By Claire Buss, Deputy Editor, Write On!
At Write On! and Pen to Print, we want to help connect authors and readers, playwrights and audiences, so we’ve created a Spotlight page on the last Saturday of the month, showcasing some of the exciting new reads and plays available. The curated list is based on books and plays that you send us, so if you’re an author or a playwright and you’d like your book or play in the spotlight, reach out to us at pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk. Whether you’re an indie author, with a small press or mainstream publisher, established or brand new playwright, we’d love to hear from you and shine a light on your new work.
Write On! offers other opportunities for writers as well. If you’d like us to feature an extract from your book or a short story, please send the extract, book cover and blurb to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Write On! Showcase (ensuring you have your publisher’s permission, of course).
Pen to Print are also looking for short videos from people reading a passage from their favourite book, or authors reading extracts from their own books. These videos will be featured on the Pen to Print YouTube channel and across our social media. Please send in your videos or links to pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk with the subject: Video Stories.
*****
The Snow Queen, Palace Theatre, Southend, 13-28 December
When her best friend Kai is stolen away by the formidable Snow Queen, young Gerda embarks on an epic journey to rescue him: a journey that tests the very limits of her courage, endurance and love. She crosses treacherous landscapes, from blooming gardens of talking flowers to the frozen, enchanted terrains of the Northern Lights.
The Snow Queen is more than a fairy tale; it’s an adventure story about loyalty, sacrifice and the fearless pursuit of someone you love. Through every danger, Gerda proves that true love isn’t just found in romance – it’s in the choices we make, the hardships we endure and how far we’re willing to go to bring someone home.
*****
Blood Moon by TWM Ashford
In the grim darkness of space, fear spreads like a virus.
When the silver mines of M-1819 suffer a catastrophic breach, Roger Hawthorn is the Compliance Officer sent to lift the orbital station’s subsequent lockdown. The company’s reclusive founder, Petar Novikov, insists that everything is under control; that, by signing a few harmless documents, Roger can be on a shuttle headed back to his pregnant wife as early as tomorrow.
But an alien pathogen continues to spill from the damaged dig site. And it doesn’t just make its victims sick – it transforms them into sinister shadow-selves plagued with an insatiable hunger. Nobody’s leaving the Desmodontae while the facility’s quarantine is in effect.
Desperate to return home before his daughter is born, Roger allies with research scientist Dr Vanessa Tsing in a race to contain the virus. But the longer he stays trapped on the isolated Desmodontae, the more erratic and unsettling Novikov’s behaviour becomes – and that’s before crew members show up dead with their bodies drained of blood.
A predator older than the stars is on the hunt. But to escape might put the whole galaxy at risk…
Available to buy here
Connect with TWM Ashford
The Windsor Love Match by Lizzie Chantree
One impossible flatmate. One too-small bed. And sparks that won’t quit. ❤️
Romy Lopez never imagined she’d be sharing her new home –and one maddeningly tiny bed – with Luca Bowen, the man determined to ruin her quirky riverside teashop. Sharp jawlines, cool comebacks, and relentless arrogance… he’s everything Romy shouldn’t be drawn to.
Luca can’t understand why Romy’s stubborn heart clings to the crumbling houseboat that disrupts his orderly life. And yet, every argument, every fiery glare and every accidental brush against her ignites something he can’t ignore.
When a mutual friend’s emergency leaves them trapped as roommates, days turn into coffee-stained shirts, steamy kitchen standoffs, and one too many accidental heart-fluttering moments. She’s infuriating and unpredictable. He’s arrogant, impossible and dangerously tempting.
Available to buy here
Connect with Lizzie Chantree
Fia And The Last Snow Deer by Eilish Fisher
Fia and her snow deer Solas have always had a powerful and unbreakable connection.
But as Fia’s village face a seemingly eternal winter, they turn their sights to Solas and an ancient prophecy that promises the return of sunlight and life, if the ultimate sacrifice is made . . .
Refusing to allow the worst to happen, Fia and her cousin Mish run from the village with Solas, seeking out the Deer Mother – the mythical being who wakes the sun at the winter solstice and who might be their only hope.
But the wilderness is harsh and shadows lurk at every turn. Can they make it to the Deer Mother? And, if they do, what choices will Fia face to bring back the sun and save her village?
Available to buy here
Connect with Eilish Fisher
Once We Were Lovers by RJ Gould
A heartwarming and heartbreaking story of lost love, regrets and the chance to put things right.
