First Chapter Competition Long List

Thanks once again to everyone who entered the 2018 First Chapter Competition.

Amanda, Louise and Sophie have read the 234 entries and been impressed with the overall standard of submissions. Although some of the first chapters definitely felt like they were being sent out too soon and needed more editing.

The longlisted stories are shown below and if yours is there please don’t let us know the name of it as readings are done anonymously until the shortlist has been chosen.

Longlist (in alphabetical order):

  • A Promise To Lena
  • A Stranger’s Guide
  • Ain’t You Been Baptized
  • All The Trees In The Wood
  • All The While, The Birds
  • Assemblage
  • Behind Me Lies The Desert
  • Belmore
  • Burn The Feather
  • Captain Grande
  • Count Less
  • Die Standing Like Trees
  • Don’t Think A Single Though
  • Down The Road There’s Sunshine
  • Foreigners In A Familiar Land
  • Freeze Frame
  • From Gabriel to Gabrielle
  • Gabriel
  • Glide
  • Gllu Boy And The One Saving Grace
  • Hollow Spaces
  • How To Construct A Ghost
  • Jesse’s Shrine
  • Kinesia Paradoxa
  • Kololo Hill
  • Listen If You Can
  • Loeffler
  • Looking For Me
  • Lucas
  • Median Gray
  • Newton’s Laws of Motion
  • Ordinary Sacred
  • Paradise Undone: A Novel of Jonestown
  • Pettiver’s Cabinet Of Curiosities
  • Remorse
  • Rough New Prizes
  • She Walks In
  • Skywhale
  • Sourland Stew
  • Standing Water
  • Tales From A Tall Woman
  • The ATM Machine
  • The Colour Of Echoes
  • The Confession Of Miss Kate Marsden
  • The Dedication
  • The Glitter Of Bones
  • The Flames: Egon Schiele’s Women
  • The Immortalist
  • The Incitement Of Archie Rummage
  • The Killing Ground
  • The Moneyspinner
  • The Price Of Truth
  • The Time Artist
  • The Return
  • The Sisterhood Of The Good Death
  • The Sound Of It
  • The Summer And The May
  • The Thin End Of The Wedge
  • The Web We Weave
  • The Widow
  • There Had Better Be Endone In That Christmas Bon Bon
  • Victims Of Geography
  • Where Are We Tomorrow?

Amanda, Louise and Sophie will now re-read all of these stories to do the very hard job of whittling them down to a shortlist of 10. This will be announced in mid-May time.

If you weren’t quite ready to submit to the 2018 competition as soon as the winner has been chosen by this year’s judge, literary agent Diana Beaumont, then the the 2019 competition will open for entries.

If you’d like ongoing inspiration and advice to develop your writing our Author Memberships provide just that, as well as free competition entries, discounted courses, free books, and more. Get the info here.

Photo Flash Challenge: Finalists Announced

Photo Flash Challenge #1: Finalists

 

Update: Winner(s) announced!

Thank you to everyone who submitted an entry or voted. It’s been a great response for the first Photo Flash Challenge and we’ll definitely run another very soon. The quality of the entries was very high, including the ones that didn’t make the selected five.

Two stories tied in receiving the most votes, and will therefore both receive one free entry into a Quarterly Themed Flash Competition. They are Cath Barton’s Even The Angels and Jan Brown’s Waves to the Moon. Both were very popular, getting lots of positive comments. Well done!

Names and bios of the finalists have been added below. Once again, thank you to everyone that contributed, either by entering or voting!

A). Moonlit Night by Camilla Johansson

She had always felt safe with the moon. She knew it sounded like an utterly stupid statement, and she had to her knowledge never uttered it aloud. But seeing it glitter and glimmer through the branches as she led her bike past the huge trees that lined the sides of the road, she felt less alone. As if an old friend accompanied her.

‘So’ she said, half-jokingly. ‘What have you been up to today? What have you seen as you let your borrowed light shine over another part of the world? Did you accompany someone else making his or her way home alone in the middle of the night?’

Although her question was met with silence, she imagined a faint whisper, a story of a place she had never been. It told of stories from foreign shores and mysteries yet to be solved. She sat down under a tree, closed her eyes, and listened.

‘I will go where you have been’ she said once she opened her eyes again, only to see that her companion had paled, and that the gold of the sun had started to appear at the horizon. The moon would rise somewhere else. Somewhere, someone would soon look up to the darkened sky and see him there. For a short while the world felt smaller, and she felt less alone.

Getting back on her bike, she looked up to the sky, thanked the moon and made her way home.

