Guest Post - Tim Taylor's Short Story, 'About Time'

I'd like to welcome the poet and author, Tim Taylor, to my blog today. Tim is sharing his new flash fiction piece, 'About Time', from the speculative charity anthology, Darkness.

 

Hi Amanda, thanks ever so much for hosting me today. I’d like to share a very short story from a new anthology of speculative fiction that I’ve been involved in. The title – and theme – of the book is Darkness, and all profits will go to mental health charity MIND. The stories are a mix of sci-fi, fantasy, horror and … well, speculative, like this one:

About Time

by Tim Taylor

Darkness is seeping round the edges of my vision. It takes all my strength now to keep it at bay. Just as the world I inhabit has shrunk to these four walls, what I see is being squeezed into an ever tighter space. But I can still see my daughter, red-eyed and moist cheeked, but still somehow smiling, and talking in a trembling voice about whatever comes into her head: anything but me, now, this. I don’t say much in reply, but I don’t have to. She talks as if her words are a lifeline and she cannot lose me as long as they are there. 
    “… do you remember Jason, Dad? Richard’s youngest. Tall lad, blond hair. Always in trouble at school. Set himself up as a carpenter…” 
    I try to think who this Jason is, to put a face to the name, but I am so tired, clinging to consciousness by my fingernails. I can only raise the vaguest wraith of memory, but it will have to do. I nod.
    “… well, he’s been living with this girl for three years – Rebecca, she’s called, Becca for short, works at the pharmacy – and they’ve finally decided to get married. The wedding’s in March next…”
    I can’t hold back the dark any more. It closes in, creeping over her face and now covering everything. But there are holes in the blackness: stars and a moon. Air is rushing over my face – I’m swooping on long feathered wings, down to an ocean, silver striped by moonlight. Then, with a single beat, I soar into the sky once more. 
    Ahead, pyramids of deeper black blot out the stars. I ascend to fly over them, but they are too vast, too tall. Only by straining every muscle can I raise myself enough to enter the valley between them. As I do, a pale dawn light reveals them as grim rocky peaks, their bare flanks crowned by citadels of snow and ice. 
    I fly on, over boulder fields and mountain streams, threadbare grass and stunted plants. The distant glow seems to be getting brighter, and mile by mile the valley descends and grows lighter, greener, wider, until I’m flying over forests and rolling hills, waterfalls and luminous blue lakes. The light ahead is brilliant now but not harsh; a warming light that floods the whole landscape with colour. A wonderful place! I want to explore every inch of it, every tree, every flower. But I am so tired, and the earth is pulling me down. There is a faint touch on my wingtip …
    “Are you still with us, Dad? I was just saying, it’s about time, if you ask me.”
    “About time for what, love? I seem to have nodded off.”
    “It’s about time Jason got married.”
    “You’re still talking about Jason?”  
    “Dad, I’ve only just mentioned him!”
    How can that be? While I’ve been on my long, lonely voyage, she has spoken just a couple of words. A second passed for her, hours for me. How curious to discover, at this stage of my life, that when I close my eyes I am no longer bound to a rigid matrix of seconds, minutes, hours. So perhaps, when I leave this room for good, time will go on for me, not in some mythical place of angels, but as the infinite stretching of a single moment.
    It is a beautiful thought. I don’t need to fight any more. I feel my face subside into an expression it has not worn for some time. She sees it, and stops talking. A smile appears upon her face: not a brave smile but an honest one. She clasps my hand, and I tighten my fingers around hers. It is all we need to say.  
    The darkness is coming. But it comes in peace; I no longer fear it. A slight curl of puzzlement appears on my daughter’s lips. They part as if to speak, but so slowly. As my arms become wings once more, I see that her mouth is frozen, halfway to uttering a word. And I know that she has become trapped for ever in this instant but I, at last, am free.

Darkness is published by Twisted Fate Publishing and is available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback via this link.

 

Tim (T. E.) Taylor lives in Meltham, West Yorkshire with his wife Rosa and 14 guitars. He divides his time between creative writing, academic research and teaching Ethics part-time at Leeds University. Tim’s novels Zeus of Ithome and Revolution Day were published by Crooked Cat. His first poetry collection, Sea Without a Shore, was published in 2019 by Maytree Press.  

Website: https: https://www.tetaylor.co.uk/
Blog: https://timwordsblog.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timtaylornovels/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/timetaylor1

Guest Post - Reflecting the Times by Cath Barton

Lockdown isn't the best time to launch a new book – as I know from my own experience earlier this year – so now is the time for everyone to give a shout out to all those brilliant novels and short story collections which may slip under the lockdown radar and not receive the recognition they deserve. Indie publishers and their authors need all the help they can get at the best of times, so this year has been particularly challenging.

With that in mind, today's guest post is by the talented Cath Barton, whose own book, In the Sweep of the Bay, is published on 23rd November by Louise Walters Books. Cath discusses the changing role of women and relationships in the latter half of the 20th century and how those changes are reflected in her novella. I loved this book – you can read my review below. It has the depth and scope of a much longer novel, and is so beautifully written. Highly recommended!

