Henshaw Treats Anthology

 

All Royalties from this book go to 'Save the Children'.

This is the first anthology to be produced by Henshawpress and contains thirty two of the prize winning and highly commended stories from our Henshaw Short Story Competitions over the years 2013 and 2014.

It is an eclectic mix of lovely stories of human relations: romance, crime, humour, ghosts, gangsters, and politics all are here. There is something for everyone. It is full of previously unpublished stories that are both thought and emotion provoking and will bring tears to your eyes and smiles to your lips.


 

Henshaw Treats is available in paperback from all good booksellers orAmazon.

 


Contents


Annie by Anita Bodle
Witness by Dianne Bown-Wilson
The Three Disgraces by Sharon Boyle
The Journey by Lori Butterworth
The Grass is Always Greener by Andrew Campbell-Kearsey
Poked by An Alien by Mel Ciavucco

The Hero by Lorraine Cook
Sorry I'm Not For Sale by N. Coombs
A Dutiful Daughter by Jacqui Cooper

Getting into Narnai by Penny Rogers
The Butcher who Wanted to Garden by Elizabeth Ducie
Blue Rabbit by Clare Girvan
Grilled Halloumi with Daniel by Christine Griffin
No Place Like Home by Andrew Campbell-Kearsey
The Whereabouts of Cissie Flood by Sharon Boyle
The White Glove by Louise Hird
Dead Greedy by Carole Jones
Waiting for Spring by Tamara Jones
The Leopard’s Reward by Gerard Loughran
Backfire by Sue Lovett
The Ballard of the Family Glue by  Ceri Lowe-Petraske
Benny and Doll’s Nice Day Out by Dianne Bown-Wilson
The One O’clock Gun by Stewart J  Lowe
Time to Flee by Shirley Muir
Tomatoes by Emma Palmer
Annoying Louisa by Kate Stevens
Forbidden Fruit by Susan Rogers
A Sow’s Ear by George Tysley
North Shore by Lynne Voyce
The Bagman by Sam Adams
Nellie by Anita Bodle
Name Recognition by Andrew Campbell-Kearsey

 

 

 

 

Author Biographies


Anita Bodle

 

I was born and bred in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. However, I was brought up with two cultures for my dad was  from Doncaster and my mum was from the North of Italy. As a child and all through my teenage years, the main holiday of the year was going to stay with my Italian relatives.

 

I began work as an office junior, and for thirteen years worked as an assistant buyer for a retail company.

 

After the birth of my daughter, I stayed at home to look after her, returning to work as a learning support assistant, when my daughter started school.

 

I have always loved to write, and my preference is short stories with a romantic theme to them. I attend a writing group once a week, which I find very inspiring. To date I have won prizes in three competitions and have had two mini stories published on a site by the name of 101 words.

 

Sharon Boyle

 

Sharon has always been a writer in her head, making things up about her life to make it more interesting than it could ever hope to be. Then she decided to get some words down on paper, and after having the nerve to send off some half-baked excruciating efforts to competitions, garnered enough feedback to realise just how much she had to polish up her pieces.

She has been seriously writing in her spare time for about seven years now and has had a few stories, flash and poems published on-line and in printed magazines such as Henshaw Press, Writers’ Forum, Ink Tears, Moth Magazine and Sentinel Literary. She was winner of the HISSAC short story prize 2016 and the Exeter Short Story comp 2017.

When not writing she pretend-works at her part-time job in a hardware store where she is absolutely no use at all in the DIY dept. She has completed one year of the OU course MA in Creative Writing. She has started a blog, a brave step for a Luddite like herself, which can be found at boyleblethers.wordpress.com

 

 

Lorraine Butterworth

 

Lorraine regards her working life as chequered and nomadic.

 

A Hampshire childhood was followed by university in the Midlands. A brief flirtation with IT, then a short-term commission in the WRAF led to teaching (English to 11-18 year olds). A delight, she says, but threatened by promotion to a desk!