***

Author Bio: Camilla Johansson is a Swedish journalist preferring to write fiction in English.
Already as a child she dreamed of becoming an author.
Twitter

B). Even the angels by Cath Barton

This was, said the authorities, an extremely serious situation. Guidelines were drawn up, advice to stay indoors during the hottest periods and not to expose our skin to direct sunlight at any time of day. It was, they said, now too strong even in what were once deemed to be temperate climes. Of course there were those amongst us who thought they knew better, who said it was exaggerated, this so-called risk. Who said it was all about power and control, who said they were tired of the nanny state, who said they would do as they pleased.

The consequences were so bad that newspapers would not print the pictures, but you could find them on-line. They made me shiver, those images, shiver even as the sweat ran down my back. They made me determined that I would not fall victim.

I rode out only at dawn and dusk, keeping well away from the stench of the funeral pyres. The smoke veiled the sun, but it was always there, a pulsing golden disc. The relentless heat sucked moisture from the Earth. Once-huge lakes became mere puddles. Birds roosted silently in the trees. There was no flight. There was no song.

Even the angels fell to earth; that was the worst of it. Their feathers were so soft and perfectly white. People picked them up, in ones and twos at first, believing that they would keep them safe. It was a crazy belief, but there was nothing now other than craziness. Angel feathers gathered in drifts like blown snow, piling up over the roofs of houses.

There was nothing to do but to surrender, to lie upon those feather beds and go to sleep, as the ball of fire stopped the breath of every last one of us.

***

Author Bio: Cath Barton is an English writer who lives in Wales. Her novella The Plankton Collector will be published in September 2018 by New Welsh Review. Cath is on the 2018 Literature Wales Mentoring programme, working on a collection of short stories inspired by the work of Hieronymus Bosch.
https://cathbarton.com | Twitter

C). The Fading of Light by Deke Kerr

I think I will always love the musky, humid haziness of a sunset in the summer. This is the time, as light grudgingly surrenders to darkness, when I feel the most alive and the most human. The daystar has lost its potency and a preternatural calm settles over the park. Sounds of life are muffled by the murk. Even if it lifted these sounds would fail to move me. I am apart from them. I am more, and at the same time, less.

The shadowy half-light cloaks me and obscures me. I walk noiselessly, unnoticed and unregarded, watching the cattle lost in their own thoughts. They move almost lethargically in the oppressive heat that spills and rolls, steaming off the ground. Simple plodding creatures, driven by simple wants and needs. I almost envy them their ignorance. It cannot be though, we are each what we are and I am not them.

A glint of light, like a demonic red firefly catches my attention. A straining, sweating man, clearly out of shape, cycles slowly around the water’s edge. He is seemingly pursued by the insect like glow. His pudgy face is contorted in effort. It is a bitter, sneering face. Perhaps his wife, or mistress, wants him out exercising to shed those many extra pounds of glutinous fat. Whatever his reason, he is not here for his own pleasure. He breathes hard. Lungs labouring in the moisture laden air. I can feel the heat from him. Blood coursing through his body, trying desperately to radiate the energy from his skin. The sun is now below the horizon and darkness is here. My moment of equilibrium is gone, it is time to feed and so I go to relieve the sweating man of his hot blood.

***

Author Bio: Deke Kerr is a ‘complete novice writer’ who has spent the better part of three decades as an aircraft engineer working in the UK and abroad. There are generally ten books on his nightstand in various stages of consumption. He can become obsessive about the completion of immersive titles to the exclusion of all normal life. This is his first submitted piece of any kind as he doesn’t think an essay for his English language Scottish Higher exam counts.

D). Mercy Dash by Alexis Wolfe

Each month she wanted something different: dark chocolate, red wine, jalapeño peppers, one whim after another. As her moods grew blacker, the demands became relentless. Cravings, she called them. He was despatched on his bicycle. Other men might not have been as accommodating.

It was a three mile round trip to the 24-hour convenience store. Night after night, he emerged from the darkness, into the fluorescent lit aisles to make his purchases. At the counter, he handed over his cash, still breathless and wheezing a little, sensing his face was the colour of watermelon flesh. Ignoring how shopkeeper’s expression hovered between distain and sympathy. It was almost all uphill on the outbound journey.

His bike waited for him against the lamppost. Thankfully he could cruise downhill on the return. The grocery bag swung from the handlebars, jars of pickles clunking against the wine. The night air cooled his skin, mosquitos tapping his face as he rode. Sometimes, if she’d been particularly hostile, like today, he took this detour past the lake on the way back in a tiny rebellion. Slowing right down to watch the mist rising from the moonlit water. Listening for owls.

