Wendy Erskine

Jan 15, 2025 | bookanista.com | Wendy Erskine

THE WAY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT short stories often inclines to silversmithing analogies: burnished, finely wrought, beautifully crafted. That, or Fabergé eggs. And we say short story collection rather than group. Collection suggests careful selection from an array of available possibilities, white daisies on a vast lawn.

Aug 1, 2024 | caughtbytheriver.net | Wendy Erskine

A story of unlikely friendships, second chances, and the magic of soul music, Benjamin Myers’ ‘Rare Singles’ is published today by Bloomsbury. Wendy Erskine reviews. Imagine for a minute that you’re at Leeds-Bradford Airport, just off an early flight. As you file through arrivals with everyone else, a few people are waiting. You half-notice the taxi drivers in their livery, holding up the names of their pre-booked passengers. You walk past reunited family members hugging each other.

Feb 22, 2024 | theguardian.com | Wendy Erskine

A man walks into a bar. Well, no. At the beginning of poet Joelle Taylor’s first novel, a woman called Jones walks into a tattoo parlour. It’s 2233 and weather programmers have calibrated this part of London to “endless spring”. The already heavily tattooed Jones asks the two artists, Small and Cass, to connect all the images on her body by a thin line, using ink mixed with a vial of her mother’s blood. This will be an act of unification and completion. The 23rd-century tattoo parlour is a retro one.

Jan 19, 2024 | caughtbytheriver.net | Wendy Erskine

Recently published by Bluemoose Books, Kevin Boniface’s short story collection ‘Sports and Social’ is strange, touching, pulsating with life, writes Wendy Erskine.

Jan 16, 2024 | waterstones.com | Jon McGregor |Sarah Hall |Wendy Erskine

Where and how do we find inspiration when we write? How can we overcome obstacles to follow our unconscious? Join Tom Conaghan, publisher of the writers' craft series REVERSE ENGINEERING, to explore how acclaimed authors open themselves to possibilities and listen to the energies of their story. By giving space to the unconscious, learn how to create writing that’s richer, wiser and more resonant, then explore how we can use our conscious mind to shape our fiction.