other people laugh too!”

Of course, having children for me, for sure, and I know for so many others can be a pivotal turning point in our lives, and for Hannah and her creativity, such a stage of her life has been no exception. “Since having my own children I thought for once it would be nice to write and illustrate something special for them. Recently, I had been focusing on writing older children’s fiction (with my Stan Stinky sewer rat stories) which I enjoy working on in a different way. I felt like I needed to do something fresh and illustrative with my own text, I illustrate picture books for other authors (such as Gareth Edwards' The Disgusting Sandwich). They have been great fun to do and are successful books but are more restrictive creatively.”

And so was born, for Hannah, not just her beautiful children, but also her delightful picture book Bear on a Bike, which Scholastic Book Clubs have called ‘perfect for any child who likes bears, cakes and vehicles’, with the renowned book club saying of Hannah, ‘her funny writing and charming pictures are a real delight.’

“Bear on a Bike tells a story in simple rhyming text but the illustrations have a fun sub-plot for children to enjoy visually,” says Hannah. “I think it is a really good picture book for toddlers as well as early readers, with speech bubbles and repetitive rhyme. I hope it does win over some little people!”

And of course, always the big question on people’s lips when it comes to authors and their stories, is where the inspiration comes from, and for Hannah, illustrating for kids’ books, it couldn’t come from a better place. “The inspiration for the characters and story came one day last year, when I was drawing with my then two year old and her friend who is very keen on buses and transport. I drew them a bear sitting on top of a bus (a page that appears in the book) and I kept thinking about the bear character in /on different vehicles and the final book idea developed from there.”

So there you go – one bear, one bike and one very talented author and illustrator, all of which proves that Stroud not only is an inspiring place to live, but one that deserves it’s own book shop. And Hannah wholeheartedly agrees. “I’m excited about doing a signing in Stroud Bookshop, local bookshops are very important and we are so lucky to have so many lovely ones in Gloucestershire,” says Hannah. “It's vital we try and support them, they are great at organising signings, talks and school events. Sadly even big bookshops like Waterstones are increasingly under threat today, with Amazon having such a monopoly.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself. So, what nicer way to spend a Saturday morning this weekend than at Stroud Bookshop with your children, getting the chance not only to meet an author and see her at work (and get a signed copy!) but to help keep alive our local book shop not just now, but for generations to come.

Visit the facebook event page here . Bear on a Bike is on sale now.

Nikki Owen is an author and writer. Her début thriller, Subject 375 (Harper Collins), is out now. Visit her blog www.nikkiowen.wordpress.com or website www.nikkiowenauthor.com

Stroud Short Stories 2016

Do you want to read your stories in front of an audience of 70 people? Do you love listening to short stories – especially when read by their authors? If so then Stroud Short Stories is for you...

Stroud Short Stories is now accepting short story submissions for its eleventh event, which will be held on Sunday 24th April 2016.  The deadline for submissions is the end of Saturday 19th March. Ten stories will be selected from those submitted to be read by their authors at Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA), John Street at 8pm. It is part of Stroud's celebrated SITE Festival.

The last four events have sold out, and this one is expected to do so too! The authors selected will read their stories to an audience of 70 people and they will also be offered a place in the next SSS anthology - due 2018 (download issue 8 of Good On Paper for a review of the first anthology by Leah Grant ->www.goodonpaper.info/archived-issues)
This time it's an open theme, so use any subject as the basis of your story. And write in any genre. Or none at all.

As always, submissions are free. Unpublished and previously published work is accepted. And once more stories are sought from writers with connections to Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.
Check out the website where all is revealed – www.stroudshortstories.blogspot.co.uk

Stroud Short Stories is organised by local short fiction writer, John Holland. He and his fellow judge, author Nimue Brown, are greatly looking forward to reading your stories.

Tickets for the event will be available on-line only in advance from the SVA/Site Festival. 

Follow Stroud Short Stories on twitter for further updates and news: www.twitter.com/StroudStories

Katie Fforde: 'A Summer at Sea' book launch in Stroud by Nikki Owen

Good news for book fans out there, as this Saturday 13th February from 10am, celebrated local author Katie Fforde will be visiting Stroud Bookshop to sign copies of her latest novel A Summer At Sea.