Let her wait.

Her cycle always coincided with the full moon. And day or night he’d take to his cycle to keep the peace. Fetching like a dog. Something he could get right, at last.

She would be in her dressing gown, crouched at the bottom of the stairs waiting in the darkness when he returned. He couldn’t buy what she craved most, but when he handed over the goodies, for a moment or two she appeared grateful. He would watch her carrying them to the kitchen, cradling them in the crook of her arm like a baby.

***

Author Bio: Alexis Wolfe lives in Berkshire, she writes flash fiction, short stories and is working on a novel.
Facebook | Twitter

E). Waves to the Moon by Jan Brown

I hardly knew my dad. I was young when he left me so what I have is a tangle of treasured memories, family whispers and wistful imagination. I invented stories in the playground to justify his absence: he was an astronaut working in a secret space station beyond the moon. That was my favourite. It’s hard when you’re seven and want to be normal like everyone else.

I remember sitting on the crossbar of his bike, scuffed trainers propped on the handlebars, arms outstretched, pretending to be an aeroplane while he pedalled furiously through the park.

‘Faster,’ I’d yell and he’d laugh, press a kiss into my hair and pedal on, his breath ragged with exertion. I heard that laughter and felt that kiss each night as I struggled with the bogeyman who wouldn’t allow me to sleep.

I remember the garden at night-time, clutched close to his chest as we strained our necks, watching for shooting stars. He would point out the man in the moon and talk softly, sadly about the world beyond. I remember his warm, comforting smell, his tight hug as he assured me everything would be fine, his promise that, when I needed him, all I had to do was wave to the moon and he would be at my side, even if I didn’t spot him.

I say I remember. I don’t know. He left me. Now I stand on the beach, just as I heard he did. I can wave to the moon or I can walk into its safe embrace, there, flickering on the water. Just a few steps and I can find my dad again. I can find peace. Was it like that for him when, pockets weighted, he walked out into the ocean?

***

Author Bio: Jan Brown enjoys writing, rediscovering imagination and discovering flash fiction.

Guest post: Mandy Huggins – Brightly Coloured Horses

A big welcome to Mandy Huggins for today’s blog. Mandy has two new books to promote, one of which is published by Retreat West Books. You may recall Mandy’s poetic short story, Giddy With It, in last year’s anthology from Retreat West Books, What was Left. If all that wasn’t keeping her busy, she’s just been announced as judge for a travel writing competition from imustbeoff.com.

Those of you who have been following the exciting developments at Retreat West Books will know that my first full-length short story collection, Separated From the Sea, will be published in June. I’m really enjoying working on the book with Amanda, and I can’t wait to see it in print.

However, that’s not the only fabulous thing that’s happening in my writing career this year – it seems that just like buses, books come along in twos! I’m also thrilled to announce that my first flash fiction collection, Brightly Coloured Horses, has just been published by Chapeltown Books.

I love the flash fiction form, the challenge of crafting a complete story in a few hundred words and striving to make every one of those words count. Capturing entire worlds, creating plots and characters, evoking a gamut of emotions in a few short paragraphs, fully aware that you have to pull the reader in from the very first sentence. And you know you’ve got it right when people tell you that they were moved to tears in those few hundred words, or that they couldn’t stop laughing, or that they want to know ‘what happened to her next.’

And it’s amazing how many oak trees grow from these tiny flash acorns. So many of the stories in Brightly Coloured Horses have developed into longer stories, many of which will appear in Separated From the Sea – because I had to find out what happened next as well!

Publishing and promoting two books in the same year isn’t for the faint-hearted – I have a full time job in engineering as well – but I’m certainly learning fast. I want to give both my books their best chance in the world, and I’m lucky to be working with two dedicated indie publishers. I know Amanda is totally committed to making Retreat West Books a success for both herself and the authors she signs, and I really appreciate her faith in my writing.

Brightly Coloured Horses by Mandy Huggins

“Twenty-seven tales of betrayal and loss, of dreams and hopes, of lovers, liars and cheats. Stories with a strong sense of place, transporting us from the seashore to the city, from India’s monsoon to the heat of Cuba, and from the supermarket aisle to a Catalonian fiesta. We meet a baby that never existed, a car called Marilyn, a one-eyed cat, and a boy whose kisses taste of dunked biscuits.

These stories all have something in common; each is a glimpse of what it’s like to be human. We make mistakes, we do our best, and most of the time we find hope”

Already garnering 5-star reviews, Brightly Coloured Horses is available both in paperback and for Kindle.