 

From the blurb:
This warm-hearted tale explores marriage, love, and longing, set against the backdrop of Morecambe Bay, the Lakeland Fells, and the faded splendour of the Midland Hotel.

My review: 

"A moving and honest portrait of a marriage, set against the backdrop of the wide sweep of Morecambe Bay. Cath Barton expertly captures the vagaries of the human condition in this insightful tale of love, loyalty and longing, of lost opportunities, of a relationship worn down at the heel by everyday life. Beautifully written, gentle and thoughtful, this slender novella is a must-read."

 

Reflecting the Times
Cath Barton

My new novella, In the Sweep of the Bay, is the story of a long marriage. Ted and Rene meet in a dance hall. It’s the early 1950s. Not, at least amongst the working classes which these two come from, a time of arranged marriages, but the coming together of couples was not dissimilar: ‘Rene was to Ted, from that very first dance, inevitable.’ Later in life, when Rene looks back, she says ‘It wasn’t meant to be for life, only that dance. But one thing led to another, like it does.’
    Ted and Rene diligently follow the roles which society in Britain expected of them at the time: he the breadwinner, she a housewife.
    I feel that in many real-life marriages both men’s and women’s lives were constrained during that period by social norms, but women’s much the more so. In writing about Ted and Rene’s life together, I have tried to convey the mix of their feelings, feelings which they largely kept to themselves. Not that they don’t genuinely care for one another. But for both of them there is a sense of frustration, not that either of them would have used the word, maybe not even to themselves. Rene says later: ‘I suppose if we’d talked more. But what with the cooking, the cleaning, the washing and then the two children, so four of us to keep in clean outer and underwear, how could there have been time for talking?’
    By the time their daughters Peg and Dot are ready to leave home, in the 1970s, things are different for women; opportunities have opened up. Dot gets a place at university, which is a bone of contention between her parents, as her father had hopes of her going into the family firm. But life is more complicated. I’m not going to give away everything that happens in the story – suffice it to say that Dot finds herself married young, as her mother was, and her life does not go in the direction she had expected. But she is not discontented, and nor is her sister Peg, who makes different choices about men.
    Madge, Ted’s assistant at the factory, doesn’t marry. Like all the women in the book, she has her own hopes and dreams. By the 1990s women’s expectations have moved on again: now Dot’s daughter Cecily is in charge at the family firm, and she has a husband who’s a member of a book group, something that would probably have completely mystified Ted.  Actually, her grandfather’s Aunt Lavinia was head of the firm in the 1950s, so, as in real life, nothing is simple in the shifting power balance between men and women.

I didn’t plan to write a book about how things changed for women over the course of the second half of the twentieth century. But when you write about people and their relationships, which is what I am most interested in exploring in my fiction, you must reflect the times in which they live. And how the changes in individuals’ lives relate to changes in the wider society.  I’ve always tended to say I didn’t like historical fiction but now I find that is exactly what I’ve written, so I’ve amended my view! It is, though, the history of the times I’ve lived through myself which continues to be my primary fascination.


In the Sweep of the Bay is published by Louise Walters Books in paperback and ebook on 23rd November 2020 and pre-publication copies can be purchased direct from the publisher here
 

 

Cath Barton is an English writer who lives in Wales. She won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella 2017 for The Plankton Collector, now published by New Welsh Review. She particularly enjoys writing in the short form, be it novella, short story or flash. She has completed a collection of short stories inspired by the work of the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. Some of these have been published in The Lonely Crowd, Strix and the Leicester Writes Short Story Prize Anthology 2019. Most recently she has had stories selected for publication in Fictive Dream, the first Cranked Anvil Short Story Anthology, and the forthcoming season of Open Book Unbound.

Double good news today!

It was officially my last day at work today - our site has been closed down. A bit sad, after twenty years at the company, though as I'm furloughed, it hardly made much difference to my actual day.

 

BUT, I've been nominated by Retreat West for a Pushcart Prize for my story, 'Tiger' AND I have received another lovely review for my forthcoming book. So overall, a good day :-)

 

Review of All Our Squandered Beauty by Sue at Brown Flopsy's Book Burrow:

 

I am a huge Amanda Huggins fan so was overjoyed when she asked me if I would like to review her latest publication, All Our Squandered Beauty, which will be hitting the shelves in January 2021.

In these pages, we get a glimpse into the life of a young girl haunted by the loss of her beloved father - a man who drowned at sea while out on his fishing boat, but rumoured to have run off with his lover and abandoned his wife and child. For Kara, something has gone missing from her life along with her father, but she knows that he was planning to return home to her, despite what people say - if she could only find him in the waves and bring him home, and so make herself whole again.

This is the most wonderful coming of age story, set in the heady summer of 1978, and it sings with the promise of what Kara's life could be if she can break away from this small community and pull of the sea that holds the echoes of her father. She knows she wants more than life here can offer and longs for the bright lights of London.

"The snow cranes are ready to fly south again with all our squandered beauty 

stowed beneath their wings."

