David Bowmore's Blog, page 4

ICWM Issue 2 Out Now !

ICWM Issue 2 Out Now !

Out Now !

The Inner Circles Writers' Magazine has already been described as the best magazine available to writers.

It's packed to the gills with great articles to help make you a better writer and chock full of brilliant fiction for people who like to read.

144 pages for only £2, alternatively get twelve issues for £20 - BARGAIN!

What are you waiting for ?

Inside you will find the first of a three part story by yours truly 'The Affair of The Missing Tiara'. I also have the honour to be the first interviewee for Desert Island Reads.

Just read on for everything else that's included.

I ask you - What's not to like ?

http://www.clarendonhousebooks.com/inner-circle-magazine-subscribe-

 

From the editor :

THE SECOND ISSUE OF THE WORLD'S MOST EXCITING WRITERS' MAGAZINE IS HERE!

It’s even brighter and bigger than the first! Inside, this is a glimpse of what you’ll find:

FICTION from David Bowmore, Gabriella Balcom, Peter Astle, William Masters, P. A. O’Neil, Jan McCulloch AND an amazing presentation of Part One of one of the greatest short stories ever written, THE MACHINE STOPS by E. M. Forster.

INTERVIEWS AND SNAPSHOTS with Rich Rurshell interviewing Kate McCoid, and the special first edition of a feature you won’t want to miss called DESERT ISLAND BOOKS with this month’s guest, David Bowmore.

EXPERT ADVICE from Dennis Doty on traditional publishing, Elizabeth Montague on fan fiction, Denise D’Souza telling us about her experiences in a writers’ workshop, Dr. María Jesu Estrada with tips for beginners, Gary Bonn on world-building, Mark Kodama writing about the Reptile Brain, Phil Ide on technological tools, Carmen Baca on marketing and our GRAMMAR NINJA feature with Samantha Hamilton.

ANALYSIS: Gary Bonn looks at THE PICNIC by Jan McCulloch.

ARTWORK featuring the beautiful photography of Denise O’Hagan.

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH Part Two by William Shakespeare, adapted by Grant P. Hudson.

THE G. P. HUDSON ART STUDIO presents a portrait of C. S. Lewis.

ARTICLES including A WINDOW INTO MIDDLE-EARTH: Gandalf the Fearful Part One and A PERSONAL HISTORY OF COMICS plus much more.

CONTESTS AND GAMES, NEWS, THE GREAT CLARENDON HOUSE WRITING CHALLENGE (which many of you will want to be part of), WRITERS’ WORLD, SUBMISSIONS STATION with links to publishers who are accepting submissions right now!

You’ll also find FREE GIFTS FOR EVERY READER and a SPECIAL SUBSCRIBERS’ PACKAGE OFFER

plus much more!

NOT YET SUBSCRIBED? Go here:

http://www.clarendonhousebooks.com/inner-circle-magazine-su…

It's only £2.00 per issue, or £20.00 for 12 issues!

You can also gift subscriptions to others - email me for details:

grant@clarendonhousebooks.com

Enjoy!

 

Blood Song Books

These chaps are looking for 100 word stories for three different anthologies.

I have just received my acceptance email and ‘He’s No Angel’ will be appearing in Volume 2 of these Tiny Tales anthologies.

They have more anthologies planned for Flash Fiction and Short Stories coming soon.

Follow the link for more info : https://bloodsongbooks.com/submissions/anthology-calls-micro-fiction/

Gold & WW4

Two important Announcements.

First : My story ‘Stasis Bunker’ has been selected to appear in the anthology World War 4, due for release on March 1st 2019 by Zombie Pirate Publications.

This epic collection will also feature a story by best-selling author Neal Asher. It is an absolute joy to appear in a book with him.

Find out more about Neal here, www.nealasher.co.uk

Second : Clarendon House are soon to publish a best of 2018 anthology which will feature all the winning stories from the collections released last year, plus some of Grant Hudson’s favourites.

Gold will include my winning story, ‘Sins of The Father’.

Find all the anthologies here, Clarendon House

This time last year, I hadn’t even finished a short story, let alone had one published.

And now I’m in a best of collection and also appearing in a book with a best-selling science fiction author – Who’d a thunk it!

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Free Flash Fiction For You

 

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A Christmas Carole

by

David Bowmore

Right then, how should I start?

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house…

No, that’s not how it was at all. It was noisy, too noisy and very far from quiet, what with every house in the neighbourhood setting off fireworks. And the telly was on too, with Ant and Dec doing their Secret Santa, tears and gifts at Christmas shmultz.

The neighbours were having a party and I was sure they would cause a power failure with their god-awful lights all over their house blinking and flashing in time to ‘Rockin’ around The Christmas Tree’. Cars had been pulling up with hooting horns all evening to disgorge or collect passengers in various states of inebriation.

