Death Cookies by Jean Sprackland

Published: Nightjar Press

My thoughts

This is a devastating story of a farmer, Joe and his wife who are expecting a child. There are complications with the birth and she must have a caesarean in order for the baby to survive.

Early morning and her waters break. She wakes Joe. Overnight it had snowed! Joe goes out to check and clear the lane from the house to the road.

Snowed in! No phones, no way to get to the hospital. What must they do? A plan. She says you’ll have to do it – what? – but he knows.

At what should be a gloriously happy moment full of joy becomes a nightmare and the tension is palpable, the fear settling deep as the two prepare themselves for what is to come.

Eight pages of tautly written prose that pack a punch of such enormity it’s all you can do to breathe. A stunningly crafted story beautifully written.

Jean Sprackland

The Little Ghost by Giselle Leeb

Published: Nightjar Press

My thoughts

The girl lives with her mother who has a drinking problem, an alcoholic, they live in the suburbs/countryside near a town where the girl goes to school. The mother holds down a job and routinely drinks at home taking out her woes on the girl. The girl has a lock on her bedroom door so her mother can’t get in and she feels safe at night. Safe that is from her mother there’s still the little hand on the mirror.

The girl, whose name we do not know, lives a way from her school so finds it difficult to socialise with her classmates. It helps in one way as it keeps them from knowing about her home life but on the other hand she is very isolated unable to cultivate friendships and feels perhaps ostracised, alone.

The mother struggles financially when the father reneges on child support so she decides to sell the house and find something more affordable. The girl hopes that the move will be to the city which she hopes in one way will be more anonymous, neighbours won’t gossip or even take any notice of her home life, and she will be closer to classmates and hopefully make friends until she is grown up enough to be able to leave home.

She hopes also to be free of the little hand, the presence of a small ghost manifesting itself in the mirror of her dressing table. A piece of furniture neither her nor her mother likes and so her mother has sold it to the woman who is buying the house. The girl hopes that the fear she feels and the manifestation of the hand will remain behind with the dresser and on their last night in the house she boldly considers touching the hand only the hooting of an owl distracts her.

The girl realises that the little ghost is not locked in the mirror!

This story of hopes dashed yet hope remains, looking forward to new horizons in order to keep going, looking forward to growing up and leaving behind the painful, lonely world that surrounds her. It is a story of hope and resilience that is so sad yet allows us to hope with and for the girl, that she will indeed find a happier life. Perhaps the little ghost is not something to fear but a little talisman to keep her safe.

The Little Ghost is fourteen pages of beautifully written prose from Giselle Leeb, a melancholic story that lingers in the mind long after it is finished and is well worth reading.

Giselle Leeb

#ReadIndies February 2024 with @kaggsy59 and @lizzysiddal

“Lizzy and I are delighted to be hosting #ReadIndies for the fourth time. Not only does it give us good reason to support our favourite indie publishers more visibly than usual, but it’s also a perfect excuse to discover new ones. It is with discovery in mind that this year’s badge has been populated with the 41 micro publishers (publishers with 5 employees or less)  that have, under the aegis of Will Dady of Renard Press, gathered together to form the Indie Press Network.”

Kaggsy

My thoughts on #ReadIndie February

This month I’m highlighting Nightjar Press as it is based in Manchester and so a close neighbour of mine. They produce beautiful short story chapbooks with, as you can see from my photos, gorgeous covers. The books are signed, limited edition chapbooks and can be obtained directly from the publisher for a very reasonable price plus postage.

Over the years that I have been sharing my thoughts on books on here and various social media platforms I have truly become a fan of indie publishers and do as much as I can to support them. Whether it is by writing about them, their authors and their books or buying the books directly from them when possible or from an indie bookshop or online (there’s Hive, Kobo for ebooks and physical books and bookshop.org as well as the big A 😱). And, even if that last place is an anathema to everyone, it’s still where many desire ratings and reviews to be made so that’s what I do as well. Of course, not all indie publishing titles can be found on there so I’m spreading the word on social media, GoodRead (when possible) indeed, as many places as I can. There are so many places some where I am just testing the waters like Bluesky, Mastadon and Substack.

There are many other bloggers and readers, which you can see by following #ReadIndies during February, who do the same.

It is a balance now more so than ever before, I think, to support indie publishers, authors and their books in order to find audiences that can and will not only appreciate indie publishing but support it by buying from them and their preferred outlets. Buy – the most important thing to do!

This is why #ReadIndies in February is so important it’s a whole month to share those books we are reading from independent publishers and get the message out about what wonderful writing there is available to readers brought to us by those amazing, hardworking, passionate and inspiring people who are indie publishers.

Thanks to Kaggsy and Lizzy for bringing #ReadIndies to us each February.

Nightjar Press

‘I love Nightjar… Consistently lovingly made and excellently written’

Jenn Ashworth

Nightjar Press is an indie press specialising in limited edition single short-story chapbooks. The publisher and editor is Nicholas Royle; design is by John Oakey. Royle and Oakey previously worked together on Joel Lane’s The Earth Wire (1994), from British Fantasy Award-winning Egerton Press, which also published Darklands (1991) and Darklands 2 (1992).

The nightjar – aka corpse fowl or goatsucker – is a nocturnal bird with an uncanny, supernatural reputation that flies silently at dusk or dawn as it hunts for food. The nightjar is more often heard than seen, its song a series of ghostly clicks known as a churring. In her poem ‘Goatsucker’, Sylvia Plath wrote that the ‘Devil-bird’ flies ‘on wings of witch cloth’.

Submission guidelines – guidelines

nightjarpress@gmail.com | Nightjar on facebook | Nightjar on twitter | Nightjar Press website