 

And so the Business World. Fine Arts & Antiques, then PR & Marketing in East Anglia for a time before relocation to the South West, running her own company organising international conferences and business events, country-wide. Eight years later, tired of continuous travelling and hotel rooms, it was onward yet again. She qualified in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) before, eighteen months later, repeat restlessness thrust her into the financial world.

 

Looking back, she realises her failure to recognise the obvious common thread throughout her working life – writing. She had managed, without registering it, to ensure it was part of every position. This proverbial ‘light-bulb moment’ brought unassailable clarity and she was able to leave finance to write full-time. Poorer, but happy at last.

 

Then, however, a salutary lesson, mentioned in case it helps others. “Despite the various types of writing in my ‘Renaissance woman’ working life, and notwithstanding the degree in English,” she says wryly, “I was unaware that Creative Writing is a subject in its own right, with rules of which I was ignorant. The next two years brought the necessary lessons, making it possible for me to write short stories and this, my debut novel, Mary Darling.”

 

 

Mel Ciavucco

 

Mel Ciavucco is a Bristol-based fiction writer and blogger. She writes novels, screenplays and short stories, which range from gritty emotional dramas to gross-out zombie comedies. Mel writes about gender equality and body positivity on her own blog and has been published by online feminist magazines Bust and Zusterschap. She has had short stories published both online and in print, and was a 'notable contender' for the bristol Short Story Prize in 2013.

Mel has made appearances on the Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC2, plus BBC Radio Bristol and Radio 5 Live. She was recently called the 'Liam Gallacher of flash' for downing half a bottle of wine on stage and swearing profusely during a story performance in a \Flash Slam.

 

She is one of the co-founders of Stokes Croft Writers - they run a bi-monthly storytelling event in Bristol called Talking Tales.

 

http://melciavucco.weebly.com/

Twitter: @MCiavucco

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mel-Ciavucco-Writer-417155455050439/

 

 

Elizabeth Ducie

 

Elizabeth Ducie was born and brought up in Birmingham. As a teenager, she won a European holiday in a newspaper writing competition. Despite this promising start in the literary world, she took scientific qualifications and spent more than thirty years as a manufacturing consultant, technical writer and small business owner, publishing a number of pharmaceutical text books along the way. She returned to creative writing in 2006, writing short stories for competitions.  In 2012, she closed down her technical consultancy in order to concentrate full-time on her writing. In 2013 she graduated from Exeter University with an MA in Creative Writing

 

Under the Chudleigh Phoenix Publications imprint, she has published one solo collection of short stories and co-authored another two. She also writes and lectures on business skills for writers running their own small business. Her debut novel, Gorgito’s Ice rink, was published in 2014; it was runner up in the 2015 Writing Magazine Self-Published Book of the Year Awards. She is currently writing thrillers set in the sometimes murky world of international pharmaceuticals. Counterfeit! was published in 2016; Deception! followed it in 2017. The final part of the trilogy, Corruption! will be published in 2018.

 

Having left Birmingham to study in London, Elizabeth lived for more than twenty years in Wilmington, Kent. In 2007, she moved to the South West of England, where she lives with her husband, Michael, in a converted granary sited picturesquely on the banks of, and occasionally within the path of, a small stream.

 

 

Louise Hird

 

I enjoy all forms of writing, especially short stories. Some of my stories have been successful in writing competitions, being published in magazines and online. I have won first prizes, second, runner up and third prize, as well as been shortlisted. I write stories that are inspired by my life experiences and the challenges of life. I enjoy exploring the complexities of human life and relationships. I like to write stories of hope in bad times.

 

I am writing a novel for the Young Adult market, based on my short story, “Sophia,” that won first prize in The British Red Cross short story competition. It is a story about a girl that has been stolen and is sex trafficked.

 

Over the last year, I’ve been writing as a ghost writer, writing a biography for an elderly lady that wanted me to write her life story. It is nearly finished, and we are hoping to either get a publisher or to self-publish the story. It has been a very different writing process from writing short stories, and has been good practice for my novel writing.

 

Me and my daughter are writing a cook book, which is a collection of our favourite family recipes. The recipes are plant based and healthy, as well as tasty and easy to do. Together, we write a blog that shares our recipes and the things we get up to in the kitchen.  Our blog is called, “In the kitchen with Em and Lou.”