I think for pretty much most of us Stroudies, Katie Fforde needs no introduction, but if you are in need of a reminder, here you go. Katie is a Sunday Times Best-selling author with a whopping roster of romantic genre novels that the Independent newspaper described as, “Witty and generous – Jilly Cooper for the grown-ups.” Since her career as an author began more than two decades ago, Katie has not only gained a legion of devoted fans, but has won multiple awards (including the Romantic Novelist Association’s Contemporary Romantic Fiction Award) and has founded a bursary designed to help other writers make their author mark.

Katie – and I can vouch for this personally – is not only an amazing novelist, but one of the warmest, most kindest people you’ll meet. And if you don’t get a chance to see her on Saturday 13th, then don’t worry because Katie is also holding a book launch at The Prince Albert on Rodborough Hill the following Saturday 20th February from 2pm, and we’re all invited. And here’s an interesting fact: Lotte, the landlady of the Albert, actually features in Katie’s latest novel! When quizzed about this, Katie said, “As I was writing about a community I knew it had to have a pub. As The Prince Albert is at the heart of our village I used that. Lotte is a great character and the pub has so much character. It has a starring role.”

In fact, since Katie moved to Stroud more than thirty years ago, being part of the local community has been at the centre of everything she does, including supporting the local bookshops. “I love doing signings at Stroud Bookshop,” Katie said. “It's my 'local' and lots of people come back year after year.”

And I think this is just one of the many reasons why, not only is Katy seen as a bit of a writing legend among residents here (and among us writers, too!), but is seen as a huge supporter of Stroud, highlighting why it is so rich and cultural and downright great. Because, of course, life – well, it happens right here, and that, with Katie’s latest book is just why she has drawn inspiration from the area so heavily. “'I really wanted to do something at The Prince Albert because it features heavily in A Vintage Wedding,” said Katie.  “It's a thank you really. It's such a great pub.”

So there you go. Two chances to meet Katie Fforde, and with all her multiple best-selling novels, even more chances to sit curled up away from this winter weather and get suck into a wonderful read.

Katie will be signing books at Stroud Bookshop, 23 High Street from 10am this Saturday 13th February.The celebration launch at The Prince Albert, Rodborough Hill starts at 2pm on Saturday 20th February.

Nikki Owen is an author and writer. Her début thriller, Subject 375 (Harper Collins), is out now. Visit her blog www.nikkiowen.wordpress.com or website www.nikkiowenauthor.com

Poetry By Heart

This February budding young bards gather at Hawkwood College to decide who will be the county finalist of Poetry By Heart, a national poetry recitation contest started by former Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion.

Leading up to the event on Wednesday 10th February we thought that we would put up last year's county winner Sophia Smout's chosen poems...

To His Love by Ivor Gurney (1917)

He’s gone, and all our plans
Are useless indeed.
We’ll walk no more on Cotswold
Where the sheep feed
Quietly and take no heed.

His body that was so quick
Is not as you
Knew it, on Severn river
Under the blue
Driving our small boat through.

You would not know him now…
But still he died
Nobly, so cover him over
With violets of pride
Purple from Severn side.

Cover him, cover him soon!
And with thick-set
Masses of memoried flowers –
Hide that red wet
Thing I must somehow forget.

The Witch By Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1893)

I have walked a great while over the snow,
And I am not tall nor strong.
My clothes are wet, and my teeth are set,
And the way was hard and long.
I have wandered over the fruitful earth,
But I never came here before.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!

The cutting wind is a cruel foe.
I dare not stand in the blast.
My hands are stone, and my voice a groan,
And the worst of death is past.
I am but a little maiden still,
My little white feet are sore.
Oh, lift me over the threshold, and let me in at the door!

Her voice was the voice that women have,
Who plead for their heart’s desire.
She came—she came—and the quivering flame
Sunk and died in the fire.
It never was lit again on my hearth
Since I hurried across the floor,
To lift her over the threshold, and let her in at the door.

Lights Out By Edward Thomas (1917)

I have come to the borders of sleep,
The unfathomable deep
Forest where all must lose
Their way, however straight,
Or winding, soon or late;
They cannot choose.

