June started with the news that my publisher had finished reading The Magic of Deben Market. He was glowing with praise, so much so that I thought he might have mixed the book up with someone else’s. The cover we had decided on a few months earlier – It is my own creation from the website Canva using one of their free images. Then before you know it, he (the publisher) says the preview is in his hands and that we should meet and have chat. We live relatively close to each other, hence I became the first Clarendon House author to meet the esteemed Grant Hudson.

A few days after our meeting, the book was ready and up on Amazon and Lulu, and folks on Facebook started saying they were ordering and then a few said they were impressed. It is a nerve-wracking thing knowing your work is out there and people are judging it. However, it already has a five star review.

Within a few days The Magic of Deben Market had entered the Top Ten in the French Kindle charts for anthologies – I am truly a best selling author now.

Aside from Deben Market news, Zombie Pirate Publishing also published their eighth collection entitled Full Metal Horror 2, which included my first attempt at horror – ‘The Butcher of Blengarth.’

The ICWG magazine came out with my western story ‘His Mama’s Son’ in a competition with four other very well written tales, each exactly 1,000 words in length. Reader votes will determine the final three.

Dastaan World Magazine also came out, which included my story ‘A Bit of Belief’.

Towards the end of the month, Black Hare Press released their first collection of drabbles – Worlds. A drabble is a story told in exactly 100 words, and I have five included in the anthology. I have had five drabbles included in each of their upcoming collections. It was a fantastic launch campaign, which saw the book reach number one in Australia earning it a ‘Best Seller’ orange badge.

To top it all off, I have submitted at least a half dozen stories to various anthologies and competitions.

I wonder what July will bring?

Here's an excerpt from my publisher about 'Sins of The Father' - my first story to be accepted anywhere.

"I was first struck by David Bowmore’s writing when reading his story ‘Sins of the Father’ which he submitted for publication to the Clarendon House anthology Vortex  in 2018. The story went on to win the most votes from readers and earned David the chance to put together his own collection of tales, recently released as The Magic of Deben Market. It was a deserved opportunity and has resulted in a great collection, but I wanted to try to elucidate for you some of the reasons why I think the story was so successful.

‘Sins of the Father’ begins straightforwardly as a confession tale, effectively asking the reader’s permission to tell it: ‘I will tell you everything, but please let me tell it my own way. I won't leave anything out.’ It’s a subtle thing, I know, but the remark ‘I won’t leave anything out’ is a miniature attention-sucking vacuum: ‘What exactly is it,’ the reader thinks, ‘that might be left out?’ And so we are admitted into the story world, which turns out to be a fascinating glimpse of late-70’s Britain."

To read more, visit the Clarendon House website or click the link below

David Bowmore: A Look at 'Sins of the Father'

So excited I am shaking a little bit.

The Magic of Deben Market is out now !

On the fourth of June last year I had my first story published in Vortex. It did so well in the readers' vote that I received the chance of creating my own collection for Clarendon House.

I was honoured and lost for words, but had very little back catalogue to draw on. So for the past year I have been creating what was to become The Magic of Deben Market.

All the stories are set in the in the same strange town with characters popping up in each other's stories and some cross-over storytelling going on too.

Here's the blurb written by the publisher

The Magic of Deben Market by David Bowmore

"It's rare to find a short story collection of such power as this: adjectives such as 'haunting', 'poignant', 'vivid' and 'rich' come to mind, but these are clichés which fail to capture the enigmatic and dynamic magic locked inside this book. Bowmore weaves a complex tale of interwoven characters around the imaginary coastal town of Deben Market on Britain's east coast, but he does this with such skill that you'll immediately find yourself wanting to read these stories again and again. In effect, the book is a kind of quasi-novel, layered, soul-stirring, utterly gripping - at times, wistful, at times comic, and at other times breathtakingly suspenseful and supremely thrilling. Do yourself a favour: come to Deben Market. The magic may never leave you."

Visit Clarendon House for the purchase links

Writing is a lonely old game, making up these characters and worlds, and trying to make them sound believable.

In my small writing world, I never meet anyone at all to do with writing. In fact, outside my household, I barely know anyone who reads books.

So, it was a joy and an honour today when I had the unique pleasure of meeting the one and only Grant Hudson, of Clarendon House Publications. We only live about forty minutes from each other. And with my book ‘The Magic of Deben Market’ soon to be released we thought we should get together and have a chat about marketing and all other sorts of important things like signing contracts.