***

Thanks Mandy! The cover of Separated From the Sea will be unveiled tomorrow (Wednesday, 28th March 2018) across our social media.

 

Brightly Coloured Horses is available via Amazon and Book Depository

You can follow Mandy on Twitter.

Mandy is judging a travel writing competition at imustbeoff.com

Cli-F Anthology, ‘Nothing Is As It Was’, cover reveal

Once again, a big thank you goes out to all the contributors of the forthcoming Climate Fiction anthology. ‘Nothing Is As It Was‘ which will be published on Earth Day, 22nd April 2018.  The book will be available through online retailers in both paperback and ebook and proceeds raised from the book sales will be donated to support the work of the climate action group, Earth Day Network.

The launch party is taking place on 2nd May 2018 and all are welcome. It will be in Reading in the Library room at Great Expectations, which is a hotel, restaurant and bar, where Charles Dickens held public readings. A blog tour is also running for 8 days around the launch where some of the authors will be talking about the inspiration for their stories.

Jennie Rawlings provided the beautiful cover design, shown above.  Thank you, Jennie!  Her social media details are provided further down, if you’d like to tell her how much you like the cover or see some of her other fine work.

The contributors are:

  • The Window Box by Stephen Connolly
  • Nothing Is As It Was by Nick Wright
  • The Goodluck Camera by Kimberley Christensen
  • The Arctic Commandments by Cath Barton
  • Blue Planet Collection by Jane Roberts
  • Mirror Image by Anna Orridge
  • Graduation Day at the Fishmongers’ Institute by Anne Summerfield
  • Healing Athabasca by Keygan Sands
  • Ophelia Rising by Elaine Desmond
  • The Other Side of Me by Norman Coburn
  • Hasta la Vista, Baby by Fee Johnstone
  • Deluge by Susmita Bhattacharya
  • Come and Gone by Angelita Bradney
  • Up Above the World So High by Rose McGinty
  • Portal by Philip Sobell
  • Airpocalypse by Rachel Rivett
  • Warrior by F E Clark
  • Walking With the Weather by Rob Walton
  • Sun by Wiebo Grobler
  • Thirst by Lorraine Wilson
  • I Am Stealthy. I Am Swift by CJ Conrad
  • Where Lies the Line by Jennifer Tucker
  • New Moon by Dave Murray
  • No-car by David McVey
  • Me on the Mountain by Vicki Ridley
  • Plenty More Fish in the Sea by Luke Strachan
  • The Warming by Karen Morrow
  • New Shoes by Charlie Hill
  • Too Late by Ros Collins
  • Bottleneck 2047 by Neil MacDonald
  • Fireworks by David Barker
  • Like a Captain of Old, Going Down With the Ship by Fiona Morgan

Seven additional stories will be published online. Starting later this month, they will be published on a weekly basis to help promote the book and raise additional funds for Earth Day Network:

  • The Extinction of Bognor Regis by Louise Mangos
  • Spark by Jackie Taylor
  • The Grey Seal’s Lament by Bayveen O’Connell
  • The Triumvirate by Sumana Khan
  • Carla Loves Frank by Rebecca Johnson
  • Silver Ghosts by Kris Faatz
  • The Flood by Olivia Sandwell

The anthology was edited by Amanda Saint and Gillian Walker.

Contact Jennie Rawlings (the cover designer) on social media
https://twitter.com/HelloSerifim
http://www.facebook.com/serifim
http://instagram.com/helloserifim

Learn more about Earthday Network:
https://www.earthday.org
https://twitter.com/EarthDayNetwork
https://www.facebook.com/EarthDayNetwork

Photo Flash Challenge

Photo Flash Challenge #1

 

Challenge: Write a short story based on the photo provided. It must be no more than 300 words (fewer is fine). You can write on any theme/genre but no children’s stories and nothing explicit please.

Send your entries to competitions@retreatwest.co.uk by midnight on Sunday, 25th March.  Include your story entry and a brief author bio in the body of the email.  A maximum of two entries will be accepted per person.

Finalists: Up to five finalists will be selected and made available for public vote on Tuesday, 3rd April.

Voting will be open for one week (the last vote to be counted must be posted by midnight on Sunday, 8th April).  Anyone signed up to Retreat West will be able to vote by leaving a comment with the title of their favourite story.

Prize:  The overall winner will be announced on Monday, 9th April and will receive one free entry into a Quarterly Themed Flash Competition, in addition to online publication on the Retreat West website.

Depending on the level of response, we hope to run further challenges and collect together the winning stories in a “Hall of Fame” section.