 Amanda Huggins writes the part of Kara so beautifully. Her portrayal is full of the angst and confused emotions of youth, rich with  palpable longing for adventure away from the stifling small town community in which she lives, for a life of glamour with sophisticated companions, and yet unable to quite throw off the lure of security that home guarantees. It's so evocative for anyone who grew up in a small seaside town, like myself, that I found myself pulled right back in time - the people, the environment and the feelings all came rolling back!

Of course, coping with the loss of her father makes this more than your usual coming of age tale and it allows Amanda Huggins to fully explore Kara's relationship with the sea in all its wild and rugged glory - bringing in a riot of colour, sound and the symbolism of mysterious folk lore magic that draws us in and lets the waves of the text wash over us.

For a novella of only 122 pages All Our Squandered Beauty  takes you on the kind of emotional journey that only an accomplished author can. I loved the way Amanda uses the locations of home and Greece as a way to contrast between Kara's experiences of people and environment - again using the sea almost as an extra character in the story - it was so cleverly done.

I also adored the little nod Amanda makes to her own incredible poetry anthology, The Collective Nouns For Birds, when Kara reminisces about her father. This made me smile big time, Amanda!

This book is beautiful and I promise you it will take you through a whole gamut of emotions, with plenty of tears along the way, but both the journey and the destination will make it all worthwhile.

All Our Squandered Beauty will be available to buy from your favourite book retailer in paperback format from 31st January 2021.

Thank you to Amanda Huggins and Victorina Press for gifting me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

 

Another review for All Our Squandered Beauty by Amanda McLeod

Another brilliant advance review for All Our Squandered Beauty from Amanda McLeod.

 

At seventeen, Kara is a complex blend of idealistic youth and haunted past. She’s ticking the boxes – good education, steady boyfriend – but she yearns to escape small town life, and the rumours surrounding her Da’s death. A taste of London with her best friend Lou confirms her desire. But when Lou’s ambitions are extinguished by her own boyfriend and Kara’s tries to bind her to him through an act of betrayal, that desire intensifies. Handsome art tutor Leo offers Kara an art residency at his foundation in Greece, and she can’t leave fast enough. But all is not what it seems, and Kara returns home just as lost as she was before. Local fisherman Jake offers empathy through shared experience – and closure on a chapter of Kara’s life she was certain would remain unresolved forever.

Amanda Huggins brings her intricate language and stunning descriptions to this tale of love, grief, and self discovery. The contrast between the grey fishing villages, the vividness and motion of London, and the otherworldliness of the Greek islands stand in beautifully as metaphors for the familiar, alluring, and illusory elements of Kara’s life. Here an early description of Hayborough carries the weight of Kara’s past:

She stumbled against the herring sheds, folding in on herself, hardly noticing the pools of brackish water, the smell of rotting fish.

While Greece takes on a distinct foreign feel, and almost an opposition:

Shoals of tiny fish, almost translucent, weaved as one in the shallows between fronds of delicate seaweed, and freckled sea cucumbers bobbed in and out on the gentle waves.

Huggins uses language to capture conflict exceptionally well in this novella, both internal and external. The piece is strongly character driven and Kara is well rendered and believable in her interactions with others and her confusion over her father’s death. Her emotional conflict is especially resonant as she searches for ways to resolve the broken father-daughter bond she lost with her Da’s disappearance. 

All Our Squandered Beauty explores the idea of history and our relationships with it. Kara idolises her Da to the point where she can’t see a life without him, and can’t consider other possibilities around his disappearance. This colours her relationships with almost everyone. Her choices suggest self-sabotage. She chooses a boyfriend she has no intention of committing to, and entangles herself in a relationship with a teacher that has no chance of becoming what she envisions. There is a definite sense of self-fulfilling prophecy in a lot of her decision-making at a subconscious level, and only when she is confronted with the raw truth of this does she seem to become capable of change and growth. When a final piece of the puzzle falls into place, she is able to let go of the past and not be defined by her grief. 

Amanda Huggins has created a layered, subtle exploration of how we define ourselves and are shaped by our experiences. Her narrative is strongly anchored in a sense of place and time, which are reflective of the story’s themes. All Our Squandered Beauty is an accomplished work with a deep humanity, and will resonate with anyone haunted by past tragedy and unable to break free.

 You can pre-order my novella now from Victorina Press here

All Our Squandered Beauty - Review by Allison Symes

 Another lovely advance review on Goodreads for All Our Squandered Beauty!

 

By Allison Symes:

All Our Squandered Beauty is a deeply moving story about a girl, Kara, trying to come to terms with the loss of her beloved Da. Kara manages to break a heart in the process, angers her dearest friend, upsets her mother who is trying to make a new life herself, and has her own heart broken, before coming to a conclusion that is right for her.

You just know at this point Kara’s life will take a new turn. Grief, while not gone (how can it ever be?), will not hold her back the way it has done until this point. There is also a determination by Kara to put things right as much as she can so the story ends on a hopeful note.

A book dealing with grief (especially long term grief where closure is not easy to come to) is never easy to write but AOSB is written with a delicate touch. You are taken straight into Kara’s head, understand how she is feeling and why.

