Event News

Our next short story reading is on Friday 2nd May, 7pm at Foyles Bookshop (note, not 25th April).

The Gallery Space,
2nd Floor,
Foyles Bookshop,
113-119 Charing Cross Road,
London

Subsequent events will take place on the last Friday of each month.

Audio downloads from our Short Story Festival

See below for live recordings from the festival. Keep checking this page for further soundbites and recordings to be added in the following weeks.

You can download live recordings of extracts from the latest Apis Books' anthology, Desperate Remedies, at apisbooks.com

Reading for the Special Tales of the DeCongested Short Shorts (flash fiction) event, were:

Richard Tyrone Jones reads 'The wheel-clamper'
Listen - Story Text

Richard Tyrone Jones reads 'Happy New Year'
Listen - Story Text

Carlie Lazar reads 'Water'
Listen - Story Text

Anna Hope reads 'Fontanelle'
Listen - Story Text

Colleen Becker reads 'B & I'
Listen - Story Text

Bob Merckel reads 'Table for Wonder'
Listen - Story Text

Heidi James reads 'Gifts'
Listen - Story Text

Reading for Prospect magazine:

Adam Marek reads 'The Forty Litre Monkey' from his short story collection Instruction manual for swallowing (Comma Press) - Listen

Alison MacLeod reads an extract from 'Sacred Heart' from her short story collection Fifteen Modern Tales of Attraction (Penguin) - Listen

Reading for 3:am magazine:

Matthew De Abaitua reads an extract from 'The Sudden Transformation of Darby RR Martin', which appears in 3:AM London, New York, Paris edited by Andrew Stevens (Social Disease) - Listen

Matt Thorne reads an extract from 'Maxwell's Guilty Secret', which appears in 3:AM London, New York, Paris edited by Andrew Stevens (Social Disease) - Listen

Sophie Parkin reads 'Granny and the card shark' - Listen

Reading from the London Noir anthology (Serpent's Tail):

Cathi Unsworth introduces the anthology - Listen

Martyn Waites reads an extract from 'Love'. You can find out more about his work at www.martynwaites.com - Listen

Ken Hollings reads an extract from 'Betermax'. You can find out more about his work at www.kenhollings.com - Listen

Reading for Liars' League:

Patsy Prince reads Maggie Wormersley's story 'Automatic Upgrade' - Listen

Ed Cooper-Clark reads Michael Springs' story 'Narky Jack' - Listen

Reading for Serpent's Tail anthologies inspired by classic bands:

Tom McCarthy reads an extract from 'Kool thing or Why I want to fuck Patty Hearst', which will be published in The Empty Page: Fiction Inspired by Sonic Youth; text © Tom McCarthy 2008 - Listen

Andrew Holmes reads 'The League of Bald-headed men' published in Perverted by Language: Fiction Inspired by The Fall - Listen

Reading for Legend Press and their 'Short Story Reinvented' series:

Kevin Chandler reads an extract from 'Fifty Minute Hour' published in Eight Hours - Listen

Josie Henley-Einion reads an extract from 'Sunday' published in Seven Days - Listen

Josie Henley-Einion reads an extract from 'Five a.m.' published in Eight Hours - Listen

E. C. Seaman reads an extract from his story in The Remarkable Everyday - Listen

Reading for Social Disease:

Adelle Stripe reads 'Smoking Kills' which has appeared in Paris Bitter Hearts Pit and online at Scarecrow Magazine - Listen

Travis Jeppesen reads an extract from 'What the Witch Doctor Says', a full version of which appears in The Institute of Psychoplasmics exhibition catalogue, Pump House Gallery, London - Listen

Reading from Toby Litt:

Toby Litt reads an extract from 'Cohen' part of his latest book I play the drums in a band called okay - Listen

All stories were recorded by Sam Horrocks, who has been in radio for the last six years. He helped set up Eclectic Productions and established several community radio stations in South East London. He has produced features for Radio 4 and interviewed people at the Short Story Festival, asking them about their favourite short story of all time.

Interviews from day - these people tell us what their favourite short story is:

Alex Linklater - 'Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius' by Jorge louis Borges - Listen
Alison Macleod - 'The Dead' by James Joyce - Listen
Anthony Howcroft - 'King Of The Elves' by Phillip K Dick - Listen
Bob Merkel - 'A small good thing' by Raymond Carver - Listen
Dianna Sampi - 'The diamond necklass' by Guy de Maupassant - Listen
Emma Seamon - 'The Dead' by James Joyce - Listen
Jenny Palmer - 'All that jazz' by Jean Reese - Listen
John Harding - 'The Swimmer' by John Cheever - Listen
Josie Henley-Einion - Tales of the Unexpected by Roald Dahl - Listen
Maggie Womersley - 'Bullet In The Brain' by Tobias Wolff - Listen
Matt Thorne - 'Westward the Course of the Empire takes its way' by David Foster Wallis - Listen
Myra Levin - Stories by Andre Dubus - Listen
Phil Collective - A story by David Abramson - Listen
Rebecca Naricotte - 'The Kiss' by Martin Sorrel - Listen
Richard Marshal - 'Bartleby' by Herman Melville - Listen
Sophie Parkin - 'The Cathedral' by Raymond Carver - Listen
Tim Wells - 'May Day' by F Scott Fitzgerald - Listen
Vicky Grigg - Collection of stories by Alice Munro - Listen

Literary Consultancy Service offered by Tales of the DeCongested

A literary consultancy service for novels, novellas and short stories is now available from the Tales of the DeCongested team. On receipt of your manuscript, we will email or post a detailed analysis of the work, offering constructive criticism, within 4 to 6 weeks.