Tag Archives: Cheltenham

Calling all Flashers – November Flashers’ Club

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Cheltenham’s quarterly live flash fiction night, Flashers’ Club, will be opening the mic once again on Thursday 29th November, 7:30pm, at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar. Got a story between 100 and 1000 words? Bring it down and share it! We welcome everyone and every story – no submissions, no genre restrictions. Flashers’ is a great night out for fans of flash, whether you’re coming to read or just soak up the stories.

This month we’re very excited to feature flash author Santino Prinzi, who’ll be sharing some of his stories alongside our open mic readers. We’ll also be giving away a copy of literary journal Popshot Quarterly to one of our lucky open mic performers. Tickets are just £4, and all profits got to the charity First Story. Head over to our website to find out full details, or find us and chat to us on Twitter or Facebook.

Flashers’ Club VII: August 2018

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Flashers’ Club is back off hiatus and raring to go. At our upcoming event at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar, Cheltenham, on Thursday the 2nd August, you can expect our usual open mic free-for-all (bring a story 100-1000 words long and you can get straight up behind the mic), FREE anthologies for all readers courtesy of indie publishers The Fiction Desk, plus a reading or two by award-winning Cypriot flash fiction author Nora Nadjarian. It’s not to be missed.

Tickets are just £4 – or £3 if you sign up to read – and all profits, as always, go to child literacy charity First Story. Find full deets at www.flashersclub.wordpress.com, and regular updates on our social media: @flashers_club, and www.facebook.com/flashersclubcheltenham.

See you there!

Flashers’ Club VI – February 8th 2018

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Magic. Suicide. Mining towns. Plastic squid. Vampires. Levitation. School reports. Repulsive heartthrobs. Murder. Aliens. Zebras. Dry-stone walling. Zombies. Giant women. Fourteen fresh and alarming flash: it can only be Flashers’ Club.

Our blog of February’s event is now up on the website, where you can find photos and details of our readers. Flashers’ Club is now on hiatus (no May event), but we will be returning full force in early August. Keep an eye on our Twitter account @flashers_club or on our Facebook page /flashersclubcheltenham for details closer to the time.

Call for Readers: February Flashers’ Club

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Cheltenham’s Flashers’ Club seeks flash fiction fans for the first event of 2018!

On Thursday February 8th we’ll be hosting our usual open mic (bring your 100-1000 word story and sign up on the night), plus guest reading by multi-talented flash fic author Tania Hershman.

We’ll be at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar from 7:30pm. Tickets are available on the door: £3 for readers, £4 for audience only. As always, all profits go to the charity First Story. Find full details at the Flashers’ Club site, and don’t miss it!

Flashers’ Club IV: August 3, 2017

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Flash fans, get your glow-sticks out and you furry boots on – it’s time for Flashers’ Club 4! We’ve got the usual open mic session, no need to submit in advance. Flashers don’t book. Sign up on the night and we’ll pull names out of a hat if there are too many people. Fiction 100-1000 words welcome, anything goes*.

Our special guest will be local novelist Jane Bailey, historical and young adult fiction writer. Jane will be sharing some of her writing. She’s also launching her new book ‘What Was Rescued’ just the day before, so you’ll be able to snag a copy fresh off the press.

There’ll be free litmags for all who brave the mic – we’re not mentioning title yet, it’s secret. It’s not that we haven’t got a mag confirmed yet. Don’t go thinking that.

We’re at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar, Cheltenham, on Aug 3rd, 7:30pm onwards. £3 in on the door, all profits to the very worthy charity First Story. Full details, disabled access info, FAQs etc on the website: www.flashersclub.wordpress.com. Follow us on Twitter @flashers_club or find us on Facebook /flashersclubcheltenham.

 

*except porn, polemics and Quentin Tarantino rip-offs

Flashers’ Club May, and news about August

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The third meeting of Cheltenham’s Flashers’ Club took place on the 2nd of May, and showcased some seriously good writing. Ten readers signed up on the night and surprised us with ten new stories featuring everything from amiable jocks to black holes. Take a look at our blog to read more about the night!

Free lit was provided by Open Pen, who generously donated us enough copies to reward each of our bold readers.