I did find myself becoming exasperated with her at times (a kind of why did you do that, silly girl type response) but it is always great when a character makes you react like that. It means they’re unforgettable and that is a wonderful thing to achieve.

The sensory descriptions in this book are beautifully done. Squabble of seagulls is just one example of that and it is so appropriate. For me, this conjured up sound and imagery in three simple words. Excellently done and just one example of wonderful writing.

A hugely enjoyable read, though I would like to take Kara one side and have a good mother to daughter chat with her, not that she would welcome it!

Book Review - In the Sweep of the Bay by Cath Barton

 

A moving and honest portrait of a marriage, set against the backdrop of the wide sweep of Morecambe Bay. Cath Barton expertly captures the vagaries of the human condition in this insightful tale of love, loyalty and longing, of lost opportunities, of a relationship worn down at the heel by everyday life. Beautifully written, gentle and thoughtful, this slender novella is a must-read.

 Out November from Louise Walters Books. You can pre-order here

Review of The Collective Nouns for Birds

 

A great review for my collection over on The Lake today, courtesy of the brilliant Hannah Stone. Here's an excerpt:

"Here is a narrative voice moving not just from one location to another but from the aspirations and romantic imaginings of adolescence to the disillusionment of adult life. The enthusiasm of youth is portrayed with a kindly retrospective, with vivid imagery capturing the period and place. Teenage girls playing the fruit machines at a North Yorkshire coastal resort are ‘two stranded mermaids/killing time’ (‘Out Chasing Boys’), or ‘Two homespun girls turned restless moths’ who ‘know for one brief moment of teenage clarity,/that life will be good and worth the wait.’ (‘The New Knowing’). They wore ’patched-up pale-sky jeans/embroidered with all our rockstar dreams.’ (‘Dizzy with it’)."

You can read the full review here

I'm giving away a copy on Twitter - so please follow @troutiemcfish and retweet by midnight Friday if you want your name to go in the 'hat'! 

Advance Reviews for All Our Squandered Beauty

Thrilled to bits that the first feedback I've received for my debut novella is positive. I was a little scared - as always! - about sending it out into the big bad world, so it's very encouraging that people are enjoying it.

A stunning debut novella from an award-winning writer.

All Our Squandered Beauty is a beautifully told coming-of-age tale. Kara is 17 and has her whole life ahead of her, but will she choose the bright lights of London or the familiar call of the sea?

With exquisite prose, Huggins perfectly captures that transition to womanhood as Kara moves from her parochial seaside town to spend the summer in Greece with her art tutor and his bohemian friends. 

The novella is full of evocative descriptions which transport the reader to a different time and place. The poignant ending is perfectly pitched.

Reminiscent of Bonjour Tristesse, this is a story which will capture your heart and deserves to be a classic. 

Sarah Linley, author of The Trip

All Our Squandered Beauty is a coming-of-age novella set in the 1970s where the protagonist, Kara, a fisherman’s daughter struggles to come to terms with the loss of her father. She rejects the prospect of early marriage that her best friend settles for and focuses instead on future studies in London. During the summer she spends time on a Greek island where she learns more about herself and her relationships with others. Kara can’t see that she’s fragile but gradually she learns some mistakes can be rectified while others she has to live with. The sea provides a backdrop to the narrative, sometimes powerful ‘to see the water change from grey to ink and the sky deepen to fire’ and at other times benign, ‘millpond calm, a deep deep blue.’ This is a wonderful read filled with tenderness, charm and hope.

Gail Aldwin, author of The String Games

Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2019-20

I'm a little bit stunned that my story, 'Sparrow Steps' which won second prize in the Writers in Kyoto Annual Competition earlier this year, has now made the 'BIFFY50' - ie the Best British & Irish Flash Fiction 2019-2020. Thanks to TSS Publishing and all the editors!

There's some great stories on the list - have a read here

BEST BRITISH & IRISH FLASH FICTION 2019-2020

TSS Publishing is excited to present our list of the very best fifty British and Irish Flash Fiction (BIFFY50) 2019-2020.

With enormous thanks to our four editors who have worked tirelessly to bring this list about:

Emily Devane, Damhnait Monaghan, Cristopher M. Drew, and Karen Jones.

Each editor read widely across the last twelve months and collectively they have spent hundreds of hours arriving at their final decisions.

The list comprises:

50 flash fiction
50 authors
30+ journals

We’re delighted to support the thriving Flash Fiction community and look forward to launching BIFFY50 again later in the year.

Once again, we extend our thanks to the four editors – please buy them a drink when you next seem them,

TSS

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Book Reviews - The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda & Grab a Snake by the Tail by Leonardo Padura

I rarely read crime or mystery novels, but I’m a huge fan of Japanese literature and have enjoyed the few crime novels I’ve read by Japanese authors. The Aosawa Murders is about the mass poisoning of an entire household, told several decades later by those connected in some way. It is intelligently written and well translated, and the slight distance created by the observant tone suits the novel well. The story is a slow-burner, but nevertheless compelling, revealed through the narrative strands of several different characters. These different accounts are often written as though they are interviews, however we never hear the questioning voice, only the responses. An unusual and clever novel from Bitter Lemon Press.

