Retreat West Books

Winner 2020 Saboteur Award Most Innovative Publisher (shortlisted 2019)

Retreat West Books initially started in 2017 to publish the anthologies of winning stories in the competitions we run, between 2018 and 2020 we also commissioned novels, short story collections and memoirs; and published three anthologies to raise funds for environmental and social charities.

The impact of Brexit, the pandemic and rising costs of producing and distributing the books, mean we are now permanently closed to submissions and after the 2023 release of the anthology of winning stories from the 2022 RW Prize, will stop our paperback and ebook publishing. We are moving everything online and will be publishing short stories, flash and micro fictions in our new journal, WestWord, which launched as a special edition featuring stories from our flash fiction festivals in Autumn 2022.


NOVELS

AS IF I WERE A RIVER, AMANDA SAINT

A compelling, intricate, psychological exploration of the lies we tell ourselves and the truths we run from. Beautiful. 

ANGELA CLARKE, AUTHOR OF FOLLOW ME

***

Unprotected, Sophie Jonas-Hill

A raw, viscerally-beautiful gut-punch of a novel about love and loss and heartbreak and hope. 

TAMMY COHEN, AUTHOR OF STOP AT NOTHING

***

REMEMBER TOMORROW, AMANDA SAINT

A dystopian future where civilisation’s thin veneer has been ripped away, and it is women who suffer most as a result. Excellent.

PAUL HARDISTY, AUTHOR OF ABSOLUTION

***

ONE SCHEME OF HAPPINESS, ALI THURM

Compulsive and beguiling. A deliciously dark look at kindness, envy and desire. I couldn’t stop reading. 

HANNAH PERSAUD, AUTHOR OF THE CODES OF LOVE

***

City of O, C.M. Taylor

Wonderful stuff, deadly serious and yet amusing and playful at the same time. A powerful and original satire.

BSFA REVIEW, BY JOHN NEWSINGER

***

Light, C.M. Taylor

“Compelling… delightfully unusual.”

Time Out

SHORT FICTION COLLECTIONS

SEPARATED FROM THE SEA, AMANDA HUGGINS

Never a word out of place, poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes startling, these stories fit worlds into small spaces. 

ANGELA READMAN, AUTHOR OF DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME

***

SOUL ETCHINGS, SANDRA ARNOLD

Beguiling, strange, tender and chilling, these potent gems continue percolating in your mind long after the reading is done.

MEG POKRASS, AUTHOR OF ALLIGATORS AT NIGHT

***

Scratched Enamel Heart, Amanda Huggins

Amanda writes with empathy, an eye for vivid detail, and these stories display darkness and light, vulnerability and strength.

ALISON MOORE, AUTHOR OF MISSING


MEMOIRS

The Naming of Bones, Jan Kaneen

Beautifully written and emotionally compelling, The Naming of Bones is as much the story of a writer coming into her own as it is a memoir of loss and grief. 

KATHY FISH, AUTHOR OF WILD LIFE: COLLECTED WORKS FROM 2003-2018


CHARITY ANTHOLOGIES


COMPETITION ANTHOLOGIES

The Novelette-in-Flash Prize

Homemade Weather

An anthology of three prize-winning novelettes-in-flash

These stories demonstrate the thin line we tread in life: between love and hate, friendship and enmity, escape and return.

DAMHNAIT MONAGHAN, PRIZE JUDGE AND AUTHOR OF AWARD-WINNING NOVELLA-IN-FLASH, THE NEVERLANDS

Monsieur

An anthology of three prize-winning novelettes-in-flash

“Seductive, rich, satisfying, layered and full of texture.”

MARY-JANE HOLMES, PRIZE JUDGE AND AUTHOR OF AWARD-WINNING NOVELLA-IN-FLASH, DON’T TELL THE BEES

The Retreat West Prize

The Weight of Feathers

An anthology of the 20 winning stories in the 2020 Retreat West Prize.

Featuring winning stories from Jason Jackson, Jennifer Faulkner, Holly Barratt, John Holland, E.E. Rhodes and Rebecca Netley, and a Highly Commended story from Morgan Quinn.