Ticket sales, plus a kind donation from the University of Gloucestershire, meant we were able to donate £69 to First Story.

There was no guest reader for this session, but we have some very exciting names lined up for the future. The next Flashers’ Club, on Thursday 3rd August, will host Jane Bailey. Jane is the author of five novels and a book of comic verse, and is also writer-in-residence for Cheltenham Festivals First Story, which promotes creative writing in schools serving low-income communities. There’ll be the usual open mic session with ten slots up for grabs, some fab free lit, and a chance to hear Jane read some of her short fiction. Tickets are just £3! Find full details on our website, or follow us on Twitter @flashers_club.

Calling All Flashers – February Flashers’ Club

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Flashers Assemble! The second meeting of Cheltenham’s Flashers’ Club is on Thursday 9th February at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar, and we’ve got good things in store.

There’s an open mic session for ten writers to read stories of 100-1000 words: no genre restriction, no submissions, no CV required. Just sign up on the night. Need encouragement?  Our freebies this month are provided by Prole Books, so each of our readers will receive a copy of the litmag Prole.

This time we’re also featuring a brilliant guest writer, award-winning author Tyler Keevil. Tyler will be capping off our open mic by reading some of his work, and we’re very excited about it.

Tickets are £3 on the door, £2.50 (inc. booking fee) in advance. Click here to book. As always, all proceeds go to the charity First Story.

For lots more information, contact details etc, see our website.

See you there!

 

Watch/listen to Stroud Short Stories on our YouTube Channel!

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The 7 stories read by their authors at our October 2016 ‘Stroud Short Stories Greatest Hits’ event at Cheltenham Literature Festival and the 10 stories read by their authors at our November 2016 event ‘The Apocalypse Alphabet & Other Stories’ are now on the SSS YouTube Channel.

Just click here

Just decide which of these authors you want to watch/listen to – Debbie Young, Philip Douch, Ali Bacon, Andrew Stevenson, Rick Vick, Mel Golding, Bill Jones, Alex Clark, Ken Clements, Steve Wheeler, Nastasya Parker, Chloe Turner, Natalie Lee, Kate O’Grady, Mark Graham or Geoff Mead.

Actually, you can’t go wrong!

http://stroudshortstories.blogspot.co.uk/

 

 

Flashers’ Club I

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The inaugural meeting of Flashers’ Club  was on Thursday 10th November, and we’re happy to say it was a great success. Thirteen writers read fifteen stories, taking us from the Old West to Afghanistan, from married bliss to the trials of being a modern Nosferatu. Head over to our blog to see lots more details and pictures.

With over thirty tickets sold, we raised nearly £80 for the charity First Story. As part of their thanks they’ve sent us a very special poem composed by one of their students, which you can also find on our blog.

Flashers’ Club will now be a quarterly event. Our next meet will be on Thursday 9th February 2017, 7:30pm onwards, Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar, Cheltenham. There’ll be advance booking available online nearer to the date, and door tickets available on the night. We’ve already got our next lot of free literature sorted (we like to bribe our readers with free books and litmags), and we’re working on a rather exciting guest writer slot. Watch this space.

 

 

 

Flashers’ Club open mic flash fiction night, 10th November, Cheltenham

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Flashers Club will be holding its inaugural open mic night on Thursday 10th November, 7:30-11:00pm, at Smokey Joe’s Coffee Bar, Cheltenham. The mic is open to all writers of short fiction between 300 and 1,000 words. It’s open genre. Published or unpublished, old hand or debut, everyone’s welcome. We aim to be friendly and inclusive, and have a good time! Come along to read, or to hear exciting original writing.

There’ll be around 8 slots for readers, maybe more if time and story length allow. Names will be drawn from a hat if there are more readers than time. After each story we’ll have a short time for Q and A – not a critique, just a chat.

You can book tickets in advance or come along on the night. There’s a small entry fee (£2 + booking fee online, £3 on the door), all of which goes to the charity First Story. First Story places professional writers into schools in deprived areas to encourage children to write.

For lots more details, booking link and FAQs, see our website: www.flashersclub.wordpress.com. You can also find us on Twitter @flashers_club, or on Facebook /flashersclubcheltenham . We’d love to hear from you!