Bridge House Publishing

Author Interview – Gill James – Natascha’s Story

February 14, 2025 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:- Many thanks to Gill James for supplying author and book cover pictures. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or images supplied by Gill. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

It is with great pleasure I welcome Gill James back to Chandler’s Ford Today. Gill is an author, editor, and publisher, being the mastermind behind Bridge House Publishing, Chapeltown Books, CafeLit and other imprints within the Bridge House “family”, including Walela Books. The latter published Debz Hobbs-Wyatt’s If Crows Could Talk. Chapeltown Books have published many authors, including me.

Gill has written across many genres including historical fiction (check out her Schellberg series) and science fiction (see her Peace Child books, an excellent series I’m happy to recommend). But this time she is back with a children’s tale, Natascha’s Story, with an unusual viewpoint – that of a Russian doll!

Tags: Bridge House Publishing, children's books, children's reading, creative fiction, fantasy in children's fiction, Gill James, joys and challenges of writing for children, marketing tips, Natascha's Story, writing for children, writing tips

Author Interview: Introducing Hannah Retallick

November 29, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Hannah Retallick for supplying book cover, book launch, and author photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or photos supplied by Hannah or are directly from PIxabay.

I am so pleased to welcome Hannah Retallick to Chandler’s Ford Today. Hannah, like me, is a Bridge House Publishing stalwart, and her debut short story collection, Something Very Human, has just been published by them. Hannah and I have been in many of the anthologies they have produced.

Hannah is an excellent flash fiction writer and has gained recognition in many international competitions, including receiving Highly Commended in the Bridport Flash Fiction Prize 2022, winning the £2000 Edinburgh Award for Flash Fiction 2024 – the biggest flash prize in the UK – and being Highly Commended in the Bath Flash Fiction Award. All of these are highly prestigious in the flash fiction world.

Tags: author interview, book launch, Bridge House Publishing, debut story collection, flash fiction, Hannah Retallick, short form fiction, Something Very Human, writing journey, writing routine

Author Interview – Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk – Part 2

November 1, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book cover and author pics. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images are directly from Pixabay. Screenshots were also taken by me, Allison Symes.

Introduction – Part 2

It is a great pleasure to welcome Debz Hobbs-Wyatt back to Chandler’s Ford Today for Part 2 of an in-depth interview celebrating the launch of her new novel, If Crows Could Talk (Walela Books).

Part 1 from last week covered Debz’s writing journey and wonderful advice regarding agents and the writing life. She also discussed the small presses (both of us are connected to Bridge House Publishing). Link at the bottom of this section of the interview if you missed Part 1. Whatever stage of the writing life you find yourself at now, do check both parts of this interview out. Debz has shared lots of wonderful tips.

Tags: author interview, author library visits, Bridge House Publishing, Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, editing, If Crows Could Talk, marketing, novels, short stories, storytelling, supporting libraries, Walela Books

Author Interview: Debz Hobbs-Wyatt – If Crows Could Talk – Part 1

October 25, 2024 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book cover and author pics. Some images from a Bridge House Publishing event supplied by Paula Readman and me. Screenshots were also taken by me, Allison Symes.

It is a joy to welcome Debz Hobbs-Wyatt to Chandler’s Ford Today. I’ve known Debz for some time thanks to our mutual connections with Bridge House Publishing.

I’ve been on one side of the fence here, having had several stories in various BHP anthologies over the years. Debz has been on the other side of the fence with BHP founder, Gill James, and the two continue to work closely together. Indeed, I’m looking forward to meeting up again with Debz and Gill at the Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event in December.

Tags: author interview, Bridge House Publishing, characters, Debz Hobbs-Wyatt, Gill James, If Crows Could Talk, marketing, novels, resting your writing, short stories, the indie press, Walela Books, writing advice, writing journey, writing what you love

Anthologies

March 31, 2023 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credits:-

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and photos of my earlier publications were taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images are from Bridge House Publishing. Creativity Matters – Find Your Passion for Writing book cover photo was supplied by Wendy H Jones.

