We are now open for your submissions to the next SSS event on Sunday 10 November

We are now open for short story submissions from Gloucestershire/South Gloucestershire-based writers to our 19th event. 

We will close at the end of Sunday 29 September.

Our event will be on Sunday 10 November 2019 at the Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud. (There's a new start time - 7.30. Doors open at 7.00.)

This event is part of the Stroud Book Festival, so if you want to read to an audience of 150 people at the Festival you know what you have to do...

It is an open theme this time. Let your imagination be your guide and write about anything you like - so long as it's a short story up to 1,500 words.

As usual we will select ten stories to be read by their authors on the night.

It's free to submit and we accept both unpublished and published work.

Check out the Rules and How to Submit here.

I have a new co-judge this time. The brilliant short story author Chloe Turner, who has read four times at SSS, is making the decisions with me. Chloe's first collection of stories Witches Sail in Eggshells, has just been published by Reflex Press. 

More info on the judges here.

All stories are read by both judges and the judging process is undertaken 'blind' ie without knowing the identity of the authors of the stories until after the final decision is made.

Check out the Rules and How to Submit here.

Don't miss a thing about submitting or buying tickets by subscribing to SSS newsletters here. It's free - and easy to unsubscribe.

We can't wait to start reading your stories.

NB Tickets, priced at £8, for the 10 November event will go on sale from Friday 11 October on the Cotswold Playhouse website.

John

Stroud Short Stories Anthology 2015-18 is mentioned in Best British Short Stories 2019

I interrupt our promotion of the next SSS event (details on how to submit below), to tell you that we are absolutely thrilled that Nicholas Royle, the editor of the annual publication Best British Short Stories, has referred to our anthology in the newly-published Best British Short Stories 2019.

He also specifically praised the stories 'The Thief' by Alex Clark (p.83) and 'The Journey to Everywhere' (p.222) by Joanna Campbell. Praise indeed.

Encouraged by the publication of a story by my co-judge Chloe Turner in BBSS 2018, I sent Nicholas a copy of our anthology on publication. Given how many hundreds of anthologies are published each year I am chuffed he liked it enough to refer to it in his forward.

The anthology is still available. More about it here.

Our next event - 10 Nov 2019 + Dates for your Diary + New Judge + New Start Time

Our 19th event will be on Sunday 10 November 2019 at the Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud. It will start earlier than usual - at 7.30 (doors 7.00).

This event is part of the Stroud Book Festival, so if you want to read at the Festival you know what you have to do...

We will open for submissions (free as usual!!) on Sunday 18 August and close on Sunday 29 September.

It will be an open theme this time. Let your imagination be your guide and write about anything you like - so long as it's a short story up to 1,500 words.

As usual we will select ten stories to be read by their Gloucestershire/South Gloucestershire-based authors at our event.

I will have a new co-judge this time. The brilliant short story author Chloe Turner, who has read four times at SSS, will be making the decisions with me. Chloe's first collection of stories Witches Sail in Eggshells, has just been published by Reflex Press. More info on the judges here.

Check out the Rules and How to Submit here.

Don't miss a thing about submitting or buying tickets by subscribing to SSS newsletters here.

We can't wait for August when we can start reading your stories.

Tickets will go on sale from Friday 11 October on the Cotswold Playhouse website.

John

Author Snaps from Incendiary! our 19 May 2019 Event + Info about our November 2019 Event

Thank you to everyone who came along to our new venue, the Cotswold Playhouse in Parliament Street, Stroud, which was completely sold out for our 18th event.

Special thanks and congratulations to the ten brilliant authors (see snaps below) whose work we selected and who read/performed so wonderfully. There was general agreement that the quality of story and performance made this one of the best ever SSS events. I am so pleased that we were able to share it with a supportive audience of 150 short story lovers.

Our next event will be on Sunday 10 November at the Cotswold Playhouse, and will be part of the Stroud Book Festival. Please note that, for the first time, it will start at 7.30 (doors 7.00). There will be no theme and we will open for your story submissions from late August. More info will follow.

Here are our authors from Sunday 19 May in the order in which they read. (Because of our legendary Rule 11 none of these authors will be reading again in November.)

Huge thanks to Charlie Bryan for the photography -
https://www.charlie-bryan.com/

Steve Wheeler aka Steven John - Burning the Stubble

Louise Elliman - Something About Me

Michael Hurst - Mobbed

Alwin Wiederhold - Echoes

Emma Kernahan - The Slip

Chloe Turner - Is It My Hammered Heart?

Robin Booth - Marcie

Jason Jackson - Fat Man in Neon

Joanna Campbell - Aurora and the Book Trolley

Geoff Mead - Raku

The Running Order for our Sunday 19 May Sold-Out Event Incendiary!

