SOLD OUT!
The Sunday 8 November Stroud Short Stories event, THE HEAT IS ON, has sold out. All 135 seats are taken at the Lansdown Hall.
Thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket. It should be great night.
John
Wednesday, 7 October 2026
TICKETS REMAIN ON SALE + The Authors and Stories for our 8 November event THE HEAT IS ON
TICKETS for THE HEAT IS ON, priced at £12, are still on sale from the Lansdown Hall website
Ticket sales here. If booking on your phone, do swipe left or right to see all available seats! The Lansdown booking system can be misleading!
Please note that the Lansdown Hall adds an additional 75p booking charge.
A record breaking number of authors (93) submitted stories for our 31st event. My co-judge Joanna Campbell and I have now considered the 109 stories. These are the authors who will read their stories at our event -
Georgia Boon - Without Summer
Robin Booth - Nightjars
Philip Douch - Michael
David Crane Embers - Decategorised
Lizzie Golds - Untethered
David Goodland - From Reds to Heaven
Jason Jackson - Nine Hundred and Eighty-two Degrees
Sophie Loose - Exchange
Mark Rutterford - Wearing Underwear for the First Time This Week
Steph Smith - The Ecdysiast
Huge congratulations to these authors. The competition was intense. It's going to be a great evening of short stories.
Very many thanks to Joanna Campbell for her brilliant judging.
The brand new SSS anthology Stroud Short Stories Volume Four 2022-2025 will also be available to buy at the event. Priced at £12 for 312 pages/60 stories by 40 Gloucestershire authors. See our anthologies page.
The event is dedicated to the SSS mainstay Simon Piney (1949-2026)
John
Monday, 28 September 2026
We will be announcing the authors and stories for our 8 Nov 2026 event THE HEAT IS ON on 7 October
A HUGE thank you to everyone who submitted stories for our 31st event. We are now closed for submissions. A record number (93) of writers submitted this time, sending us 109 stories.
The writers and stories to read/perform at our 8 Nov event THE HEAT IS ON will be announced on this website and on social media on Wednesday 7 October.
THE SELECTION TIMETABLE
Thursday 1 Oct - *Long List announced (titles only) by email
Sun 4 Oct - *Short List announced (titles only) by email
Wed 7 Oct - THE AUTHORS & THEIR STORIES announced to all and added this website
* The L/L and S/L are announced only to those writers who submitted stories for this event, and are by title only to maintain author anonymity
THE HEAT IS ON
This event takes place on Sunday 8 November at the Lansdown Hall in Stroud. The ten winning authors will read their stories. Start time 7.30; doors 7.00. There will be a bar open for drinks, tea and coffee before the event and during the interval. The event is part of the Stroud Book Festival and is dedicated to the late Simon Piney, a SSS regular.
TICKETS
Tickets, priced at £12 go on sale from Friday 9 October on the Lansdown Hall website
Tickets, priced at £12 go on sale from Friday 9 October on the Lansdown Hall website
Thursday, 22 January 2026
THE HEAT IS ON - WE ARE OPEN FOR YOUR SUBMISSIONS FOR OUR 31st EVENT UNTIL 27 SEPTEMBER AT 23.59
+
OUR NEW ANTHOLOGY SSS VOLUME FOUR 2022-2025 - LAUNCH 8 OCTOBER
Submissions are open for all Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire writers until Sunday 27 September at 23.59. As always, it is free to submit your stories.
The theme is HEAT/HOT. I thought of the theme on a rather chilly day in June. Now we're all fed up with the heat. But your story doesn't have to be about a sunny day or a heatwave. Think of the theme as widely as possible. For example, you could write stories about fire, temperature, holidays, climate change, anger, an attractive ('hot') person or thing, passion, pressure, high stress ('the heat is on'), heat of the moment, insurrection, inflaming the senses, spicy food, cooking, 'hot gossip', hot-headed person, in hot pursuit, carrying a gun ('packing heat'), an illegal package or contraband, 'hot property', taking the heat out of a situation, etc etc. I'm sure you can think of more.
We are looking for well-crafted and engaging stories which will entertain, excite and inspire an audience. The dark, ironic and funny are very welcome.
Submissions close on Sunday 27 September. We will select 8 to10 stories for their authors to read at the event. The autumn SSS events has sold out in advance for the last 12 years, so you will almost certainly be reading to a capacity audience.
I am delighted to say that my co-judge this time will be award-winning short story author and novelist Joanna Campbell.
The stories selected will be in our anthology Stroud Short Stories Volume Five 2026-2029 to be published in 2029-2030.