I’ve had the privilege and joy of being published in various anthologies over many years, mainly published by Bridge House Publishing.

What are the advantages to writing for anthologies? I thought I’d take a look at this and give some tips on working out ways of using any set theme wisely.

[Read more…] about Anthologies

Tags: am reading, am writing, anthologies, benefits of writing for anthologies, Bridge House Publishing, creative writing, independent press

Festive Flash and Other News

December 23, 2022 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

Image Credits:-

Images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Many thanks to Hannah Kate from North Manchester FM for kind permission to use the Three Minute Santas photo. Book covers of Evergreen – an Anthology and The Best of CafeLit 11 are from Bridge House Publishing. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. The Merry Christmas image is from CFT archives.

My, how does the time fly! It’s time for some festive flash fiction and news about my writing year. It’s been a busy but fun one.

Tags: Allison Symes, am writing, Bridge House Publishing, broadcasts, creative writing, festive flash fiction, Hannah Kate, North Manchester FM, podcasts, publication news, The Writing and Marketing Show, Three Minute Santas, Wendy H Jones, workshops

Bridge House Publishing Celebration Event 2022

December 16, 2022 By Allison Symes 4 Comments

Image Credits:-

Photos taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the image of me reading work. Other images created in Book Brush but using one of my photos.

It is always a joy to get to go to the Bridge House Publishing celebration event and it is equally lovely to blog for Chandler’s Ford Today about it! This year it was held at the Theodore Bullfrog pub in London. They do have some great pub names (and if you can think of any you’ve come across, do share them in the comments). It is an especial pleasure to go since Covid-19 has put paid to previous planned get togethers. It was by no means certain this year’s event would go ahead either due to other outside events beyond BHP’s control.

But we made it and it was lovely to get into a cosily warm pub, given it was bitter out. (Coldest places on the planet must include railway stations. They make for very good wind tunnels… brrr… and I’d nominate Southampton Airport Parkway as one of the worst there).

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Tags: author event, author readings, books, Bridge House Publishing, celebration event, networking

Celebrating with Bridge House Publishing

December 10, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credits:-

**Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.**

**Photos taken by me, Allison Symes, with one exception. A big thank you to Lynn Clement for kind permission to use the photo of her with Gill James and myself at the Bridge House Publishing event.**

**Also thanks to Gill James for the YouTube link showing what BHP have been up to this year – it is easier to see what BHP have been up to than to list it!**

It was great to be able to celebrate with Bridge House Publishing twice in one week this year.

On Thursday, 2nd December, there was a Zoom meeting for those who couldn’t get to the in-person event in London on Saturday, 4th December. There was a quiz, a look at the books published by BHP and its imprints this year (including The City of Stories by Lynn Clement, which I edited), and there were readings.

I read Breaking Out, one of my two stories in The Best of CafeLit 10, which is just one of the many books produced this year.

It was lovely to see so many on screen and I loved hearing the stories.

Tags: Allison Symes, books, Bridge House Publishing, celebration event, creative writing, in-person event, indie publishers, Lynn Clement, reading, The City of Stories, writing event, Zoom

Introducing Lynn Clement – Part 2 – The Editing

November 26, 2021 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

It is my pleasure to welcome back Lynn Clement. Her flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, is out with Chapeltown Books and I had the privilege and pleasure of editing this collection.

Prior to that, I had met Lynn when I was guest speaker at the Hampshire Writers’ Society where I talked about flash fiction, CafeLit, Chapeltown Books, and this, I’m glad to say, inspired Lynn to start submitting work to CafeLit and then a single author collection to Chapeltown Books.

This week, Lynn and I talk about the editing process and why it is never a good idea to use song lyrics in your work.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, editing, Lynn Clement, The City of Stories

Introducing Lynn Clement – The City of Stories

November 19, 2021 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Image Credit:-

My speaking at Swanwick 2019 was taken by Penny Blackburn.

