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Subscription (2 issues) £18.00
or £10 per issue
1110: One Photograph One Story Ten Poems
Eireann Lorsung (Ed)
This new international journal features one photograph, one short story and ten poems - hence the title - in a simple and beautifully-produced format which is published bi-annually in March and September. Designed and edited by Eireann Lorsung (who also runs Nottingham Poetry Series), great care has been taken to produce a magazine that, in their words, ‘showcases the work of writers and artists we admire with grace, simplicity and dignity, and introduces readers to something new’. Issue 1 (March 2011) included Shana Youngdahl and Laressa Dickey - familiar names from the ‘I Am An American Poet’ conference held in Nottingham last year - and the inventive, high-quality writing embraces multiple styles and worlds of experience. Issue 2 will be available from September, featuring Stephanie N Johnson, Sharon Bryan and George Szirtes. 1110 accepts submissions on a rolling basis throughout the year, with guidelines available on their website. Aly Stoneman
Usborne, £6.99
The Truth About Celia Frost
Paula Rawsthorne
Celia has spent her entire 14 years of existence suffering from a rare blood disorder. The slightest of cuts could prove fatal. But the book opens with a knife attack that shakes Celia’s isolated life to the core. Her mother, motivated by a dark secret, forces reluctant Celia on the run, and a private detective is hired to hunt them down. Celia, struggling to grow up, defies her obsessive mother and befriends an Ethiopian immigrant. Can the two of them solve the mystery of Celia’s past and escape the impending danger? This is a Young Adult thriller with a steady stream of twists. The characters are well drawn, convincing and appealing; the Frosts hide away in the council flats from Hell, a violent neighbourhood sharply evoked by Rawsthorne. The story is as much a coming-of-age as it is suspenseful. Celia’s faltering, painful journey to independence is beautifully captured, backing up the thrills with honesty and depth. Ian Douglas
Lulu, £9.99
Poems the Lord Smacked Into Me
Tom Hathaway
LeftLion contributor and Full Bacon Jacket author Tom Hathaway (aka the Shedfixman), spent the best part of the eighties drunk and wreaking havoc across the Nottingham music scene with his band The Chimneys. The expected musings about boozing are present, from the twelve-word Dutch ditty Alcoolism to the comparatively polite Just A Splash More, Mr Ashmore. There is evidence of Hathaway’s time as an ex-pat in the homesick Ieper and the uncharacteristically tender Every Road. The requisite amount of delighting in bad language in the likes of The Nicest Turd, Symbolic Shambollocks and The Fouling of St. Just. Like a vicar who has spent too much time alone with the communion wine, Hathaway is full of righteous - and sometimes incoherent - indignation. But when the words do register, they seems even more tender than ever - like on the beautifully rhythmic In The Event of My Untimely Death. Jared Wilson
Available from Amazon
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