Under SSS rules, those writers who read at our last event (All This Useless Beauty, Nov 2025) may not submit this time.
The event will not be recorded.
The Rules and How to Submit are here.
SSS Writing Tips are here.
Information about the judges is here.
TICKETS, priced at £12, go on sale from Friday 9 October on the Lansdown Hall website lansdownhall/whatson
THE SELECTION TIMETABLE
Thurs 1 Oct - *LONG LIST announced by email
Sun 4 Oct - *SHORT LIST announced by email
Wed 7 Oct - THE WINNERS (the writers who will read) announced by email and then on this website
*The L/L and S/L are announced only to those writers who submitted stories for this event, and are by title only to maintain author anonymity
The event is dedicated to SSS regular, the brilliant Simon Piney, who so sadly died in August 2026. 
It'll soon be time for us to launch our brand new anthology STROUD SHORT STORIES VOLUME FOUR 2022-2025 featuring 60 stories from our last 6 events by 40 Gloucestershire authors. It will be at the a launch for £12, the same price as previous anthologies.
The launch will be on Thursday 8 October from 7.30-9.30pm at the Stonehouse Court Hotel. Just call in at any time between those hours.The launch will be free to all. It will be an informal evening. No ticket needed. Everyone welcome. The bar will be open. Please come along, enjoy a chat and perhaps buy a copy.
The anthology will not be available before the launch.
John
Monday, 10 November 2025
Author pix from the November 2025 event ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY
Here are the authors who read/performed in front of an enthusiastic audience at our recent sell-out event at a new venue, the Lansdown Hall. Thank you to everyone who bought tickets and came along to support local authors.
We were delighted to be part of the Stroud Book Festival.
The authors are in the order in which they read/performed. Snaps by Ed Holland. Thank you, Ed.
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| Mark Rutterford who hosted the event |
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| Steve Wheeler The Beautiful Couple |
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| Hannah Glickstein I Make Him Sick |
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| Nikki Vivian Lamello Zeta P2 |
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| Christine Griffin The Rag-Rug Boy |
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| Simon Gowers The Camberwell Beauty |
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| Laura Kinnear Mary |
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| Poppy Lomax I'll Keep All of My Useless Beauty to Myself |
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| Author Rod Gowers with co-reader Natalie Lee 2050: A Conversation on Beauty |
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| Ruth Pilston Shrinkflation |
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| Rebecca Klassen Egg |
Friday, 31 October 2025
Wednesday, 1 October 2025
Ticket Information for 9 November 2025 ALL THIS USELESS BEAUTY + The Winning Authors and their Stories
TICKETS, priced at £12, for the Special 30th SSS event, All This Useless Beauty, are currently on sale from the Lansdown Hall website -
https://lansdownhall.org/stroud-short-stories-all-this-useless-beauty/
The event, part of the 2025 Stroud Book Festival, is on Sunday 9 November at the Lansdown Hall, Lansdown, Stroud, GL5 1BB. It starts at 7.30 (doors 7.30) and ends 9.45-10.00. There will be an interval and a bar selling alcoholic and non-alcohlic drinks including tea and coffee before the event and during the interval. When you book you can choose exactly where you sit.
Best to park in the Church Street Car Park and walk down the High Street to Lansdown.
This event will not be recorded.
HUGE THANKS to the 78 writers who submitted 112 stories on the theme of Beauty for our 9 November event All This Useless Beauty.
My co-judge this time, Ali Bacon, and I have announced the ten authors and their stories for the event. Here they are -
Hannah Glickstein - I Make Him Sick
Rod Gowers - 2050: A Conversation on Beauty
Simon Gowers - The Camberwell Beauty
Christine Griffin - The Rag-Rug Boy
Laura Kinnear - Mary
Rebecca Klassen - Egg
Poppy Lomax - I'll Keep all of my Useless Beauty to Myself
Ruth Pilston - Shrinkflation
Nikki Vivian - Lamello Zeta P2
Steve Wheeler - The Beautiful Couple
Sincere congratulations to these authors and thanks to them for submitting their brilliant stories to SSS. The stories range from the hilarious to the sad and poignant. There will be a sea voyage, a magnificent DIY tool, angels, a designer baby and, of course, an egg. It's going to be a great evening.
FIVE of the writers are new to SSS so will be the 137th, 138th, 139th, 140th and 141st writers to read at one of our events. Rod and Simon Gowers are brothers!
At the other end of things, Steve is reading for the ninth time and each of Hannah, Laura and Rebecca for the fourth time. It will be Ruth's second reading.
John
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