TNW 101 - March/April 2010

How to make crime pay ... write about it; Celebrate 50 years of the Romantic Novelists' Association; Who are you? Writing the perfect bio; Creative Writing Workshops - are they worth it?; If I'd known then what I know now (I wish I'd known just how damned hard it really is); Interview with Alex Pryce of www.poetcasting.co.uk ; plus subscriber stories and a larger than usual array of new poetry - read all about it!

TNW 99 - Nov/Dec 2009

Karen Jones's NATURAL INSTINCTS is set in and around the high flats of 1976 Scotland "the year punk really started" and there's been a murder. In Deborah Heslop's RESOLVED DISSONANCE a young concert pianist loses the plot but finds a soul mate. In Olivia Rana's SMALL FRY, Lisa's dad is the fish and chap man and she's the shake and wrap girl. The story of their life together unravels over two glorious pages. Last year's Prose & Poetry Prizes winner, Louis Malloy, gives us THE CITIZENS, a chilling and disturbing tale of the very worst aspects of human nature. All four short stories highly commended in the Prizes and fine examples of the genre.

TNW 98 - Sept/Oct 2009

Two short stories from two established writers, Patricia Tyrrell and Iain Pattison. Great examples of the format: Tyrrell deals with the dark side as an unusual relationship goes bad; Pattison illustrates how it is possible to write a comic short and make us laugh! Three poems from Abegail Morley shine: "He reads her by her scars / does he remember writing them?" Plus fine new poetry from James Kilner, Donna Pucciani, Jonathan Kelley, Robin Maunsell ... Sally Quilford looks at the twists that make modern fiction memorable while Sue Wilkes investigates lost literary gems. Also, the pros and cons of using a pseudonym and changing sex while you do it if you are man enough!

TNW 96 - May/June 2009

A lot of solid, sound advice in this one, as ever: Gerry Wells has written a memoir and defeated the old enemy - the blank first page; Lynne Hackles is Writing from Life, and turning personal experience into profitable prose; Ruth Schiffmann uses Chapter Titles to lure the reader through a story; Samantha Skyrme knows that Publishing Requires Patience from her time as an editor at OUP - all that and great new fiction (the short story is the "coming thing" according to one national Sunday, wake up England!) from Dave Lovell, Maureen Kishtaini, SoNja Bonfiglio AND Jean Smalley, plus new Poetry Editor, Sarah Jackson, presents her first selection including work by Kevin Cahill, Kim Moore, Ali Pardoe and Vivienne Tregenza's great short poem, Resy Pudding.

TNW 95 - Mar/Apr 2009

In this issue we say goodbye to our Poetry Editor of six years, Catherine Smith. Her recent collection, Lip, has been extremely well received and we thank her for everything she's done to make the TNW poetry pages so luminescent; new work from Julian Colton, Ben Davison, Clive Eastwood, Peter Gilmour, Catherine Graham, Graham Hardie, Maureen Jivani, Kathleen Kenny, Robert Marsland, Anna Protherough, Rachel Shorer, Tim Leach, Tanner, Philip Tomkins, Christian Ward and Sarah Williams shines brightly in the last Versesmith. New fiction from Heather Parker, Lorraine Mace, Eamon Mathews and Miranda Lewis adds lustre, while articles on Historical Fiction, Getting Published, Writing FanFiction, Diary Writing, and Astrocharacters throw out yet more light.

TNW 94 - Jan/Feb 2009

Completely taken with Kristin Thompson's short story, The Heath in War, in this issue. Great start - "Suffolk in 1942 ... a fat little girl with red curly hair, absent father, sporadically depressed mother, no siblings or pets, lives with her godparents, her mother and a great uncle in a large house that smells of old people and dust. When at night the siren sounds and the bombs start to fall, Great Uncle Rygate refuses to leave his bedroom." You just want to read on ... evocative and exciting, this one delivers on every level. Also starring - How to structure your non-fiction book; How to Banish Back-Story; How to become a Letters Page Star; three more excellent stories from Hilary Wilce, Gavin Eynon, Alan Beard and a sublimely satisfying mix of poetry chosen by Catherine Smith.

TNW 93 - Nov/Dec 2008

More stories from the Highly Commendeds in our annual prizes - all brilliant of course - from E C Seaman, Ghislaine Goff, Paul Harvey, Mo McAuley. Poetry editor, Catherine Smith, is shaken up and thrown round the room by American soldier-poet, Brian Turner's collection "Bullet" (Bloodaxe) and reviews it here - "he shows us landscapes ravaged by fighting but he never succumbs to cynicism or despair". Three articles, not intended to be linked, but hey that's an editor at work - on specialization: broaden your opportunities by focusing your writing, taking inspiration from the everyday, and a professional attitude to writing: difference between failure and success. Read them and take it to the bridge.

TNW 92 - Sep/Oct 2008

Can football improve your writing? asks Esther Madden, a Reading FC fan - bit of an excuse to go to the game really but who's complaining; her refreshingly original article gives a whole new look to life on the terraces. Couple this with Sally Quilford's Cheat's Guide to Writing Science Fiction and you'll see we're going out of our way to give you insider tips galore. Linda Lewis's regular I'm Puzzled page is all about editing your work. Go on, lose that seemingly stunning sentence, you know it makes sense. Join Nick Corder to discover the delights of having A Shed of One's Own, a variation on Virginia Woolf's truism, "a woman must have a room of her own if she is to write." Nick's now in his new shed and all's right with the world. There's plenty more, dip in and discover all the fiction and poetry that make this a truly scrumptious issue.

TNW 90 - May/Jun 2008

If you're thinking of asking us for a free back copy, ask for this one, TNW 90, for no other reason than it kicks off with Susannah Rickards' brilliant short story, Mango. Highly commended in our annual Prizes, it should have gone all the way - it's a fantastic example of the craft in every respect. What else we got? Well, let's stick with the shorts. Although we've bigged up Susannah we could have said the some for the other three fiction writers in this fantastic issue; excellent new work from Jo Cannon, David Evans, Char March - all who have done well in competition over the years. So, yes, this is the issue to ask for if you want to see how it's done.

TNW 89 - Mar/Apr 2008

Special subscribers short shorts issue plus ... Writing Down Your Life with Hilary Lloyd; The Agent-Author Partnership; How to make Money writing Fillers; new contributor Mastoor Khan on the seductive nature of Writers' Groups; the continuing series by Linda Lewis answering readers' questions in I'm Puzzled; Sally Spedding's dark, brooding tale, Friends In High Places - spooky; poetry editor, Catherine Smith, loves hearing beautifully read poems on the radio, and she selects new work from twelve poets. Add regular features such as Reader's Challenge, Handy Hints, Circle Clinic, Writers Bulletin, and you have an issue which is not only meaty and beaty but big and bouncy!

TNW 88 - Jan/Feb 2008

That prolific and excellent writer of fiction, Sally Zigmond, is in this issue - no better reason to get hold of a copy. In her deeply evocative, seriously thoughtful, new piece, Curiosity, she succeeds in delivering in under two thousand words an object lesson in the craft of short story writing. From the very start, "The church clock is cased in ice, time held frozen in its hands", to the oh so moving ending, "They will preserve me behind glass and put someone else's name beneath my bones. People will look at me and wonder", you will find a story of incredible betrayal so tightly written that you will believe every word. If you're serious about your writing, go search this one out. The only surprising thing is that this mini-epic was a runner up in our annual Prose & Poetry Prizes and not an outright winner. PS: there's such a lot of good reading in this cold winter issue that will warm the old cockles.