Many a road and track
That, since the dawn’s first crack,
Up to the forest brink,
Deceived the travellers,
Suddenly now blurs,
And in they sink.

Here love ends,
Despair, ambition ends;
All pleasure and all trouble,
Although most sweet or bitter,
Here ends in sleep that is sweeter
Than tasks most noble.

There is not any book
Or face of dearest look
That I would not turn from now
To go into the unknown
I must enter and leave, alone,
I know not how.

The tall forest towers;
Its cloudy foliage lowers
Ahead, shelf above shelf;
Its silence I hear and obey
That I may lose my way
And myself.

The County finals take place at Hawkwood College,  on Wednesday, 10th February at 1:30pm. There is a limited number of public tickets which can be acquired by contacting the Hawkwood office on 01453 760 900

Pick up issue #11 Feb 2016 for our feature on Poetry By Heart by Kevan Manwaring

Yet More Reasons To Chase Bill Jones...by Nimue Brown

The Hall of Misery, and Growing Victorians In Your Garden. Tiny, wonderful strange books from Bill Jones. Although, just to confuse people, The Hall of Misery claims to have poems written in it by Miserable Malcolm. Anyone who has ventured to a spoken word event in Stroud probably knows that Miserable Malcolm is Bill Jones’ secret alter ego. No capes or face masks, just an overwhelming sense of doom and futility, which somehow turns out to be very funny to watch. I’m not sure quite what it says about a person when they invent a character and then invent things the character has written, but it seemed to work for David Bowie, and so many interesting things happen on the borders between madness and genius.

I’m a huge fan of Bill Jones. To the point of self-identifying as his stalker. He’s been incredibly tolerant of this, which is just as well because the only way to get copies of his books reliably is to chase him down the high street, brandishing used notes. It’s so much easier when he doesn’t deliberately run away.

The Hall of Misery is a tiny book combining things from www.hawkerspot.com and Miserable Malcolm poems and new things in that vein. Black ink illustrations bring neither joy nor dramatic action to these scenes of misery and despair. This is clearly deliberate. Gloom, doom, despondency, disillusionment, tiny impersonal figures in vast, oppressive landscapes under dark skies. Graveyards, mortality... it is absolutely a book of misery. How it manages to be so relentlessly funny at the same time I cannot say, but it does. Laugh out-loud funny.

Growing Victorians In Your Garden is, as the title suggests, a guide to growing Victorians in your garden. Little historical people with period problems and issues with God. They apparently need plenty of manure. It is a strange thing, offered with such sincerity that you will find it easy enough to suspend all disbelief. Whimsical, poignant, and rather lovely. I’ve never seen anything else quite like it. I’ve heard rumours of a second edition of Growing Victorians – copies being scarce at time of reviewing. 

I recommend chasing Bill through the streets of Stroud to get a copy of The Hall of Misery. It’s worth it for the slightly alarmed look on his face. One warning, though. These are small books, they very easily hide themselves, or find their way into other people’s pockets. My Growing Victorians have made several, frankly suspicious bids for freedom already.

Nimue Brown lives in Stroud, writes fiction and non-fiction, has a compulsive blogging habit and can be found online at www.druidlife.wordpress.com

Local Tales for Local People by Nimue Brown

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Anthony Nanson and Kirsty Hartsiotis are probably best known locally as story tellers, and you can find them most months at Stroud Out Loud, run in Mr Twitchett’s Cafe at the Subcription Rooms.They’ve both been selected to read at Stroud Short Stories evenings (but not on the same night!) and last year Anthony published his first novel Deep Time with Hawthorn Press.  

That’s a very short introduction to a very creative pair of people. Kirsty and Anthony have also brought their skills to local folk stories, breathing life and coherence into a range of Gloucestershire tales, and enlivening them with illustrations (that one is all Kirsty).

Gloucestershire Folk Tales was published back in 2012, and put together by Anthony Nanson, (although I have been told that Kirsty had considerable influence on one of the stories!). Gloucestershire Ghost Tales came out last year and was written jointly. Those of us who follow them on facebook have enjoyed, vicariously, some months of ghost hunting as they toured the area looking at locations and probable settings for the stories they had collected. Enigmatic photos were shared. 