The other book I was sent to review by Bitter Lemon Press was Grab a Snake by the Tail, a detective novella by Cuban's leading crime author, Leonardo Padura. I'm not familiar with Padura's work, but I am familiar with (and love reading about) Havana, and this is a spin-off from his popular Havana Quartet. His die-hard fans seem to be in unanimous agreement that this novella is not a patch on his other work – and I have to say I'm relieved! I enjoyed it for what it was – for the gritty noir portrayal of dimly-lit Havana evenings, for the black humour and the smoky, sensual atmosphere. But I found the story a little far-fetched and patchily executed. As others have commented, this is clearly a short story-turned-novella, but I'm not sure it had the legs to go the distance. Still an enjoyable romp through Havana's underbelly.

Review of Scratched Enamel Heart by Juliette van der Molen

Here's a taster of Juliette van der Molen's generous review of my latest short story collection, Scratched Enamel Heart. You can read the full review here

Book Review: Scratched Enamel Heart by Amanda Huggins

Scratched Enamel Heart, by Amanda Huggins, is a collection of short stories that takes the reader on a physical and unforgettable emotional journey. This second collection is full of twists and turns and each story gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own travels and how they have shape human existence.

Flight Mode: The Possibility of Escape

“Mollie watched it change colour from blush to the darkest ink, and wondered if Daddy and Angel were watching the same piece of sky five states east.”

-Red, Amanda Huggins, Scratched Enamel Heart

Throughout this collection of stories we are treated to the slow build of carefully crafted characters who jump off the page and into our hearts. Mollie was one of these characters for me. In the story “Red”, Mollie and her mother are living with an abusive stepfather and surviving life on a dusty red farm called “Oakridge”.
Huggins describes the red dust as transforming into a thick paste in the rain, the kind that ‘stained your skin like henna.’ This foreshadows the trauma held deep in the centre of this story. Because abuse is often like that dust that clings to everything and stains the deepest parts of the human psyche.
Still, there is so much hope. Though the author does not get deeply into the details of abuse (this isn’t necessary and perhaps is the best way to handle it), we are told enough to read with an urgency that hopes for Mollie’s escape. What I found to be so poignant from the quote above, is that even in the midst of an ugly life, Mollie is able to look at the sky and notice the beauty in it. As someone that has experienced long term abuse, I know it was moments like these that padded the resilience of my heart and reminded me that there are better things out there. Her longing for her brother and father is especially felt in this moment and it points to her understanding of the wider world and the possibilities it could contain.

Writing Chat with Paula R C Readman

I'm over on Paula Readman's blog today, chatting about my writing. Here's a taster:

FROM PAULA'S BLOG:

Welcome to my guest page. Here, every few days, I’ll be sharing a conversation, over tea and cakes, or maybe a glass of something stronger, if they are not driving, with a friend about their work in progress, or latest book release. I’ll be talking to all sort of writers and authors at different levels of their writing careers.

It’s lovely to have you here for a chat today, Amanda. It looks as though we timed it just right as the Clubhouse Tearoom is quiet. 

Thank you for inviting me over for coffee, Paula! It’s great to see you again, and it’s always lovely to get the chance to have a chat about writing.

Let’s get started I know you’re a busy lady, so tell us a little about your latest writing project.  Is it a new idea, or one you have been mulling over for some time?

I’ve just started writing my third novella, An Unfamiliar Landscape. I’ve been mulling it over for some time, as it’s based on a previous short story of mine. It follows the life of a young woman called Sophia after she moves to Tokyo. Sophia and her husband have recently lost their child and their relationship is suffering. In an attempt to move on they relocate to Japan when her husband is offered a post there. This new location serves as a vehicle to reveal the true extent of Sophia’s grief and isolation. Left to her own devices, knowing no one in Tokyo, her sense of disconnection and loneliness is reinforced, amplified by the noise of the city and the legacy of her complicated past. Her life is examined in the context of this alien and transformative environment, where everything is slightly off-centre, unsettling, not quite as it seems. The city eventually pulls her under its skin and in the new noise she finds her silence.

When you first began your writing journey what drew you to your chosen genre? 

Travel writing was the first genre I chose, as I love exploring the world and learning about other cultures. I soon started writing short stories as well, and a strong sense of place has always been as important as character and plot in my fiction. My work is set all over the world in the cities and landscapes I have lived in and traveled around – settings as diverse as Cuba and India, mid-west America and the North Yorkshire coast, Japan and Russia, Paris and New York.

You can read the full interview here

Cover Reveal! All our Squandered Beauty

Although it's still a few months to the launch of my debut novella, All Our Squandered Beauty, I have just received the hard copies of the uncorrected proof from my publisher, Victorina Press. It's looking great - I love the cover!

