Oh, so, so much since last we wrote here! But the question is what’s new which means now, not how we survived the pandemic, not how we’re pushing to get our titles into Canadian bookstores, not how well received our 2023 title Old Wrongs was.
It’s only April and already we have four new titles published. OK, the first three are a three-volume set which make up Prayer Wind, an outstanding poetry collection from Jack Hayes, the Portland, Oregon, poet. Prayer Wind is so good we’ve nominated it for the Griffin Prize.
As if publishing our first three poetry volumes were not enough, we published a fourth at the end of March! Very different poetry from a very different writer, this time Canadian John Givins from Vancouver, BC, with his perceptive and witty take on life – both the big things that move us and the tiny details that often go unnoticed. John’s Blowing Up Growing Up will surprise and delight many readers.
Our next is a truly engaging novel by a new writer from Nova Scotia – Sheila Graham-Smith. The View From Errisbeg is an intense story – coincidentally also laced through with poetry – set in Ireland and the South Coast of England during a wet February week. Sounds uninspiring? Wait till you read it, we think you’ll love it as much as we do. Here’s a sneak preview of what we think the cover is going to look like.
Later in the year we’ll be looking to bring you one of the titles we currently have under review, we’ve been blessed with some high quality options. At some point there’ll certainly be another volume from Jack Hayes, although whether that’s this year or 2025 remains to be seen. And there are at least two more novels to keep us busy for a while. But that doesn’t mean we’re closed to submissions, we’re very much open, so keep them coming – but do read our guidelines for writers before to you send.
The three prizewinning stories from are latest competition are now online, just follow the links:
The first two of our titles to become available in print from Amazon have chalked up their first sales. Previously, print version were only available direct from Askance or by ordering in a UK bookshop.
Each year about this time we look back to see, just for fun, which of the stories featured on our web pages has received the most hits. Hits mean visitors, not necessarily readers. A page may be viewed for a second or ten minutes, but we like to think that many visitors have stayed long enough to enjoy the story they’ve found.
The Askance Winter Short Story Competition for 2020/21 is now open! As usual there’s no theme, and a generous word limit of 1500 to 5000 words. There’s a modest entry fee and prizes for the stories judged as the best three we receive.
The Askance Winter Short Story Competition for 2020/21 will open on October 1st. As usual there’s no theme, and a generous word limit of 1500 to 5000 words. There’s a modest entry fee and prizes for the stories judged as the best three we receive.
Our short story competition is getting more difficult to judge every year. 2020 has been no exception, with some intense and beautiful writing, some of it very dark indeed, some light and whimsical. However, once the choice was made, our winner, 
What makes a good story? Something different for every one of us, but after reading many stories over the years, one point suddenly shone out from our latest call, our Winter Short Story competition: a good story often improves with a second read, even a third or fourth. 
ASKANCE PUBLISHING 