 

 

Susan Rogers

 

I was born in the North East town of Hartlepool.

 

With an interest in matters of the mind and human behaviour, I studied psychology at Warwick University before starting a 35 years career in marketing.

 

Life is too short, so in 2012 I started planning my second life so that I could ensure I did everything I wanted to before I die. Yes - the proverbial “bucket list”.

 

This came to fruition in 2013 when I moved from Buckinghamshire where I'd been living for 15 years, to North Yorkshire.

 

My interests and hobbies are wide and varied, but my three main loves (apart from my dogs) are long haul exploratory travel, music (I have a jazz band) and writing. I also indulge in ‘TV watching hobbies’ such as quilting, pyrography and spinning. I am also a Rotarian and public speaker.

 

To date I have written three travelogues in the “Travelling Solo” series, which are available in paperback and Kindle via Amazon. I am currently studying for a Masters in Creative Writing and my ambition is to write psychological thrillers.

 

I enjoy all forms of writing, especially short stories. Some of my stories have been successful in writing competitions, being published in magazines and online. I have won first prizes, second, runner up and third prize, as well as been shortlisted. I write stories that are inspired by my life experiences and the challenges of life. I enjoy exploring the complexities of human life and relationships. I like to write stories of hope in bad times.

 

I am writing a novel for the Young Adult market, based on my short story, “Sophia,” that won first prize in The British Red Cross short story competition. It is a story about a girl that has been stolen and is sex trafficked.

 

Over the last year, I’ve been writing as a ghost writer, writing a biography for an elderly lady that wanted me to write her life story. It is nearly finished, and we are hoping to either get a publisher or to self-publish the story. It has been a very different writing process from writing short stories, and has been good practice for my novel writing.

 

Me and my daughter are writing a cook book, which is a collection of our favourite family recipes. The recipes are plant based and healthy, as well as tasty and easy to do. Together, we write a blog that shares our recipes and the things we get up to in the kitchen.  Our blog is called, “In the kitchen with Em and Lou.”

 

 

Gerard Loughran

 

Born and educated in Newcastle upon Tyne, Gerard Loughran embarked on a 48-year career in journalism as a 17-year-old junior reporter for The Northern Echo. After editing duties with the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, he moved abroad and spent the remainder of his 48-year-career in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. This included more than a dozen years in senior editorial capacities for the Daily Nation of Kenya, and 18 years as a foreign correspondent for the American news agency, United Press International.

 

For UPI, Loughran was successively bureau chief in Beirut, Paris and Moscow, covering the rise of the Palestinian guerrilla movements (and being taken hostage by one of them), the Yom Kippur war, Vietnam peace negotiations in the French capital and the stirrings of anti-Soviet dissent in the fading years of Leonid Brezhnev. In 1976, he was appointed head of international news in New York.

 

Six years later, Loughran accepted an invitation from the Aga Khan, founder and principal shareholder of the Nation group of newspapers, to return to Europe and establish a service providing news of the little-reported developing nations.  Compass News Features operated from Luxembourg and later London. Prior to retirement, Loughran wrote a history of the Nation group to mark its 50th anniversary in 2010. Birth of a Nation was widely hailed as an honest and accurate assessment of the newspapers and the nation of Kenya, both born in the same year.

 

 

Sue Lovett

 

Sue Lovett’s short stories have appeared in several publications including The Weekly News and Mint Anthology and have been longlisted for the Bath Short Story Award. She is currently seeking representation for her first novel Lost for Words and editing her second When It Rains Here: contemporary works that combine romance and comedy with twists and turns that keep her reader guessing.

 

A Management Training Consultant in a previous life, she is now a freelance writer, a Masters graduate in Creative Writing from ARU and a member of the Romantic Novelists’Association.

 

She lives with her family in rural Essex where she walks the fields with her dogs to unknot plot conundrums and never refuses chocolate or champagne.

 

 

Henshaw Press in social networks

Print | Sitemap
Henshaw Press (inc Parlow Press)