Thank you again to everyone who has bought tickets for our completely sold-out event at the 150-seater Cotswold Playhouse in Parliament Street, Stroud, GL5 1LW. 

Here is the running order -

1. Burning the Stubble - Steve Wheeler (aka Steven John) (Sheepscombe)

2. Something About Me - Louise Elliman (Cirencester)

3. Mobbed - Michael Hurst (Prestbury, Cheltenham)

4. Echoes - Alwin Wiederhold (Hucclecote, Gloucester)

5. The Slip - Emma Kernahan (Stroud)

INTERVAL

6. Is it my Hammered Heart? - ChloeTurner (Minchinhampton)

7. Marcie - Robin Booth (Brimscombe, Stroud)

8. Fat Man in Neon - Jason Jackson (Kingswood, South Gloucs)

9. Aurora and the Book Trolley - Joanna Campbell (Bisley)

10. Raku - Geoff Mead (Kingscote)


The event starts at 8pm. Doors 7.30. There is a bar.

John 

SOLD OUT

Thank you to everyone who has bought tickets for our Sunday 19 May 2019 event Incendiary at the 150-seater Cotswold Playhouse in Stroud. The event is now completely sold out - with two weeks yet to go.

Podcasts + Tickets now on sale for Incendiary! our 19 May event + The Ten Stories and Authors announced

From 12 April to 17 May we are releasing weekly podcasts of stories from the last two years SSS events. These are being read by their authors - Melanie Golding, Katie Witcombe, Emma Kernahan, Geoff Mead, Chloe Turner and Nastasya Parker.

Listen here. 

Our 18th event, Incendiary!, takes place on Sunday 19 May at 8pm (doors 7,30) at our new venue, the spacious and comfortable Cotswold Playhouse, Parliament Street, Stroud GL5 1LW. Ten authors (see below) will be reading the stories specially selected for the event.

Tickets, priced as usual at £8, are now on sale on the Cotswold 
Playhouse website -

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/date/638976

You can also order tickets by phone - 0333 666 3366. The Playhouse charges a £1.75 booking fee for telephone bookings.

Please note that Stroud Short Stories does not sell tickets.

Unlike our former venue, the SVA, the Cotswold Playhouse uses allocated seating (tickets with seat numbers so you can choose your seat when you book). 

The seating is raked/tiered so the seats even at the back offer excellent views - and are very comfortable.

The Playhouse is a four minute uphill walk from the car park on Parliament Street opposite Stroud Police Station (car park post code  GL5 2HL). The car park is free in the evening. I know it's four minutes because I walked it last Monday - and believe me I am not a fast walker these days. The alternative is street parking.

Do please come along, but do not tarry in buying your tickets. The last twelve events all sold out well in advance (the last one in just six hours!), although that was at the SVA which has half the capacity of the Playhouse! Nevertheless I expect there to be plenty of interest in ticket sales.

The Cotswold Playhouse has a bar!

Authors/Stories for 19 May event Incendiary!

Thank you to everyone who submitted stories for Incendiary!, our 18th event on Sunday 19 May at our new venue, the Cotswold Playhouse. The total of 89 Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire writers who submitted 113 stories is a record.

Believe me, my co-judge, Ali Bacon, and I had our work cut out. We really enjoyed the vast majority of the stories, and produced a Long List of 46 and a Short List of 21 stories before deciding the Final Ten. All these lists have been shared with the writers who submitted.

These are the stories you will hear on the night (not in this order) -

Aurora and the Book Trolley - Joanna Campbell (Bisley)

Burning the Stubble - Steve Wheeler (aka Steven John) (Sheepscombe, Stroud)

Echoes - Alwin Wiederhold (Hucclecote, Gloucester)

Fat Man in Neon - Jason Jackson (Kingswood, South Gloucs)

Is it my Hammered Heart? - Chloe Turner (Minchinhampton)

Marcie - Robin Booth (Brimscombe, Stroud)

Mobbed - Michael Hurst (Prestbury, Cheltenham)

Raku - Geoff Mead (Kingscote, Tetbury)

The Slip - Emma Kernahan (Stroud)

Something about me - Louise Elliman (Cirencester)

It's always exciting to welcome new writers, in this case, Alwin, Louise and Robin who will be the 106th, 107th and 108th authors to read at SSS.

Huge congratulations to these ten authors who will be reading/performing. The competition was incredibly intense, and the overall standard of submission extremely high. Commiserations especially to those on the Short List, the stories on which were so excellent.

The evening will be brilliant. The authors of the stories we have chosen each create their own individual fictional universe. There will be death, love, ornithology, sex, anger, pottery, rebellion, fudge shops and of course, there will be a library book trolley. But most of all there will be FIRE!

Thank you again to EVERYONE who submitted. It's going to be an amazing evening.

NB This event will not be videoed.

John