Reading recommendations

I still haven’t got a kindle. Don’t feel sorry for me, as I am more than adequately techied up. I do have the kindle app which means I can read on my iPhone or my iPad so I’m not missing out. Here are a few e-book recommendations.

It must be so interesting being a crime writer. I was sitting in Starbucks the other day reading this crime thriller and I had to google 'can you get DNA from vomit?' Imagine your days filled with questions like that. My friend and former Novel Racer, Mel has just published her first book, Taunting the Dead, featuring DS Allie Shenton. I love a novel with had a strong sense of place – in Stoke on Trent – I loved all the references to the pottery industry.) It was gritty and a brilliant page-turner. I recommend it to anyone who likes to get into a gory crime.

My second recommendation is an anthology, Tears and Laughter and Happy Ever After.  A collection of twenty-six short stories written by a group of women who have had hundreds of stories published in women’s magazines. They’ve written novels, had stories win prizes in competition and there’s something here for everyone. I love a short story in between my first love – novels.

Tears and Laughter and Happy Ever After includes stories by Cally Taylor, Bernadette James, Tamsyn Murrary, Jill Steeples, Jenny Maltby, Deborah Carr, Karen Clarke, Sally Quilford, Kathleen McGurl, Sarah Dunnakey, Helen Kara, Helen M Hunt and Leigh Forbes.

My third recommendation is Five Stop Story: Short Stories to Read in 5 Stops on Your Commute. Five Stop Story is an electronic publisher specializing in short stories by new writers that you can read in five stops on the underground – or indeed, the BTS. Since their inception they’ve had over 1,000 entries to their competitions and this ebook features 30 of the best stories from those entries. 

And, look at the cover! Isn’t it just beautiful?

A short story competition at Five Stop Story

Please welcome my guest Ruth Heald who gave a talk at the recent Bangkok Literary Festival about her project ‘Five Stop Story.’

Welcome to my blog Ruth. Five Stop Story is an intriguing title; what’s it about?

A “five stop story” is a story you can read in five stops on the tube in London, or in about 10 minutes.

I started the Five Stop Story project to discover and publish short stories that can easily fit into modern lives. As people get busier and busier they find it harder and harder to find the time to read. At the same time, they now have the technology to read on the move. They no longer have to lug a book around in the hope that they will find somewhere to read it. They can read on a mobile phone, an ipad or a Kindle.

So people have less time, but they can now read anywhere. This means that they can fill their spare moments with fiction. They can read on the tube to work, or while they are waiting to meet someone for coffee. The ideal medium for these spare moments is the short story; fiction that will fill the time, but you won’t have to abandon half way through.

Five Stop Story aims to fill these spare moments with stories by new writers. We are running regular competitions to discover these writers and the competition prize includes publication on the website and our forthcoming mobile application. The mobile application will enable people to read stories by up and coming writers on the move. 

The Five Stop Story website launched in November 2010 and the first competition ran in January 2011. Five Stop Story is supported by the Arts Council and will be launching its mobile application in September this year.

The theme of the current competition is travel and we are looking for stories of 1,500 to 2,500 words. As well as publication on the website and mobile application, the overall winner will receive a copy of the book A Moral Murder & Other Tales from the Blue Hills by Sangeetha Shinde Tee. 

To find out more and read the stories by previous winners please visit our website. 

Thanks for the guest post Ruth and the very best of luck with the competition.

The deadline for short story entries is Sunday 26th June. Ruth's blog can be found here and you can follow her on Twitter @FiveStopStory.