An extract from Mark Wightman’s debut novel, Waking the Tiger, published by Hobeck in June 2021 The air in the small office was as still as a dead cat in a gutter. Betancourt lifted the rattan chicks that covered the windows in a futile attempt to take advantage of what little breeze there was, […]
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ALIX KNOWS THE CHAIRS ARE UNCOMFORTABLE BECAUSE SHE HAS TWO AT HOME
An extract from Andrea Mason’s novel, The Cremation Project Wed 5 Aug Alix cycles to the Serpentine Gallery. Alix gets into the red-sheeted bed. Alix has the choice to enter the exhibition to the left or the right. Alix knows the chairs are uncomfortable because she has two at home. Alix puts her bag […]
Wife of Osiris
An extract from Meryl Pugh’s pamphlet, Wife of Osiris, published by Verve Poetry Press in May 2021. She dreamt, she remembers, the night she signed the contract. Something about a bathtub, something about a surgical saw. She stares at the tunnel wall. The platform is deserted. Something about her leg. If she […]
Out of the Shadows
An extract from Out of the Shadows: Six Visionary Victorian Women in Search of a Public Voice by Emily Midorikawa, which is published by Counterpoint Press in the USA and UK in May 2021. Seen and Not Heard One warm spring evening in 1853, Queen Victoria was staying at Osborne House, her opulent holiday […]
Lunch
‘Lunch’ is a story from Anna Wood’s debut collection Yes Yes More More, published by Indigo Press and available at all good bookshops, including this one The tablecloth is thick white cotton. Two wine glasses and cloth napkins, the sun shining in and everything crisp and sparkling. Frank is looking at the menu. He […]
The Anthill
An extract from Julianne Pachico’s debut novel, The Anthill, published in the UK by Faber & Faber in May 2021 —I love feeling like I’m in danger, the Welsh girl tells her as they rattle up the hill. When I was in Brazil and went into the favelas, I’ve never felt more alive. There were guys […]
Sixteen Horses
An extract from Sixteen Horses, the debut novel by Greg Buchanan, published by Mantle in April 2021. CHAPTER ONE ‘Legs, eleven,’ the voice called. ‘Does anyone have legs, eleven?’ No answer came. Seagulls perched on top of paint-flaked facades and black iron lamp-posts. Neon logos screamed ST GEORGE’S CHARCOAL GRILL, TROPICAL CAFE, CAESAR’S […]
Two poems from sikfan glaschu
Two poems from sikfan glaschu, the debut poetry collection by UEA alumnus Sean Wai Keung, published by Verve Press in April 2021 lanzhou noodle the thing about places where you can see into the cooking area / kitchen is that you really can see it all – the amount of physical effort that every single […]
The Imposter
An extract from Anna Wharton’s debut novel, The Imposter, published by Mantle on 1 April, 2021 Out in the Fens the roads are long and straight. There’s often a camber each side which slopes into a grassy bank and then further still into a dyke, one side or the other, occasionally both. Through the windscreen […]
Common Ground
Common Ground is the debut novel by UEA alumna Naomi Ishiguro and is published by Tinder Press on 25 March 2021. This is an extract from the first chapter: Goshawk Common, Newford, Surrey. Not the most remark- able expanse of open country, scrubby grass and tumbling hillside in the south of England, just as […]