For #LoveAudio week today we have an unsettling tale by short story writer David Hartley, read brilliantly by Margaret Ashley.
Margaret is an actress and multi-nominated voice actor – she is currently nominated for the Best Radio Drama Performance in the 2021 OneVoice Awards – and we are delighted to have had the opportunity to work with her on several of our recent audio books.
”David Hartley’s tiny fictions are elusive and teasing and true. They’re like the fading echoes of dreams you struggle to remember when you wake up in the morning – the bits that you know didn’t quite make sense, and made you feel strange and a little unnerved, but you knew were important, so important, if only you could hold on to them forever.” – Robert Shearman
#LoveAudio is the Publisher’s Association annual week-long digital celebration of audiobooks is designed to showcase the accessibility, innovation, and creativity of the format.Follow the hashtag on twitter.
Out on 27 May, 100neHundred is a collection of 100 stories, each of 100 words. A man carries his girlfriend in the left-hand breast pocket of his shirt. During World War II, a young soldier searches the houses and barns of the families with whom he grew up. An astronaut wonders whether she can adapt to life back on earth. This is a moving, funny, powerful collection of microfiction.
Laura said “The more micro fiction I write, the more I love it: the challenge of piecing together what I want to convey in as few words as possible and the absolute joy when it works. I’m extremely excited about the launch of 100neHundred, hoping that people will enjoy reading my tiny tales as much as I enjoyed writing them.”
Follow the blog tour on the schedule above to read reviews of 100neHundred, plus guest posts from Laura Besley, an Author Q and A and some exclusive extracts of stories from the collection.
Find all the content from the blog tour here too (updated daily):
“With this collection I soon lost track of how many ‘wows’ I was uttering…” Laura Besley credits Morgen Bailey’s 100 word story competition with her interest in micro-fiction. Read Morgen’s review of 100neHundred here.
This video is from a few years back now, for Dusk, the Solstice Shorts Festival. It’s about the Autumn daylight saving rather than the spring one, but we are publishing a whole book of stories by it’s author, David Hartley, in May. Incorcisms is filled with dark fantasy like this, and I’m sure plenty of us would like to turn back time this year, or possibly forward, a lot faster, so it seems like an excellent time to share it again.
We could all do with some cheer in the bleak days of January, especially this year, so courtesy of Arts Council England, we are here to do just that.
We are the proud and happy recipients of a £45,000 grant from Arts Council England
This will pay for our next ten books, and (drum roll) audio books! Which means we can smack Covid on the nose by providing another way to enjoy our books without leaving home, and provide some work to actors who aren’t allowed into a theatre just now. I’m anticipating it will also be huge fun. Putting the plans together now with our audiobook partner Listening Books
Thanks to everyone who gave us their thoughts on whether this was the right way to go. It’s one of the fastest growing sectors in literature, but it’s tough to get right, and harder still to market, so the funding will also pay for …
A part-time marketing person, and a (separate) part-time admin person for a few months, so that I can concentrate on finding and supporting new writers and guest editors. We will be advertising these posts very soon. They will be remote working, so if you think that could be you, start polishing your CV, but don’t send anything until you see the advertisment please!
The Books
The books that are being supported by the ACE grant are:
This Poem Here – Poetry collection by Rob Walton (Just the audio book, as we’ve already done the rest)
Strange Waters -Short Story Collection by Jackie Taylor
Jackie
A Voice Coming from Then – Poetry collection (illustrated with collages) by Jeremy Dixon
An Anthology of poems and short fiction from UK based Deaf writers (no title yet) edited by Lisa Kelly and A N Other
Lisa
An Anthology of poems and short stories from UK based Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Writers (no title yet) edited by Laila Sumpton and Sandra A. Agard
Solstice Shorts 2021 Anthology (provisional theme: time is running out but we’ll come up with a better title!)
David Hartley is a short story writer, performer and PhD student based in Manchester. His fiction has appeared in various thrilling places including Ambit, Structo, Black Static and The Alarmist. He is currently working on a complicated fantasy novel about autism and ghosts.
David’s story/script for Dusk, daylight Savings, will be performed at Lancaster and Redruth, at Dusk on the 21st December 2017 and published in the Dusk anthology on 21st June 2018
