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In Recent Issues...
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That prolific and excellent writer of fiction, Sally Zigmond, is in this issue - no better reason to get hold of a copy. In her deeply evocative, seriously thoughtful, new piece, Curiosity, she succeeds in delivering in under two thousand words an object lesson in the craft of short story writing. From the very start, "The church clock is cased in ice, time held frozen in its hands", to the oh so moving ending, "They will preserve me behind glass and put someone else's name beneath my bones. People will look at me and wonder", you will find a story of incredible betrayal so tightly written that you will believe every word. If you're serious about your writing, go search this one out. The only surprising thing is that this mini-epic was a runner up in our annual Prose & Poetry Prizes and not an outright winner. PS: there's such a lot of good reading in this cold winter issue that will warm the old cockles. |
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No-one was more surprised than Gee Williams, when her first novel was launched, after all she'd begun her writing life as a poet. No-one could have been more excited than Kay Green when her first book was published a few years ago, now she's publishing books by other writers. No-one could have collected more rejection slips than Jon Haylett (okay, that bit's not true) but then he wrote a novel quite unlike anything he'd attempted before, broke all the "rules", and saw it published. As Jon would say, all three kicked against convention and won, and we share their stories with you. Also great fiction, poetry, features from so many fine writers including Heather Peace, Gabriel Griffin, Maureen Carter, James Midgeley, Pat Buik, Louis Malloy, Elizabeth Rutherford-Johnson... we could go on but I've run out of |
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Highly commended fiction from our annual Prizes from Amy Licence ("I said goodbye to my phantom husband and headed home to my fictional son"); Jonathan Atrill ("We were best mates once, but I was thinking in another life and I had a terrible sense of foreboding"); Paul Currion ("He came to live in our house. I skirted around him for days."); Valerie Thompson ("He doesn't know what to make of me. If I were a man I wouldn't have got this far.") and Samantha David reveals how her first novel came to be published; Rebecca Blunt finds out how three successful authors coped with second novel wobbles; crime novelist Carol Anne Davis survives the freelance life. All that and a fair bit more of the good stuff served up in a convivial manner. |
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Wannabe a writer? Jane Wenham-Jones tells us why she decided to reveal all in her new book for new writers. In fact, there's an awful lot of confessing going on at the moment, think daytime TV, and Catherine Smith talks to fellow poets Ros Barber and Clare Pollard about Confessional Poetry. Plus, for psycho-thriller writer Philip Caveney his first children's book happened almost by accident; in order to be a travel writer you need to have travelled a lot - not true, says Uma Girish; independent publisher Tom Chalmers gives us an insider's guide on getting published; and as always TNW crosses the great divide with features on Ian Fleming and Benjamin Zephaniah in this issue filled with riches. |
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Great examples of winning short stories from Gaynor Gabriel and Sharon Zink; highly commended poems by Julia Dean and Rowan Ferguson; bestselling author Claire Lorrimer reflects on a life of writing - no other option for the daughter of the Queen of Romance, Denise Robins; are your characters cardboard or quirky? asks Peter Rolls; Ghostwriting - be very afraid; an evening with prolific writer of children's books, Tony Bradman; and novelist Alice Jolly ("What The Eye Doesn't See" and "If Only You Knew") reflects on teaching creative writing in five different countries with the Open University; all this - and yes of course - much much more ... |
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Candi Miller's journey (that's her on the cover) towards publication of her first novel, Salt & Honey, was long and arduous. "Not just because it involved a 1,000-mile trip into the Kalahari desert (that's a bit of it on the cover) to locate a band of nomadic hunter-gatherers, escaping an elephant charge, and extricating my fuel-laden vehicle from sand while a veld fire raced towards us. Far more challenging was the ten year process of teaching myself to write. I made every mistake in the book..." Now read on as she reveals what happened on that long path to publication. There are many other "journeys" in this issue; we've packed almost as much into it as Candi packed into her 4x4. |
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The wintery issue contains a quartet of magnificent short stories: Snow Days by Teresa O'Brien, "oh where have you been my blue eyed son"; the wonderful Private Makar Makes Promotion by a new novelist with a startlingly original voice, Clio Gray; Astronomy for Beginners by Elizabeth Rutherford-Johnson which does a lot more than it says on the tin; and Fashion Victim by David Berry-Hart with a sequence of bizarrely comic events that will have you reaching for the smelling salts. Add to the mix, Catherine Smith's selection of the best of contemporary poetry, Shelagh Nugent's market round-up, and the usual helpful articles, and you have The New Writer No.81 - the 'must have' mag. |
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Something of a how-to issue: Interpreting the standard rejection letter; writing and performing children's poetry; writing with style - the power of plain English; also from both sides of the coin, encounters with Jeffrey Deaver and Don Paterson; and highly commendeds from the Prose & Poetry Prizes from Julie Corbin, Michael Corkett, Carolyn Skelton; plus a trio of poems by Cat Dickson including the exquisite Women and Sheds, and a lot more besides. |
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Add humour to your writing with Victoria Purdie, you having a laugh? Partnership publishing, is this the third way? asks Neil Nixon. Or maybe try the 'Small Press' approach by reading the view from Jan Fortune-Wood, founder of Cinnamon Press. Kate Medhurst goes in search of Aberdonian crime writer, Stuart "Cold Granite" MacBride. And that's only the half of it. Then you can read "Evidence of Ice", a perfectly formed short story by Cathy Whitfield; three prose poems from Tim Field, and new verse from Pauline Barbieri, Merryn Williams, Emma Lee; and still have change from ten bob. |
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The imagining things issue with renowned poet Kenneth Steven telling small stories - children's picture books with the poetic touch; Kate Long and Judy Strachan are still somewhat puzzled while debating your writing dilemmas; Lora Bishop's Six Rules Every Writer Should Break; stunning new fiction from Ruth Harris and Nadia al Yafai (after years of eavesdropping on my sisters, I could finally come out from under the bed) and three fabulous poems by Geraldine Lindley, "And in the hot vacuum of the evening, There is shade under a runaway vine, Where grapes turn to raisins on the stem". |
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