When Georgie walks into a London café quiz night, Peter turns away without a word. Fifty years earlier, she betrayed him on the eve of graduation, and he’s never forgiven her for breaking his heart.
Their lives since have gone in opposite directions. Georgie soared briefly to fame in a punk band before falling into addiction, while Peter built a quiet, steady career in academia. Now fate has thrown them back together, and two determined young women are convinced they belong with each other.
But to have any hope of a second chance, Georgie and Peter must confront the night that tore them apart. The clock is ticking…
Out from under her overprotective parents, Jordyn is ready to kill it in prelaw at a prestigious, historically Black university in Washington DC.
When her new roommate’s brother is released from prison, the last thing Jordyn expects is to come home and find the ex-convict on their dorm room sofa. But Devonte needs a place to stay while he gets back on his feet—and how could she say no to one of her new best friends?
Devonte is older, as charming as he is intelligent, pushing every student he meets to make better choices about their young lives. But Jordyn senses something sinister beneath his friendly advice and growing group of followers. When one of her roommates goes missing, she must enlist the help of the university’s lone white student to uncover the mystery, or become trapped at the centre of a web of lies more tangled than she can imagine.
Don’t Forget The Crazy by Lucy Kaufman
Her lists are life or death.
“If it’s on the list, I have to do it.”
Milli Morgan lives by her lists. Groceries, goals, organising her boss – nothing escapes being ticked off her ever-growing to-do lists. Order brings her comfort; control keeps the chaos at bay. Everyone can rely on Milli.
Until the day new items start appearing on her list in red ink.
At first, she blames stress. A prank. Someone playing mind-games. But one instruction on the list refuses to be erased and demands to be completed.
A command so terrible she would have to be crazy to tick it off.
Unriddling The World by Hugh Lupton
The Gingerbread Girl by Sheila Newberry
All she wanted was a home.
London, 1936.
Ill and stuck in hospital at Christmas, seven-year-old Cora Kelly is excited to receive a visit from her mother, who brings her the gift of a gingerbread man. But little does Cora know that this will be the last time she sees her…
As Cora continues her recovery on a farm in the beautiful Norfolk countryside, tragedy strikes her family and she moves back to London with her new guardian, Eliza.
Here they live a happy, if simple, life. But, as the Second World War approaches and the past comes knocking, everything changes.
Will Cora be able to escape the inevitable, or is she destined to repeat her parents’ mistakes?
Phee St Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston.
Coddled to within an inch of her life by a mother who refuses to let her daughter live a life other than the one she dictates, Phee yearns to demonstrate she’s capable of more than simply marrying well.
When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother’s wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp: the highly honoured duty of planning the funeral service. Travelling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt’s unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.
Available to buy here
Connect with Eden Royce
Boom Town by Nic Stone
When Damaris ‘Charm’ Wilburn, a new daytime dancer, is missing for her shift at Boom Town, former headliner Michah ‘Lyriq’ Johanssen suspects something more than a “no call, no show.”
As Lyriq’s former headline partner and lover, Felice ‘Lucky’ Carothers, also vanished under similar circumstances, Lyriq decides she’s going to find them.
Delving deeper into Charm and Lucky’s disappearances, Lyriq uncovers a tangled web of deceit, privilege and power. The line between friend and foe blurs, forcing Lyriq to confront the question: Is finding these women worth the threat to her own life?
Available to buy here
Connect with Nic Stone
Remember, if you’re an author and you’d like to see your book in our Saturday Spotlight, email: pentoprint@lbbd.gov.uk and send us the details of your new novel.
For details of Penguin RandomHouse new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Hachette new releases, visit their website here.
For details of HarperCollins new releases, visit their website here.
For details of PanMacmillan new releases, visit their website here.
For details of Simon & Schuster new releases, visit their website here.
Disclaimer: Amazon links are given for ease but please remember there are a number of other online retailers operating, including hive (which helps to support independent book shops), Kobo, Apple Books, Google Play and Nook as well as online stores for bookstores such as Waterstones, Barnes & Noble and WHSmiths.
Issue 25 of Write On! is out now and you can read it online here. Find it in libraries and other outlets. You can find previous editions of our magazines here.
You can hear great new ideas, creative work and writing tips on Write On! Audio. Find us on all major podcast platforms, including Apple and Google Podcasts and Spotify. Type Pen to Print into your browser and look for our logo, or find us on Podcasters.Spotify.com.