Like some sort of adventurer on a quest, he packed his bag and set off eastwards, arriving in time for lunch, just after second breakfast.

Grant, my wife Jai and I sat at the dining table and proceeded to spend four hours talking about Doctor Who, the joys of teaching, comic books, our individual experiences of our time in Australia, living in London, reading, and owning more books than it is possible to ever read in a lifetime. We ate sandwiches and drank tea and coffee (not in the same cup). And then started admiring each other’s books, the conversation went something like this
‘Deben Market is masterful.’

‘Thank you, but it wouldn't have been possible without How Stories Really Work.’

(It really wasn't that sycophantic - honest.)

We even signed each other's book. That was weird, seeing my effort bound and looking real. On the cover, the old man was looking me in the eye as if knowing it had all been worth it. What once were only flights of fantasy are now real and tangible. And anyone who reads the book, hopefully, will feel the reality too.

Was marketing discussed? Yes.

But more importantly, I met a thoroughly decent bloke who has a passion for what he is doing and here’s the thing I really want to say - one of my Facebook acquaintances became a real-life friend.

For more information about Grant and the books available visit Clarendon House Publications

#writingcommunity

This day last year I found out that my first full length short story, 'Sins of The Father' was to be included in the short story anthology 'Vortex'. It's a story I am immensely proud of and as a few people know, it went on to win best in book making it even more precious in my eyes.

It's been an incredible year for me, and I finally feel like a writer due to a regular routine of about two hours in the morning six days a week. This was verified when a friend actually introduced me to a stranger saying, "This is David. He's a writer." I didn't know what to say.

Along the way I have met other incredible writers, some of whom I can actually call friends - although the chances of meeting them, due to geographical complexities, are remote.

I would like to thank Shawn Klimek, Steve Carr, Brandy Bonifas, L.T Waterson, Elizabeth Montague, and Patt O'Neil for help, patience and laughter that has gone above and beyond the normal Facebook interactions. Not that I don't have other writer friends, but I chatted with these chaps on things not always directly associated with writing (I'm still looking for tinned pumpkin, Patt).

Talking of Facebook, these groups have been essential to my growth 'The Inner Circle Writers' Group', 'Dastaan World' and 'Zombie Pirate Publishing Writers Group'.

I am not normally one who is impressed or worried by word count, I much prefer quality over quantity, but the mind does boggle when looking at the following.

In the year that has passed, I've had 35,000 words published in twelve stories of varying length. Another four and half thousand are due for release over the next few months in the form of drabbles and other short stories.

As I write this, Grant Hudson of Clarendon House is reading through my short story collection, 'The Magic of Deben Market' - 80,000 words over 33 stories.

And this doesn't count the thousands of words typed on half finished projects and as yet to be read material.

A couple of years ago I couldn't organise a shopping list, now I plan the events of imaginary people in imaginary worlds.

I am a writer!

On a dark winter's night, can a scared and lonely hitch-hiker find friendship and perhaps compassion in the arms of a stranger?

My horror story, The Butcher of Blengarth has recently been accepted into the Full Metal Horror 2 anthology by Zombie Pirate Publishing.

They wanted gore and I gave it to 'em. I hope it doesn't give too much away to mention eyes and knives in the same sentence.

Release date is mid June.

From the stables of Zombie Pirate Publishing comes their newest anthology,

My story Serve Cold was accepted into this little beauty almost a year ago. One might ask, 'Why did it take so long?' The answer is they wanted 101 quality pieces of flash fiction and accepted or refused as the submissions rolled in. The last of the 101 have only recently been confirmed, and now the book is here for your delectation.

Here's the blurb

A daring pirate raid on a merchant ship ends in disaster. A dominatrix loses her dog. Officers count the terrible cost of human life in the wake of battle. A casting director comes face to face with his childhood bully. And why has a death sentence been issued for everyone named John Smith?

These are but a few of the thrilling tales inside. We've gathered authors from around the world into this compendium of fast fiction fixes. Each of these one hundred and one super short stories can be read in only a few minutes, just enough time as you wait for your high speed transport to arrive and whisk you away to your next adrenaline packed adventure.

This is FLASH FICTION ADDICTION, and there is no cure but to read more!