We've done it!
Well, almost.
We've selected all the stories for Issue One. We've built the web pages and the brilliant Anika Carpenter has created the cover art for the issue - which also includes an interview with her about her art and writing.
We’ve even got a publication date (cue drum roll, please): 18 October, 2024.
We're fine-tuning and now all we need to do is make sure the stories we love reach as many readers as possible - because they really deserve a wide audience.
That's where you come in - if you like the cut of Cap'n Dave's jib, get on board and spread the word. Please like, comment on and share our socials and help us build our readership.
A sneak peek at part of Anika Carpenter's collage What Scares You - the cover art for Issue One.
Jack’s Thoughts on Issue One
As we’ve said elsewhere, NFNF began on a whim. Jude and I didn’t really know each other except through our writing and our interactions on the Writer’s HQ forum. Becoming an editor hadn’t ever been on my wishlist so it really was a launch into the great unknown.
What a blast it’s been. I love working with Jude - her mind is a wondrous thing. You should all read her stories - if you love NFNF then you already have an inkling of what they’ll be like. She’s immensely patient with me and our working practice feels like an enormous ‘yes’ which is hugely invigorating.*
We’ve built a thing we love without much thought to ‘the market’ or received wisdom on ‘what works’ and it’s been joyous that other writers’ have responded to our call to action. It truly feels like a collaboration with our writers and artists - we are both enthusiastically looking forward to building on this.
We are learning new things daily about the platform and how to promote NFNF so our writers and artists can get the audience they deserve. I am so proud of what we’ve built. We so want it to be the very best it can be. We hope you like it too.
*Jude wants you to know she did not bribe Jack to say any of this and takes no responsibility for the accuracy of Jack's judgement.
We'll be blogging again a couple more times between now and Issue One publication day, 18th October 2024 and we'll introduce you to all our writers and their stories. Here (in no particular order) are the first four:
Zoe Davis
Zoe's story, Spare Parts, is a creepy piece of body horror. This unique, in-the-moment story, shows us how easy it has become to lose sight of people's humanity.
Tomas pulled a pair of frameless glasses from his top pocket and pushed them up his nose with a single finger. Adrenalin stains soaked the mechanic’s worn blue overalls, plastered with stitch-on sponsor’s patches and a name badge that included his blood type.
Sophie Thompson
Pull The Door After You - Sophie's story - demonstrates how one person's cute and cuddly is another's completely terrifying.
You can make up your own mind about Mr Percy Prickles and whether he's up to no good.
I peered into Mr Percy Prickles’s eyes through his hollow, gold-wired spectacles.
“I never knew Aunt Sarah hated me.”
Susan Wigmore
Susan's story, Rewilding, adds a modern layer to an old myth and provides an unusual twist on the perils of new friends, self-care and 'wild' swimming.
Truth be told, health spas are the last place you’d go for a good time, but you have to admit they reap rewards. Never mind the self-sacrifice; it’s all about identifying a need.
Michael Conley
Duncan is a Saundereque tale of what happens when work-based pranks go wrong. We felt for poor Duncan, we are sure you will too.
First of all, the guys working for VeriTech in Lab 14b kept sneaking these little wasplike things into our lunchboxes that would screech out towards our faces and explode in a shower of pink glitter, rendering our food inedible
More fantastic storytellers and snippets to follow in our next blog!