I gave the designer, Triona Walsh, a couple of completely different ideas and she came up with a fabulous cover that encapsulated both of them. The sky in the final cover is actually taken from an original painting of my own, Inside the Sea, and the linocut elements are Triona's own work. Triona is lovely to work with - I first got to know her when she designed the cover for Retreat West for my short story collection, Scratched Enamel Heart, and so I suggested using her when Victorina Press's usual designer was mowed out with work.

Book Review: Inside the Beautiful Inside by Emily Bullock

Inside the Beautiful Inside is based on the astonishing true story of James Norris, an American marine who ended up chained to a metal stake in Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam) for fourteen years at the turn of the nineteenth century.

The conditions of Norris’s diminished life are grim and harrowing, yet although Bedlam steals his liberty, nobody can purloin his thoughts, dreams and memories. We are taken on a journey inside the wave of his madness, travelling on the high seas, experiencing his joys as well as his tragedies. We hear the stories of his family and friends, of the commission he didn’t take, of the one true love of his life, a shy prostitute named Ruth who betrayed him with Fletcher Christian. I found myself caring deeply for Norris, rooting for him from the very start, reading with my heart in my mouth, desperately hoping for his release even though I already knew how many years he would be chained up.

Inside the Beautiful Inside explores themes of sanity and rebellion, freedom and love, captivity and compassion in gorgeous lyrical prose. Emily Bullock is a wonderful writer, and in this superbly crafted novel she doesn’t waste a single word as she hurls us headlong through a swirling maze of madness that leads us to the very heart of James Norris.         

Published 24h September by Everything With Words Read more here

Book Review - A Song Inside by Gill Mann

 

 

A Song Inside spills over with love, so that although Gill Mann’s memoir about her son is filled with heartbreak, denial, grief and anger, it is nevertheless imbued with inspiration and hope. The story of Sam’s brief and turbulent life is told partly through diary entries, partly as a journey into the family’s past and partly as a conversation with Sam, a young man tragically unaware of his own devastating and destructive illness. Sam burns brightly throughout, full of contradiction and colour, exasperating and captivating in equal parts.

Gill Mann’s poignant and beautifully written memoir is as much about the impact of Sam’s life as it is about the impact of his death, as much about family as it is about one young man. It overflows with enduring love and will resonate with anyone who has ever grieved.

 

A Song Inside is out on July 22nd - you can pre-order your copy here 

Just Beverley

 
Delighted to have a poem featured in the current issue of Just Beverley.

The Colm Toibin International Short Story Award

Utterly delighted to have won the 2020 Colm Toibin International Short Story Award! My story, 'Eating Unobserved' can be found here


I was also thrilled be shortlisted for the Anthony Cronin International Poetry Award.

The Wexford Literary Festival awards ceremony was on Zoom this year, but despite the restrictions it was a lovely evening.

'Tiger' and Eggs!

You can listen to Beth Parsons reading my story 'Tiger' on BBC Radio Leeds here

'Tiger' appears in my new collection, Scratched Enamel Heart, and today my lovely friend Chris brought me three eggs from her chickens as well as a beautiful egg she made to match my book cover. I love it!

 

Radio Leeds

 

My flash story, 'Tiger' will be broadcast on Radio Leeds on Monday 29th June. It will feature on Gayle Lofthouse's show sometime between 11am and noon.

You can listen live here!

Or you can catch up later on BBC Sounds.

Saboteur Trophy

 

Thrilled to receive my gorgeous Saboteur trophy! The first one I've won since the overall sports trophy at primary school when I was eleven. That was for winning the high jump, long jump, egg and spoon, sack race and 100 yard sprint. What's gone wrong since...?!

Interview on The Literary Pig

I'm delighted to feature on The Literary Pig this week, talking to Tracy Fells about writing Scratched Enamel Heart.

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AN EXCERPT:

Today I am delighted to welcome one of my favourite writers as a guest on the Blog. Amanda Huggins has kindly returned to talk about her new short story collection Scratched Enamel Heart (published by Retreat West Books). 

Amanda Huggins is the author of Scratched Enamel Heart, a new short story collection which features ‘Red’, her prize-winning story from the 2018 Costa Short Story Award. Her previous short story collection, Separated From the Sea, received a Special Mention in the 2019 Saboteur Awards. She has also published a flash fiction collection, Brightly Coloured Horses and a poetry collection, The Collective Nouns for Birds, which won the 2020 Saboteur Award for Best Poetry Pamphlet.

Scratched Enamel Heart

The resilience and frailty of the human heart lie at the core of this second short story collection from award-winning author, Amanda Huggins.          

A lonely woman spends a perfect night with a stranger, yet is their connection enough to make her realise life is worth living? Maya, a refugee, wears a bracelet strung with charms that are a lifeline to her past; when the past catches up with her, she has a difficult decision to make. Rowe’s life on the Yorkshire coast is already mapped out for him, but when there is an accident at the steelworks he knows he has to flee from an intolerable future. In the Costa prize-winning ‘Red’, Mollie is desperate to leave Oakridge Farm and her abusive stepfather, to walk free with the stray dog she has named Hal.