For that year’s festivities I was at my son’s. He was on the phone having a row with his ex-wife about the holiday arrangements for their five year old son, my grandson, Ben. She had changed her mind and wanted Ben to be with her and her parents. Honestly, families? At that point, I wished I’d stayed at home.

My son’s girlfriend sat in the corner, with a face like thunder and I knew as soon as the first row had ended another would start with her.

I poured myself a whiskey and soda, which earned me a warning look from my son who thought I drank too much anyway.

The doorbell rang, ‘Ding Dong Merrily on High’ in electronic monotone. The girlfriend, Pamela, answered as I held Ben by the hand and the singers began their carol. She closed the door on them before they were halfway through the first verse of ‘Joy To The World’.

“What did you do that for?” I asked.

“I don’t have time for carollers,” she said.

“But, it’s for charity.”

“Not my problem. I’ve got Christmas dinner to get ready and John clearly prefers chatting with his ex,” she said, returning to her sulk and her phone. My grandson sat on the floor and picked up his tablet to continue watching cartoons.

I still don’t understand the younger generations. Didn’t they know anything? I may be an old grump, but anyone stupid enough to be out on a night like that, for a good cause, deserved a little appreciation.

I went to the door and saw the group of singers outside another house along the street. Snow was falling, and I only had house slippers on my feet, so I wanted to be quick.

I interrupted the end of ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks’ to put five pounds in the collection bucket. Time slowed as I looked in to the face of the woman holding the collection bucket. I recognised the deep, dark eyes and there was a smell of orange and jasmine that brought back the memory of youth and laughter.

“The girl at number ‘42’ should have given you something, I’m sorry,” was what I meant to say, but instead I said, “Didn’t you used to be Carole Hartnoll from Saint Mary’s High School?” and she said, “Yes, yes I did. And I think you’re Paul Browne. After all these years. Why don’t you stay for a bit, sing a carol or two?” I said I wasn’t really dressed for the event but invited her over for a drink after they had finished.

The whole choir arrived an hour later.

We ran out of booze and John had to go to the supermarket for more.  Not a task I envied.

The choir conductor, a cook from the local primary school, helped Pamela with food preparations. A lot of fuss was made of my grandson. Songs were sung, and friends were made. Memories were awoken, and arguments forgotten.

It was a brilliant Christmas. The love that blossomed in my heart for Carole was the best present anyone could hope for.

We had five wonderful years together, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

No 1 in France

Following my earlier post, both Fireburst and Cadence (Clarendon House Pub) reached the top of the Kindle charts in France.

Amazing, now I can say I am a best selling author and poet – Whoop Whoop !

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Fireburst Voting

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I finished reading Fireburst a little while ago and now have the arduous task of picking my three favourite stories.
Once again, Grant Hudson of Clarendon House has assembled another fine collection.
I joked to some friends on FB that I’d shortlisted about sixty stories for best in book. The quality is that good and at the risk of sounding self-effacing, it’s a wonder my experimental piece was even considered, let alone selected to appear inside.

The very first story by AK Hata, The Girl Who Glowed is a powerful retelling of actual historical events, and one girl’s fight against deadly working conditions. It’s an outright winner, and a blisteringly good start to the collection. One of my votes for best in book.

And don’t think Grant put all the good stuff at the front. Keep reading to the end before moving on to something else. A real gem sits two or three stories from the end from Brandy Bonifas. The Clock Struck Twelve is haunting storytelling based on real life dangers – utterly brilliant. This is also one of my top three.

I have yet to choose my third favourite, it could be
Date Night by Rich Rurshell
Be Nice To Georgie by RLM Cooper
Not Being Me by Gary Bonn
A Dream Life by Lael Brady
Veterans We Two by Jan McCulloch

Seriously, it’s seems unfair to ask is to choose only three when the talent is so amazing.

If you haven’t read Fireburst yet, then try before the deadline for votes on December 24th.

Enigma

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Here’s a blurb for my short story, ‘A Surfeit of Death’ which is to be included in Enigma: The Inner Circle Writers’ Groups Crime/Mystery/Thriller Anthology

July 1936

Heiress Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

The family of Isabelle Balantine are in shock today, after the glamorous socialite died under unexplained circumstances at the family’s Mayfair house.

You can be sure the culprit won’t be able to avoid the long arm of the law with Superintendent Richard Allinson on the case.

Rapture, Rejections and Release

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I’m a slow writer. Ideas are forced into my head, float around for a bit, get written down at some point and then evolve into something else. It takes me a long time to get a story ready for submission. Just saying.

So, I consider myself fortunate to have had a relative amount of success in my first year of writing.

