News - Liz Tuckwell

Quirky Christmas Stories for Children and a Halloween First!

A Halloween first – and a few butterflies!

This Halloween, I’m doing something I’ve never done before: reading one of my stories in public!

I’ll be reading The Young Woman in the Yellow Bikini at Halloween Bites, held at the Tankard pub on Kennington Road in London on 28 October 2026.

I’ve never done a public reading before, so I’m feeling a mixture of excitement and nerves. Writing a story in the privacy of your own home is one thing. Standing up in front of an audience and reading it aloud is quite another! Fingers crossed I don’t stumble over my own words.

Christmas has arrived early!

Meanwhile, I’ve been getting into the Christmas spirit rather ahead of schedule.

I’ve just published Children’s Quirky Christmas Stories, a collection of four stories about – you’ve guessed it – Christmas! Aimed at children aged 8–12 who enjoy humour, imagination and unexpected festive adventures, these quirky Christmas stories are, as you might expect from me, not entirely conventional!

The collection actually began as a private project. I wrote the stories for my great-nephews and great-nieces, and the children of friends and neighbours, and gave them copies as presents.

Now I’ve decided to let a few more children in on the fun.

The ebook is already available on Amazon, and a paperback edition will follow shortly.

Discover Children’s Quirky Christmas Stories on Amazon

So that’s October: a little Halloween nervousness, a little early Christmas cheer, and two very different kinds of storytelling!

Latest News March 2025

Beta Readers for Draft Novel

I have been very remiss and not updated my website for a while. Apologies for that. I’ve been busy in 2024 and early 2025 revising and editing a draft novel. That’s also why I haven’t had that many short stories published in 2024, I’ve been busy working on my novel.

However, I’m now at the stage of having beta reads. A beta reader is “a test reader of an unreleased work of writing, typically literature, who gives feedback to the author from the point of view of an average reader.” At least, that’s Wikipedia’s definition and who am I to argue with that?

So, I’m (not that) patiently waiting for the comments from my beta readers and hoping that they won’t tell me that they hate it and it’s the worst thing they’ve ever read. (Yes, being very positive.) Of course, they could tell me that it’s the best thing since sliced bread!

2025 London Book Fair

Oddly enough, my last post was after I’d just been to the 2024 London Book Fair and I’ve just been this year too. Sadly, I thought it wasn’t as good as last year for a number of reasons – space given for author events and the quality of the talks. However, I did enjoy the reception given by ALLi (Alliance of Independent Authors on Wednesday evening. It’s always fun to talk to other authors.

Short Story Published

I have actually had one short story published this year, a cozy fantasy although it was published in an urban and dark fantasy anthology -go figure. “How Hamesh got her wings” is in Rum and Rosemary by 6th Element Publishing.

Latest News March 2024

I haven’t posted anything for a while so here’s the latest news.

I haven’t sent out any email newsletters recently because I’ve had technical difficulties with complying with the new Google and Yahoo requirements for emails. Hopefully, normal service can now be resumed (once I get to grips with the new version of Mailerlite).

I’ve come back today from the last day of the London Book Fair’s three-day event. It’s the first time I’ve attended this. I was due to go last year but sadly, I was ill and couldn’t go. I went to some good talks for indie authors but one particular highlight was Richard Osman’s talk. Another highlight was meeting other indie authors.

The good news is attending the London Book Fair’s motivated me to set deadlines to finish some writing projects this year.

Latest News End June 2023

My latest news is that I have a story in another publication! My story “The Baby Machine” is in Flash!Mob: Into the Future: A Collection of Tiny Stories Written and Published in a Week published by Sixth Element Publishing.

I was emailed by Gillie Hatton, who runs Sixth Element Publishing who I’ve worked with before. She asked me if I wanted to write a 300 word story for this anthology. I only had two days to do it in. Actually, I wrote it in about two hours. So, I think I can claim it as my quickest story ever!

Sixth Element published this book in a week as part of the Teesside TechNExt Festival Fringe.

Flash!Mob: Into the Future is a collection of flash fiction stories where authors had the brief of Go Wild With The What Ifs. They looked at current day emerging tech and came up with some wild and wonderful 300 word stories on what could go wrong, what could go right, what could be just around the corner…

All proceeds go to develop writing in the Teeside area.

Latest News About Submissions May 2023

My latest news is good news. I’ve had three submissions recently accepted for publication.

The first is my short horror story, “The Collector” has been accepted for Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 13 (unofficially known as the Teddy Bear Edition). This volume will hopefully be published in June 2023.

The second is I’ve had three science fiction haikus accepted for Eccentric Orbits Volume 4, an anthology of SF poetry. This too should be coming out in June 2023. It’s my first time of submitting SF poetry so I’m very thrilled at the success of my first attempt. I’m really looking forward to seeing my poems in print.

And the third is my short story, “Blueberries” has been accepted for the “Mineral, Vegetable & Animal” edition of the online magazine, Sein Und Werden. This too should be out in a couple of months.

Naturally, I’m pleased and delighted that my submissions are doing so well. I actually submitted five pieces recently. That doesn’t include the teddy bear story by the way. A success rate of two out of five submissions is pretty good. I had one story rejected. The editor liked the story but didn’t want a fairy tale. Since I also submitted another fairy tale to him, I’m pretty pessimistic about the outcome. However, I’m still waiting to hear about the other one. Fingers crossed!

Read an Ebook Week 2023

We are fast approaching Read an Ebook Week 2023, a week that encourages readers to pick up the digital device of their choice and download a new book to read.

I’m excited to announce that my books, Moonsleep and Other Stories, Fantastic Flash Fiction, The Boom Show and The Interview, will all be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords to celebrate Read an Ebook Week 2023! This is a chance to get my book, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.

You will find the promo here starting on 5 March , so save the link: https://smashwords.com/shelves/promos

It ends on 11 March 2023.

If you wouldn’t mind taking part in promoting this celebration of ebooks and reading, please feel free to share this promo with your friends and family.

Thank you for your help and support!

Happy reading!

Moonsleep and Other Stories goes wide

This is to let people know that I’ve put my collection of fantasy, science fiction and horror stories, Moonsleep and Other Stories, into wide distribution. (Previously it was only available on Amazon.)

Wide distribution means that Moonsleep and Other Stories will still be available on Amazon but won’t now be available in Kindle Unlimited (because if I want my book to be included in that programme, I have to be enrolled in Kindle Select. And if I’m enrolled in Kindle Select, then I can’t have my book available with other online ebook retailers).

It’s now available on other online ebook retailers such as:

Kobo

Barnes and Noble

Apple

Google Play

Smashwords

Scribd

and several other smaller outfits.

This universal book link below which will take you to your preferred online retailer books2read.com/u/med6rz

Sorry to any Kindle Unlimited readers but I did have the book in KDP Select for 3 months so that you’d have a chance to read it.