These are stories filled with yearning and hope, the search for connection and the longing to escape. They transport the reader from India to Japan, from mid-west America to the north-east coast of England, from New York to London. Battered, bruised, jaded or jilted, the human heart somehow endures.

Animals and nature feature in so much of your writing, is this intentional? What part do animals/wildlife/nature play in your own life, do any of your fictional creatures come from your own experience of animals?

No, it isn’t intentional, however I do have a deep-rooted love of animals and the natural world, so I guess it’s inevitable. My partner and I are members of the RSPB and really enjoy birdwatching, both at nature reserves and while walking on the moors or the Northumberland coastal paths. We also have a menagerie of seven part-time cats – four semi-strays which we feed, and three others which are perfectly well looked after but have just latched onto a good thing!

I always aim to convey a strong sense of place in my stories, and rural landscapes feature regularly in my work. I’m originally from the Yorkshire coast, so the sea plays an important part in a number of my stories – such as ‘Where the Sky Starts’ and ‘Light Box’ in Scratched Enamel Heart – and it is also the all-encompassing theme of my debut novella, All Our Squandered Beauty. I find my characters are shaped by the places they inhabit, particularly in those stories set in the distinctive landscapes of India, Japan and  North America – for example, ‘A Longing for Clouds’ and ‘Red’.

The locations which feature in my stories are always inspired by real life travels – I would never set a story somewhere I hadn’t visited myself. The koi fish and the beautiful garden in ‘A Potential Husband’ were inspired by my travels in Japan, as were the fireflies in ‘Soul of a Fighter’. Nature also features heavily in my poetry, and one of my favourite poems in The Collective Nouns for Birds is ‘At the Kitchen Table’, which I wrote when snowed-in in the North Pennines.

Hal, the dog in ‘Red’, is a creature of the imagination, though I’d love to own a dog like him! Similarly, Jigsaw, in ‘Where the Sky Starts’ isn’t based on a real pony, though I loved horses and horse riding as a child and often pretended that the grey stallion which lived in a nearby field was mine! The only real life creature I have written about is my favourite cat, Duzzy – she was the inspiration for the poem ‘Not-Quite-You’ in The Collective Nouns for Birds.

You can read the full interview here

My Porridge & Cream Read

 I'm over on Sandra Danby's blog today, talking about my comfort read, The Little Prince.

“There was strong competition for my Porridge and Cream choice, and I’d just like to mention two of the worthy runners-up, both of which I return to time and time again. The wonderful Jane Eyre needs no introduction or explanation, and has been in my top ten since I was a teenager. Another contender was The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, which I’ve loved since first reading it in the 1980s. A beautifully written story of a life lost to duty; unsentimental and utterly heartbreaking. But my final choice has to be The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, one of the all-time bestselling – and most translated – books ever published."

You can read the full post here

Publication Day!

It's publication day for my second short story collection, Scratched Enamel Heart! I've already had some lovely reviews, a few of which I've shared below.

I'll be over on Twitter tonight at 8.00 p.m. to talk about my writing - there'll be a book giveaway too!

"Amanda writes with empathy, an eye for vivid detail, and a sense of adventure. Her stories display darkness and light, vulnerability and strength, and great charm." Alison Moore

"Amanda Huggins has created a masterclass in short fiction with Scratched Enamel Heart. Whether the story is one page or ten, every one is an exemplar of the craft. Readers will be left thinking about choice and freedom, love and grief, sacrifice and self-preservation; and the book stands up exceptionally well to repeated reading. Huggins is definitely an author to watch." Amanda McLeod

"This beautiful collection from Amanda Huggins is a lyrical journey of delicate devastation. Each story is told in exquisite detail, sparking the senses so the reader really feels the ‘soft rabbit-skinned’ gloves in 'Violet Flint and the Softest Blue,' tastes the bitterness of the bourbon in 'A Brightness to It,'  and sees with startling clarity the stray dog, Hal, with his paw aloft silhouetted against the dawn sky in 'Red.'" Kathy Hoyle
 
"There’s a conciseness to Amanda Huggins’ writing that makes me think of a stitch being drawn taut – her words pull the core of you to the core of a story until you gasp for breath.
Huggins has a vivid mastery of words that whips up a setting you can virtually walk into, and uses that mastery to construct scenery that weaves the story’s mood around you: “Mollie hated the dark, brooding weight of the house, the trees so dense they held a part of the night’s heart within them even when the sun shone.” Judy Darley
 
"Amanda Huggins writes in a beautiful and empathetic way to immerse readers in the challenges and dilemmas she presents to her characters. As readers we care about these characters and learn from them. This is a truthful, authentic and essential read." Gail Aldwin

"Reading Amanda Huggins is like taking a journey around the world. Her stories are so beautifully written we forget where we are. Japan, Russia, Paris, London, the states, we are drawn into a series of fascinating lives. Hearts are broken but survive, scuffed and painted bright colours, people never fail to keep trying. These are stories we need to read." Angela Readman

"...what a great collection it is, even better than the first. Beautifully nuanced writing that will surprise and move you and includes her award-winning story, 'Red', third in the Costa Short Story Award, 2018. No word is wasted and it’s clear from the quality of the writing that Amanda is a fine poet too." Ali Thurm

