News - Liz Tuckwell

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.

Back from Sci-fi Scarborough 2022

I’m just recently back from Sci-Fi Scarborough 2022, a Sci-Fi convention in the North East of England. It was my first convention up north so it was interesting to compare it to other conventions I’ve been to.

My main reason for going was that Sixth Element Publishing https://6e.net aka Gillie Hatton & Graeme Wilkinson was having a stall there and they generously invited authors who’ve contributed to the Harvey Duckman Presents anthologies https://harveyduckman.com to come along and share some of their stall. Sixth Element was launching the latest volume – Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 9. Since I’ve just published Moonsleep and Other Stories, I took advantage of the offer and the chance to meet other Harvey authors.

It was great to meet the other authors and to clutch the paperback of my book in my hands. It’s the first time I’ve had a paperback of my own. It was also a thrill to sign books as an author, both Moonsleep and HDP9. I also had bookmarks to give away. Bookmarks of my very own book!

And I got to have a weekend away! Even if I didn’t see much of Scarborough itself.

2021 Writing and Publishing Plan

I’m writing this at the end of February 2021 so I hope everyone is doing as well as they can. In the UK, the vaccination programme is going well and 21st June is the date that we hope to be able to move about freely again. Definitely something to look forward to.

2020 was a busy year for me, book wise at least, I had five stories published in anthologies, three of them in Harvey Duckman Presents books. They were Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 5, Harvey Duckman Presents Volume 6 and Harvey Duckman Presents … Special Pirates.

2021 is probably going to be a much quieter year for me. I’ve had one urban fantasy novella, The Raven King, published by Demain Publishing in January 2021, my very first novella to be published. I have, or will be, submitting a couple of short stories to anthologies but I’m planning to spend most of 2021 writing a novella or possibly a couple of novellas.

When I say writing, I really mean rewriting as there are two short novels that I completed as part of Nanowrimo that I want to look at again and see if I can turn them into novellas worth publishing. But before I do that, I’m taking part in an Imaginary Worlds worldbuilding course run by Megan Kerr of The Writers’ Greenhouse – www.thewritersgreenhouse.co.uk It’s a six week course and I’m enjoying it very much so far. It’s certainly given me some ideas for my stories.

I’m also planning to publish a print version of Quirky Christmas Stories later on in the year and perhaps a couple of Christmas themed short stories.