Issue 18 – April 2022

Editor’s Letter

April finally saw the start of conferences opening back up after two dry years of no events or online events only.

It was with great excitement and trepidation that I went up to London for two days of London Book Fair. The fair was described afterwards as a petri dish for Covid, but I was fortunate and escaped being infected again. The main focus for the fair had shifted slightly with less and more focussed events for authors. I went with the intention of speaking with lots of different organisations, including ALLI (the Alliance of Independent Authors), local hybrid publishers RedDoor, the lovely people at SilverWood Books who I’ve been working with since my business’ inception in August 2020 and the Booksellers Association. Everyone was immensely helpful and gave me so much information and advice and I was able to chat to authors on the ALLI stand and to sign-up for professional membership. This involved an analysis of my business and its transparency and pricing by ALLI and I’m thankful to say, I passed with flying colours!

I have spent April working with local legendary tattoo artist, Danny Fuller on his memoir about his forty years in the tattoo industry. Happily publishing his memoir will coincide with Danny opening a new studio in Worthing, West Sussex where he will work alongside his daughter to whom he’s taught his tattooing knowledge. Look out for more news on both.

Happy writing,

Lesley

Contents: Writing prompts, book reviews

Writing Prompts

The body continued to leak blook into the cream wool carpet, that would be a bugger to get out she thought dispassionately, turning her back on the scene …

There was a hiss and burst of flames as the burgers were turned over, he focussed on pressing down the patties, eyes blurring as a tear dripped onto the hot plate and sizzled before it evaporated …

The frozen raspberries bubbled and sank through the prosecco as they lifted and clinked their glasses … 

Book Reviews  

Different Seasons, by Stephen King 

I’ve always steered clear of all books by Stephen King, other than his fabulous, On Writing because I’m a scaredy cat and have never been able to watch horror without having nightmares for days if not years afterwards.
Yes, I was aware that he wrote more than just horror and had enjoyed watching films like, The Green Mile. I still wasn’t tempted to venture into reading any of his works though, until one of my Collyer’s students mentioned that she’d read Shawshank Redemption, a Stephen King novella. Finally, I was tempted and bought Different Seasons, a collection of four novellas in one volume.
Shawshank is included in the volume and all of the stories are very different from each other. Stephen is great at making the reader feel uncomfortable in places and too in making the reader want to crow at the cleverness of other characters. Fans always describe him as a master story teller, he is undoubtedly that. Will I be reading any of his horror books anytime soon … nope, but I will look out for more of his thrillers and psychological fiction. 

The Fallout, by Rebecca Thornton

This story is about two good friends who feel they’ve got an unbreakable friendship, having met through their pre-birth group. The novel’s story has been told through a mixture of meetings and phone messages. When the two girls meet up with an elusive member of the group at the local exclusive gym’s play area, a friend who left their group without giving any reasons their friendship is tested.

Sarah is a bit of a nosy social climber and is keen to get back into this girl’s social group and also to find out the secret’s she’s clearly keen to keep. Liza on the other hand is more reticent and is happy to keep this to a friendship of just two.

Liza asks the girls to keep an eye on her son and Sarah’s attention is distracted. She glances out and sees him at the top of a tall pole and is momentarily concerned but ingratiating herself with her old friend is far more important. When the boy falls and is hospitalised both girls swear a pact that they had been watching and he’d been fine.
In the wake of the accident, Liza starts being courted by the other girl and finds she’s more sympathetic and less insular than Sarah seems to be becoming. She warms to the girl but Sarah’s weird behaviour and determination to come between them threatens to divide the pair. 

As Sarah’s behaviour both towards Liza and towards her family deteriorates, will she be forced to own up to her neglect?

I enjoyed this book, but found the toxicity a little hard to believe and to have empathy with. Sarah’s long-suffering husband gained more of my sympathy than she did. The story was gripping throughout but not always as believable as it could have been.