A Ship Called Crazy And Other Stories 21 May 2017 + News of the next SSS event

Here are our brilliant authors last Sunday - 21 May 2017 - in the order in which they read. (Snaps by Tim Byford)

Videos are now on our YouTube channel.

The next SSS event will be on Sunday 5 November (pop that in your diary) at the SVA in Stroud as usual. It will be part of the Stroud Book Festival. The theme will be 'All you need is love. Or is it?' Submissions will open in August. More details to follow.

Pam Keevil reads Platform 2

Jan Petrie reads Keeping Time

Jason Jackson reads #truebeauty

Michael Hurst reads Stolen Orange

Katherine Hunter reads A Ship Called Crazy

Joanna Campbell reads Paper Sails

David Jay reads Dream Noir

Philip Douch reads Journeys

Sian Breeze reads Spring Clean

Claire Morris reads Bodgers

A Ship Called Crazy And Other Stories 21 May 2017

Thank you to everyone who attended last night's Stroud Short Stories event. The ten authors - Pam Keevil, Jan Petrie, Jason Jackson, Michael Hurst, Katherine Hunter, Joanna Campbell, David Jay, Philip Douch, Sian Breeze and Claire Morris - read wonderfully. And the sell-out audience was really appreciative and supportive - as ever.

Snaps and videos of the evening will follow.

The next SSS event will be on Sunday 5 November (pop that in your diary) at the SVA in Stroud as usual. It will be part of the Stroud Book Festival. There will be a theme for the stories this time. The theme will be 'All you need is love. Or is it?'

Submissions will open in August. More details to follow.

THE TEN STORIES/AUTHORS ANNOUNCED + JUDGE'S STATEMENT -
A Ship Called Crazy And Other Stories 21 May 2017

In total 82 Gloucestershire writers submitted 109 stories - the second highest number of submissions ever - for the now sold-out 21 May event at the SVA, John Street, Stroud. All 82 authors have now been contacted. Below is a statement from my co-judge on this occasion, short story author, Ali Bacon. In my view, this was the highest quality batch of stories ever received for a SSS event. Reducing the final 20 brilliant pieces to 10 was particularly hard.


Here are the 10 we have chosen for the event (in librarians' alphabetical order by title) -

Bodgers - Claire Morris (Cirencester)
Dream Noir - David Jay (Stroud)
Journeys - Philip Douch (Stroud)
Keeping Time - Jan Petrie (Sheepscombe)
Paper Sails - Joanna Campbell (Bisley)
Platform 2 - Pam Keevil (Ruscombe)
A Ship Called Crazy - Katherine Hunter (Stroud)
Spring Clean - Sian Breeze (Chalford)
Stolen Orange - Michael Hurst (Cheltenham)
#truebeauty - Jason Jackson (Kingswood, South Gloucestershire)

Congratulations to these authors. I can't wait to hear them read their brilliant stories on 21 May. They will also be offered publication in our next anthology due in 2018. Four have read at SSS before, but six will be making their debuts. It's worth bearing in mind, if your story is not in the ten, that at least three of the writers making their debuts have submitted to SSS previously.

It's really important to me that writers who submitted should not conclude that these are the only outstanding stories to be submitted. That's far from being the case. 

Here is Ali Bacon's statement as co-judge -

As a long-time fan of Stroud Short Stories, and as someone who has submitted several times (not always successfully!) I was thrilled to be asked to act as John's co-judge. It's been an absolute joy to see the range of imagination and creativity on display in the stories submitted, and an absolute headache choosing 10 stories out of the 109 we received. Of these, nearly all were worth considering and a high proportion ranked as possible contenders straight away. Even after some serious sifting, those we judged to be ‘outstanding’ were double the number we needed.  
 
If you were not successful this time I think it’s important to reassure you that the judging is fair and rigourous - every single story is read by both judges. And your submissions are anonymised so we do not know the identity of the author. 
 
In reading your stories, you have made me think harder about what actually makes a good story. A few weeks ago I would have said that a good (i.e. satisfying) ending was paramount, but then what is a good ending if the start or the middle fall short? A story has only a short time to grab our attention - all of it has to work for the reader. And since we have only listeners (with no time to mull over or flick back) at the SSS event, it all has to work straight away.

That’s a tall order, so I thought you might like to know what, for me, separated the outstanding stories from the simply good.
 
I wanted to feel the writer was in absolute control, that as a reader I was in safe hands as the story unfolds, which I think comes from a mastery of language and style. It’s a kind of technical merit, I suppose, but without it the artistry fails. Linked to this is the issue of clarity. I wanted to be clear about what was happening - not in the sense of knowing where the story was going, but being able to follow every step without hesitation. I want to be intrigued but not mystified or hoodwinked.

With the more technical criteria satisfied, I looked for interest and originality. Which brings me to the last and most subjective part of the selection process - the impact on the audience - the entertainment value to the reader/listener.  Will it get a reaction and stick in the audience’s minds? For this a satisfying ending is crucial of course - which brings me back to where I began!
 
These are my own views, and not necessarily John’s, but I’m glad to say that when it came to putting forward our own favourites for inclusion in the final ten, the overlap was gratifyingly high. A final thanks to you all - the writers of Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire - who have taken part. You are all amazing, and if you didn’t make it this time, keep trying.
Ali Bacon http://alibacon.com


Thank you, Ali, for being such a brilliant judge.

NB If anyone has a spare ticket for the event (which has sold out), or wants to join the waiting list for returns that come my way, please email me at stroudshortstories@gmail.com

I hope to see many of you at 'A Ship Called Crazy And Other Stories'. 

John

John Holland
Organiser, Stroud Short Stories
Email stroudshortstories@gmail.com
Twitter @StroudStories

The Stroud Short Stories event on Sunday 21 May has sold out

All tickets are now sold for the next SSS event on Sunday 21 May 2017 at the SVA, John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA at 8pm (doors 7.30). Thank you to every one who has bought tickets. This is our eighth event in a row to sell out.

The ten as yet unnamed authors will read to an audience of 70. 

If you have bought tickets and realise that you cannot make it, or if you want to be added to a waiting list for any returns that come my way, please email me on stroudshortstories@gmail.com

We will be naming the authors and stories for our event very soon (we haven't chosen them yet!), and definitely before 12 May.

Writers, please be aware that we use Mailchimp for our email newsletters so if you have a gmail account our emails will arrive in your Promotions inbox.

John

John Holland
Organiser, Stroud Short Stories
Email  stroudshortstories@gmail.com