"Huggins has captured teenage angst and inadequacy to perfection. Scratched Enamel Heart is a beautiful collection that will take you on a journey through time, across land and sea, and deep into the hearts of her characters." Laura Besley

You can buy a copy here

Scratched Enamel Heart - Review by Ali Thurm

  

Another lovely review for my new short story collection from Ali Thurm. Here's a taster:

"In 2018 I reviewed Amanda Huggins' very enjoyable first collection of short stories, Separated from the Sea, and here I am again only two years later reviewing her second. And what a great collection it is, even better than the first. Beautifully nuanced writing that will surprise and move you and includes her award-winning story, Red, third in the Costa Short Story Award, 2018. No word is wasted and it’s clear from the quality of the writing that Amanda is a fine poet too.

Many of these stories have themes of escape – appropriate for our present situation of social-isolation and lock-down. In Where the Sky Starts, life is closing in for Rowe; he’s coming to terms with a bleak choice: a job on a fishing boat like his dead father, or going down the pit like his brother. Like Billy Casper in Kes he seeks refuge in the natural world. This is a subtle, beautifully-written story that I found very moving each time I read it."

You can read the full review here

The Saboteur Awards 2020

Utterly thrilled that The Collective Nouns for Birds has won the 2020 Saboteur Award for best poetry collection! It was lovely to meet everyone at the online awards ceremony - and to see my publisher, Retreat West, win the award for most innovative publisher.

You can buy The Collective Nouns for Birds here

My Review of Sky Light Rain by Judy Darley

Judy Darley’s short story collection, Sky Light Rain (Valley Press), looks up to the sky while digging deep down into the heart of what it means to be human. Darley has a distinctive voice, and her characters inhabit a place which is out of step with the world, in tales steeped in folklore, anchored by a deep connection to the natural world, embroidered with misunderstandings and mistakes. The writing is haunting and multi-layered, the imagery deft and original. And although these are stories exploring the fragility and fallibility of the human condition, we witness transformations and glimpses of new beginnings, making this richly textured collection resonate with hope. 

Judy Darley was born in 1977 and grew up in Thornbury, near Bristol. Her short stories, flash fiction and poems have been widely published, and read by the author on BBC radio, in pubs, caves, and a disused church, as well as at literary festivals and charity events. Her debut short story collection Remember Me to the Bees was published in 2013.

You can buy Sky Light Rain here

Everybody's Reviewing

A lovely review for Scratched Enamel Heart on 'Everybody's Reviewing' from Kathy Hoyle.

"This beautiful collection from Amanda Huggins is a lyrical journey of delicate devastation. Each story is told in exquisite detail, sparking the senses so the reader really feels the ‘soft rabbit-skinned’ gloves in 'Violet Flint and the Softest Blue,' tastes the bitterness of the bourbon in 'A Brightness to It,'  and sees with startling clarity the stray dog, Hal, with his paw aloft silhouetted against the dawn sky in 'Red.'

Huggins effortlessly carries the reader from the North coast of England to the heat of India, from a farmhouse in small town USA to the bustling streets of London and yet, despite the many varied settings, the themes remain universal and instantly recognisable. Each story resonates with the reader because Huggins writes with such compelling precision about grief, hope, loss, yearning, fear and love in all its complexities."

You can read the full review here

Interview on The Writer is a Lonely Hunter

Many thanks to Gail Aldwin for this interview with me on The Writer is a Lonely Hunter.

A taster:

Your stories in Scratched Enamel Heart are set in different countries and locations. How do you decide on a setting for your story. What is the importance of the place in the development of your story?

It has always been important to me that my fiction has a strong sense of place – something I’ve carried over from my travel writing. Sometimes an idea for the setting comes first, and the story that follows is inspired and shaped by certain aspects of the location. The landscapes and cities in which the stories are set became important characters in their own right. They can reflect emotions or influence characters’ behaviour – such as the way the wait for the monsoon rains affects Maggie’s decisions in ‘A Longing for Clouds’, and the heat and desert landscape have an effect on Miranda in ‘Distant Fires’ – two stories set in the sensory overload of India. Closer to home, a snow-filled London becomes a major character in ‘A Brightness To It’, forming a soft-edged cocoon around the main characters. Two strangers bond in a soulless hotel room after a chance encounter, and are protected from the reality of the outside world by the beauty of their snow-changed environment – yet the city is only temporarily altered, and this reflects their own fragile situation. In ‘Red’, Mollie is trapped on Oakridge Farm with her mother and violent stepfather, and the vast spaces and relentless red dust of the American mid-west are a contrast to her confinement. The open plains and the endless highway offer freedom, yet the landscape is also hostile and bleak, holding up a mirror to her predicament. One of my favourite locations is Japan. My stories are often about displacement and alienation, trying to find connection, about lost characters in big cities. This can go hand in hand with the notion of things never being exactly as they seem, of them being a little off-centre, misunderstood, or lost in translation – and Japan is the perfect backdrop to reflect that.

You can read the full interview here