Recent Posts

New Review - Mayhem by Sarah Pinborough http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2013/04/17/mayhem-by-sarah-pinborough/

Just a little reminder that we are now open for submissions for Darkest Minds. If you want to see the sort of stories that do it for us, copies of both previous anthologies are still available:

http://www.darkmindspress.com/page2.htm

Not long now until my first collection of short stories, Witchcraft in the Harem, is published... 30 April, by Dog Horn Publishing.

World Fantasy Award winner Lavie Tidhar said this about it -

“The experience of reading this collection is like being waterboarded by an angel. Shocking, heartbreaking and laugh-out-loud funny, this is some of the best writing I’ve ever seen. If you like Aimee Bender or Etgar Keret, you will love Witchcraft in the Harem.”

Here's the blurb:

You’re running away from something terrible. You think you’ve escaped it, this thing, but it turns out to be waiting for you in all the places you hide: your house, your garden, a self-help group, a seraglio, the island of Zanzibar, a museum in Turin, a hot air balloon in Canada, even in the ladies’ room of your favourite nightclub. You’ve carried it into these places with you. It’s inside you. And now it’s time for it to come out.

This first collection of acclaimed short stories by Aliya Whiteley takes the reader to the strangest, deepest corners of life experience. Grotesque, unsettling, and often very funny, Witchcraft in the Harem deals with birth and betrayal, love and loss, and all the terrible thoughts we want to escape, and find still waiting for us at the journey’s end.

I'll be running a competition on Twitter and Facebook for a free signed copy on publication day! Ooh, here's a link to the cover on my blog...

http://aliyawhiteley.wordpress.com/2013/04/15/witchcraft-in-the-harem-at-the-end-of-april/

 It's got beetles on it! I love the beetles.

Update for "Astrologica: Stories of the Zodiac":
That’s it, folks, the submission window has firmly closed. Firstly, I want to say a big thank you to all the authors who made the effort to get to grips with this challenging theme and who submitted stories to me. As an editor: without you guys, I’m nothing! In my usual blithe manner, I simply threw the idea out there and I didn’t fully appreciate that my astrological theme was actually quite a bit trickier than your average anthology. So, thank you for all your submissions. I have read all but the most recent at least once and am onto second readings for several of the pieces. I have difficult choices to make for all the signs apart from Leo, which was snaffled up by Ralph Robert Moore way back in January. Often it’s going to come down to fine margins between one story and another for any given star sign. That’s one of the tricky parts of editing, of course. Expect to hear from me during May or June; possibly even later this month if I really get my finger out!

New Review - Poison by Sarah Pinborough http://www.theeloquentpage.co.uk/2013/04/15/poison-by-sarah-pinborough/

The first review of THE WHISPERING HORROR (by David A. Riley) can be found at http://hellnotes.com/

We had another great evening of jazz and poetry last night. One of our guests – Maggie Butt – had to pull out at late notice owing to a family emergency, so our other guest Norbert Hirschhorn had to rearrange his set and I had to read a few extra pieces. The band were on great form as always. Sarah had three great poems, beginning with “The Philosophy of Stone” which is a real “Follow that!” performance. Plus we had some excellent readers from the floor.
Doing a couple of extra poems meant that I got to perform “The Asteroids” again. Further down this “Promote Your Projects” page there’s a thread called “The Asteroids” which has a You Tube link if you want to take a look at a previous rendering.
If this has all whetted your appetite for jazz poetry, we reconvene with “The Sunday Edition” on Sunday 16 June 2013. I shall post a further update closer to the next gig.

My recent interview with SF & fantasy author Jilly Paddock is now up on the Nightspore blog:
http://www.nightspore.co.uk/interview-jilly-paddock/

Enjoy... and if you have not read any of her work yet, I recommend you check them out.
Cheers
Phillip

Sounds like The Plant,a BBC TV drama from 1995.

The Sunday Edition, the live jazz poetry event in Enfield, is back at 7pm sharp on Sunday 14 April 2013 at the Dugdale Centre, London Road, Enfield, EN2 6DS. I am co-hosting again, along with Sarah Doyle (“BFS Journal”, “Unspoken Water”). We will be performing a couple of poems accompanied by the band Special Edition. Our special guests this time are Maggie Butt and Norbert Hirschhorn, who will be performing longer sets with Special Edition. Maggie’s reading may be accompanied by an art show. Plus there are Open Mic spots – come along and read a poem accompanied by the band! Tickets are a snip at £11 on the night or £10 in advance.
And hopefully we won’t have snow this time like we did in February!
Further details: www.dugdalecentre.co.uk