Early this week, I had was informed that my flash fiction ‘April Violets’ has been accepted for inclusion in Rapture: The Inner Circle Writers’ Group Romance Anthology 2018.

It will be the third story of mine that Clarendon House have agreed to publish. The first ‘Sins of The Father’ appeared in Vortex, and the second ‘Gods and Owls’ was in Fireburst.

I also had a poem ‘Run or Hide?’ in Cadence.

Zombie Pirate Publishing have also accepted a flash fiction of mine called ‘Serve Cold’.

And Dastaan World Magazine are publishing my horror story, ‘Standing Stones’ on Halloween. I was lucky to appear in another of their magazines with ‘A Bullet for The Horse’.

That’s seven acceptances – not bad for a beginner (if I may blow my own trumpet for a minute).

Of course, I’ve had rejections too – I thought ‘Standing Stones’ might never find a home as it was rejected three times prior to being accepted by DWM.

I’m old enough to realise that the word ‘No’ is a big part of life, and have never been upset by a rejection. In fact expecting to receive a rejection is probably a good thing. When the yes comes I am always very pleased, and more than a little bit surprised.

And the point is, if a story gets rejected, keep trying to find it a home. Never give up.

Being a newbie to all this, I’m going to borrow this idea from one of my favourite authors, P.G Wodehouse – If you get rejected by a publisher, send your work to another. If a publisher likes your writing and agrees to publish, send them more.

The year might well have yielded more rejections, but a large amount of my writing time has been taken up with getting a collection of short stories together for Clarendon House. This has entered the editing stage and will shortly be making its way over to Grant Hudson for him to slot into his reading schedule and (with luck) his approval.

I hope for the book to be released into the wild next year.

 

 

Dastaan World – Evolution

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I’ve just finished the current issue of Dastaan World Magazine, entitled ‘Evolution’ and it’s a corker.

In keeping with the title of the current chapter, the Dastaan World website has had an upgrade, with lots panels that slide and flip, both in and up, and other fancy stuff too. Please forgive my overzealous use of technical jargon.

The magazine does not disappoint, in fact it’s a hit. Some highlights follow, although there’s more to it than these excellent stories.

‘The Obelisk’ by Patt O’Neill is worth reading several times. Patt has written a light hearted short that makes you ask the question, What are the politicians really hiding? With each reading a new aspect to the story will present itself to you.

Bruce Rowe’s ‘Deliverance at The Crossroads’ is an excellent and engaging morality tale, that explores one of the great music myths.

Aditya Deshmukh kicks off his residency as master of the drabble with two excellent pieces – ‘Sunlight’ and ‘Madness’. I will look forward to reading more of his work in forthcoming chapters.

And as usual everything is accompanied by great artwork and photography.

And it’s still free
http://dastaanworld.com/magazine/

Great work guys

Dastaan World Magazine

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Dastaan World Magazine is a new FREE ezine edited by Umair Mirxa.
It has a high-end feel which is beautifully presented with inspiring graphics and artwork. Four issues have been produced so far, and you can see the quality improving with each monthly release. These chaps have a long future ahead of them.
The simple premise behind the magazine is to showcase talent from all areas of art and culture.

The magazine is packed with interesting photography. Has lists and articles about music and films. It also features poetry and fiction, for which artists design interesting accompanying images.
The latest edition included a short piece of flash I wrote called ‘A Bullet for The Horse’ and I was honoured to have a beautiful image, created by Hazan Kazim, to go along with it.

Also appearing is an atmospheric mystery thriller, ‘The Wager’ by Mehreen Ahmed, and poems by Kelly Rivera and Shawn Klemik. (Shawn’s poem is possibly the most beautiful thing I have ever read.) And not forgetting an interesting interview with Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publishing – if you haven’t heard of him, check out the website http://www.clarendonhousebooks.com



Get a FREE copy of the magazine here http://dastaanworld.com/magazine/






From the Dastaan World facebook page –




“We wish to record history while it’s being made, and yet with a different global narrative. For there is simply too much talk of war and death, hate and crime, politics and corruption. We talk instead about literature, art, music, film and theatre, sports, and everything else under the sun that is creative, productive, and beautiful.

Dastaan World is a community for writers and poets, artists and musicians. For foodies and travellers and photographers. For singers and actors, performers of all sorts. For readers, movie buffs, and bingers of every show ever made for television. It is a hive for collaboration among creative people. It is the place to meet, work together with, learn from, and maybe even teach, like-minded individuals from a variety of different fields and industries. It is a salon for literary and creative debates late into the night, and for the sharing of ideas, language, and culture with people from all over the world.”



Visit their FB page
 www.facebook.com/DastaanWorld/
or their website
 http://dastaanworld.com/magazine/




Did I mention that it’s FREE !