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One of the things to be said for both books is the care and attention that has gone into placing stories physically in the landscape. It’s also clear that they’ve paid a lot of attention to historical detail where that’s known and relevant.

The tales in both books are fairly short, each one delivered with a story teller’s flare. It’s not a complete set of tales for the area, but a selection of the most engaging, most tellable stories. They have also favoured the more imaginative tales and stayed out of stories that are more history than legend. Both books are a great expression of just how rich and interesting local mythic history is, and how much story we have in our immediate landscape. While both books cover Gloucestershire as a whole, there’s plenty of Stroud-specific material.

I have greatly enjoyed reading both books – I got through them in about an evening each, and many of the tales have stayed with me. I’ve since been moved to go and look for Woeful Dane’s Bottom, (how could anyone resist?) and it was good to be reminded that in terms of myth and history alike, Gloucestershire has always had a lot going on.

Kirsty is also responsible for a Suffolk folk tales collection, and a Wiltshire set, while other authors have covered the rest of the UK. If you’re interested in tales that are ‘not from around here’ then there’s plenty on offer. Although arguably anything The History Press does counts as local, given they’re based at Brimscombe Port.

Nimue Brown lives in Stroud, writes fiction and non-fiction, has a compulsive blogging habit and can be found online at www.druidlife.wordpress.com

Little Island Press

Excerpt from Ada Kaleh by Freddie Mason with illustrations by Alice-Andrea Ewing released in February 2016 via Little Island Press:

and in the bare cream implied by gardens
she lay implied by shadows and denture
The night in gladness a world of dog and
incubation wanted to be useful

day in secreted expanses passes over her and
pity like metallic squeezes of juddering nothing
flowed into the garden like myristyl myristate
made of rivers made closer because never
pissing alone makes my agelessness
indigenous in awkward fundament    
lazy in the moonlight whipping
till thickened matter settles 

and how are the ways
in hype this mathematical and held in guzzling
pastoral tumescence sinking into the careful 

impressive on TV in horror and golf the men at Avondale
fell from a seven storey window heaving with
protein and themselves the syndicalism in wanting
to be heard out loud in La Cana before the ground
hits you harder than you can hit it back 

inducing deepest thought stop
like an oath to a silent land
we compose ourselves imperfectly
for this serene in-coming in
hi-definition and repeated
as many times as you need
through varying syncopations  

Feel the road surface break
under the softened thumbs smooth
as they press and injure themselves
but succeed in breaking the road surface up

Pick up our January issue for Leah Grant's interview with Andrew Latimer the Managing Editor of Little Island Press, a new Stroud based independent publisher of poetry, non-fiction and international literature in translation.
www.littleislandpress.co.uk
www.facebook.com/littleislandpress

Bicycle Poem - By Johnny Fluffypunk

Looking through the curtains
I see the cold cars huddled in
roadside rows
cars can’t cuddle
but bicycles know
bicycles know
bicycles know
how to do it.
Our bicycles:
getting flirty & dirty
with the furniture of the street
leaning on lamp-posts
wrapped around railings
adorning the folorn ordinarinesses
of the city
oblivious to failings
(what’s a bitty bit of rust between friends?)
locked tight in a night
they hope never ends
our bikes
handlebars spooning handlebars
pedals like fat ferrous fingers
gently stroke anothers spokes…
exposed & delicate
oily & intimate
our bicycles are like
love.

You may on occasion see a car
wrapped around a lamp-post.
This is just sex.

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www.jonnyfluffypunk.co.uk

Review: Stroud Short Stories - Eerie Evening, 15th Nov, SVA - By Nimue Brown

I write this on the day after Stroud Short Stories competition held its autumn event for 2015. For those of you not familiar with the event, it was set up by Bill Jones (he of Miserable Malcolm infamy) and is now run by John Holland. Twice a year, two judges select ten stories to be read over the course of an evening. Submissions are many, numerous authors keep re-submitting, and the standard of work is very high.

Last year I was startled to be picked to read, having not entered before. In January I undertook to collect all the previously read stories as an anthology and now this autumn I’ve had the privilege, and challenge, of being one of the judges. I’ve never judged anything before.

