Stroud Short Stories is now closed for submissions to our 24 April 2016 event. Ticket info below!

The event will be held at the SVA (Stroud Valleys Artspace), John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA on Sunday 24 April at 8pm. Doors open at 7.30.

Thank you to everyone who sent us their stories. The response has been wonderful. 95 stories were submitted by 70 authors. They have been passed on to our judges, Nimue Brown and SSS organiser John Holland. The titles of the ten stories selected to be read by their authors will be announced as soon as possible and definitely by 8 April.

The event will not be recorded so please do come along.

Tickets for the event are only available online in advance from the SVA website

We always sell out so you may have to move quite quickly.

The event is for people aged 16 and over. Tickets are priced at £7. This is an increase on last year reflecting additional financial support for our venue, the SVA.
Please refer any tickets enquiries to the SVA Tel 01453 751440.

Stroud Short Stories is Open for Submissions to its 24 April 2016 Event. Deadline Saturday 19 March.

We now accepting short story submissions for our event to be held on Sunday 24 April 2016.  The deadline for submissions is the end of Saturday 19 March. 

Ten stories will be selected from those submitted to be read by their authors at Stroud Valleys Artspace (SVA), John Street, Stroud, GL5 2HA at 8pm. It will be our eleventh event, and is part of Stroud's celebrated Site Festival.

The last four events have sold out, and we expect this one to do so. The authors selected will therefore read their stories to an audience of 70 people.  They will also be offered a place in our next anthology - due 2018.

This time it's an open theme, so use any subject as the basis of your story. And write in any genre. Or none at all.

As always, submissions are free. We accept both unpublished and previously published work. And we are again seeking stories from writers with connections to Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

It is essential that you read the Rules & How to Submit before sending us your stories - Rules & How to Submit

Your stories will be judged "blind" so that the judges will not know your identity. Read more about our judges here - Judges

We are greatly looking forward to reading your stories.

Tickets will be available only online in advance from the SVA/Site Festival. We will post with more information when we know they are available.This event will not be videoed. Please come along.

Keep up to date on Twitter  @StroudStories

Why not watch the SSS November 2015 Eerie Evening on YouTube!

Or at least, choose the stories you want to see and hear - links below.

SSS now has a YouTube Channel so you can pick and choose the parts of the November 2015 Eerie Evening you want to see and hear.

This review by Nimue Brown from the Good on Paper website may help you decide what to listen to/watch.

The YouTube links below are in the order in which the stories were read on the evening. The sound/audio isn't perfect though.

Each videos starts with me reading the author's biography. Generally the sound quality improves for the reading as I personally seem to have achieved an indecipherable combination of slur and boom! Sadly there's more of me than usual at the beginning of our first reading (Kirsty's The Woman's Wraith) as I introduce the whole evening.

Thank you to the lovely author David Penny for the videos.

Kirsty Hartsiotis - The Woman's Wraith (includes the intro to the event)

Tony Stowell - The Spirit is Willing

Stephen Connolly - A Winter Wedding

Julie Wiltshire - The Unwanted Visitor

Daniel Gooding - Points to the Eye (read by Ed Holland)

Simon Piney - The Ghastly Rolling

Elizabeth Murphy - Breathing Exercises

Graham Bruce-Fletcher - Thrown Together

Judith Gunn - The Ghost in the Classroom

Andrew Stevenson - A Good Old-fashioned Copper


Of course, it's really no substitute for being there and we will be back as ever in the spring.


John Holland
Organiser, Stroud Short Stories

The SVA was crammed as usual for the Stroud Short Stories Eerie Evening on Sunday 15 November 2015. Thank you to everyone who came along.

Read the 21 November 2015 blog post by Kirsty Hartsiotis, our first author to read on the evening here

Here are the nine brilliant authors and one reader at the event - in the order in which they read -

Photos by Tim Byford. Thank you, Tim.

Kirsty Hartsiotis reads The Woman's Wraith

Tony Stowell reads The Spirit is Willing

Stephen Connolly reads A Winter Wedding

Julie Wiltshire reads The Unwanted Visitor

Ed Holland reads Points to the Eye by Daniel Gooding

Simon Piney reads The Ghastly Rolling

Elizabeth Murphy reads Breathing Exercises

Graham Bruce-Fletcher reads Thrown Together

Judith Gunn reads The Ghost in the Classroom

Andrew Stevenson reads A Good Old-fashioned Copper

A huge thank you to the nine authors and one reader who read at last night's SSS eerie evening (15 Nov 2015). They read brilliantly to a packed and appreciative SVA audience.

Snaps ("images") and hopefully a video of the evening will appear here.

The Line-up in Running Order for the Stroud Short Stories sold-out Eerie Evening Sunday 15 November at the SVA, John Street, Stroud. Doors 7.30 for 8.00 start.

FIRST HALF

1. The Woman's Wraith - Kirsty Hartsiotis

www.kirstyhartiotis.co.uk

http://firespringsfolktales.wordpress.com

The brand new book, Gloucestershire Ghost Tales, by Anthony Nanson and Kirsty is on sale at the event.

  

2. The Spirit is Willing - Tony Stowell

tonystowell.co.uk

  

3. A Winter Wedding - Stephen Connolly

https://planbsteve.wordpress.com/

4. The Unwanted Visitor - Julie Wiltshire

5. Points to the Eye - Daniel Gooding

Twitter  @dp_gooding

SECOND HALF

6. The Ghastly Rolling - Simon Piney

7. Breathing Exercises - Elizabeth Murphy

8. Thrown Together - Graham Bruce-Fletcher

https://gramegrief.wordpress.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GrahamBruceFletcher

9. The Ghost in the Classroom - Judith Gunn

https://judithgunn.wordpress.com/

10. A Good Old-fashioned Copper - Andrew Stevenson 

The Stroud Short Stories Eerie Evening on Sunday 15 November (Doors 7.30/Start 8.00) at the SVA in John Street, Stroud has now SOLD OUT.

There will be no tickets available at the door on the evening unless pre-booked.

Fabulous. Thank you, folks. We are all looking forward to the evening.