That the end goal is an evening of reading of course influences choices. Judges do not know who the authors are, so a piece that depends heavily on performance skill is a bit of a gamble – it might be amazing, but it might also flop. There’s a need for a diversity of voices, different perspectives and different kinds of stories. For me, a few stories leapt out at once as being really amazing pieces of work. However, that left about thirty that were good, engaging, original, likely to work, and whittling that list down to a selection wasn’t easy. There were many good stories, and good authors that didn’t make it to the event.

It would be fair to say that we were blessed with a truly extraordinary set of readers. Each reader brought their tale to life, and in several instances, the quality of the reading was so good that it drew attention to aspects of the story that I hadn’t fully grasped when just reading it from the page. Tone of voice and pacing can make all the difference, and hearing the author’s voice as they read, you also hear their intentions as you never can when reading from a page.

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We started with ‘The Woman’s Wraith’, a classic eerie story from the newly published Gloucestershire Ghost Tales collection, written and brilliantly performed by storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis. Gloucestershire Ghost Tales has its proper launch at the Sub rooms on the 27th November, but copies were available last night and it looks fantastic.

Tony Stowell: The Spirit is Willing
A humorous piece, really pushing the edges of what a short story is. It depended on audience complicity, and our willingness to accept that for the duration of the tale, we were a gathering of the dead thinking about the living. Tony pulled this off with style, and much laughter.

Stephen Connolly: A Winter Wedding
A risky story because there are two lines of events and the audience, on one hearing, was going to have to figure out exactly what it all meant with no room to check back. With careful pacing, Stephen took us into a land of ice and a land of illusions. No one moved. I’m not sure anyone even breathed through much of it. It is a beautiful piece and I’m glad we trusted the author to make it work on the night.

Julie Wiltshire: The Unwanted Visitor
There’s a tradition in gothic writing of an almost tortuous excess of language – think Poe and Lovecraft. It’s a difficult thing to do well, but Julie’s tale captured that note for me perfectly. A first time reader who had never braved a stage before, she nonetheless did a sterling job. I can’t say she ‘brought the tale to life’ because it just wasn’t that sort of an evening. She certainly brought the dead to life.

Daniel Gooding: Point to the Eye
Sadly Daniel wasn’t able to be with us, but a substitute reader was found – actor Ed Holland – who did a great job, with a particularly tricky perspective shift to pull off at the end. A great twist on the idea of the eyes in a painting following you round the room, and a truly unsettling tale.

Simon Piney: The Ghastly Rolling
Simon’s a fantastic performer, and a writer with an eye for local detail. It was a tale that managed to be both amusing and unsettling at the same time, which worked very well indeed. I’ll never think about cheese rolling in quite the same way again!

Elizabeth Murphy: Breathing Exercises
A performance that took the story to whole new levels. It unravelled cleverly, from a seemingly innocent start to a truly disturbing ending. A really innovative way of looking at horror from the inside.

Graham Bruce-Fletcher: Thrown Together
Most of our stories were more psychological than violent in nature, but Graham captured the horrors of the plague pit, with a level of sensuous detail that was creepy all by itself, and then grew from it a tale that for me spoke of class and poverty in some very interesting ways. An all too believable tale of real world horror, delivered with a matter of fact style that packed a punch.

Judith Gunn: The Ghost in the Classroom
This one surprised me because there were humorous notes in the reading that hadn’t come through on the page. Judith did a great job of creating distinctive voices, her dialogue shone, while her ghost in the machine turned out to be as unsettling as you could want for an eerie evening.

Andrew Stevenson: A Good Old Fashioned Copper
We finished with a tale of murder and investigation that had the audience in fits of laughter. (We couldn’t after all, send them out into the cold, dark night in a state of terror!). This was Andrew’s fourth appearance at Stroud Short Stories, and he rounded off the evening perfectly.

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Somewhere in the New Year, it all beings again – new deadlines, hopefully lots of new authors, and another evening of fantastic stories to look forward to. I’m very glad to have been a part of this, and greatly looking forward to the next one.

Website: http://stroudshortstories.blogspot.co.uk

Twitter: @StroudStories

Facebook: facebook.com/Stroud-Short-Stories

Nimue Brown lives in Stroud, writes fiction and non-fiction, has a compulsive blogging habit and can be found online at www.druidlife.wordpress.com