Many thanks to Lynn Clement for supplying her author photo and book cover pic.

Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or were direct from Pixabay.

Book cover pics from Chapeltown Books.

This is a lovely post to write as it is a Local Author News one for debut flash fiction author, Lynn Clement, and me. Why? Because I’ve recently had the joy of editing Lynn’s first flash fiction collection, The City of Stories, which is published through Chapeltown Books. And Lynn is from Hampshire. Definitely local enough!

How did Lynn find out about Chapeltown Books and CafeLit? Quite right – through yours truly.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, creative writing, flash fiction, Gill James, Hampshire Writers' Society, Lynn Clement, The City of Stories

Judging a Book by Its Cover – Part 3

April 30, 2021 By Allison Symes 7 Comments

This week I chat to authors from CafeLit, Bridge House Publishing, and Chapeltown Books about the importance of book covers. The variety of book covers is amazing but every writer has one thing in common. We all want our covers to be the best they can possibly be.

The three questions I set my guests were:-

1. What was the inspiration behind your book cover?
2. What do you think your book cover “says” to a potential reader?
3. Name one top tip for a great book cover you have found works for you.

Feature Image – Part 3 – Judging a Book by its Cover. Image created in Book Brush using a Pixabay picture.

Tags: Alyson Faye (aka Alyson Rhodes), Amanda Huggins, book covers, book marketing, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, Colin Payn, creative writing, Dawn Knox, fiction, Gail Aldwin, Jim Bates, Paula R C Readman, publishing

Launches in Lockdown – Part 4

February 12, 2021 By Allison Symes 6 Comments

This week I chat to friends from Bridge House Publishing, CafeLit, and Chapeltown Books, who didn’t launch one book in lockdown. They launched several! Now there’s a challenge!

Feature Image – Launches in Lockdown – Part 4. Image created in Book Brush.

Tags: Amanda Huggins, being published, book marketing, book promotion, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, launches in lockdown, Paula C Readman

Part 2 – The Chronicles Continue – Dawn Knox

December 4, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

I’m delighted to welcome back a good friend of mine, Dawn Knox, to Chandler’s Ford Today. Dawn and I are both published by Cafelit and Bridge House Publishing. Both of us are flash fiction and short story writers but Dawn is also a playwright and has recently released her second hilarious set of “chronicles” stories called The Macaroon Chronicles. This is the follow up to her debut set of chronicles called The Basilwade Chronicles. If you like a good, funny read, do check these out.

Dawn Knox. Image kindly supplied by her.

Tags: Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Knox, playwriting, stage work, The Basilwade Chronicles, The Great War, The Macaroon Chronicles

Introducing Dawn Knox… The Chronicles Continue

November 27, 2020 By Allison Symes 11 Comments

Dawn Kentish Knox is a great friend and we have publishers in common – Cafelit and Bridge House Publishing in particular. We usually meet at the twice yearly Bridge House events (though technically the one in the summer is the Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition one, though Bridge House sponsor that). We are both missing these events this year though we have met on Zoom.

Along with Paula Readman, whom I interviewed a few months back, Dawn and I make up the photo that appears on top of the Scribblers Sans Frontiere Facebook group which is for authors published by Bridge House and its imprints (including Chapeltown Books).

Tags: being published, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books. The Macaroon Chronicles, creative writing, Dawn Knox, humorous prose, The Basilwade Chronicles, The Great War, writing tips

Local Author News – Allison Symes – New Book, New Anthology, New Zoom Event!

September 18, 2020 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

Murphy’s Law has struck again for this writer! No news (publication or otherwise) for a while and then lots all at the same time!

Feature Image - Allison Symes - New Book, New Anthology, and Zoom-1 — Feature Image – Allison Symes – New Book, New Anthology, and Zoom-1. Book cover image from Chapeltown Books.

Tags: Allison Symes, author readings, Author talk, Bridge House Publishing, Dawn Kentish Knox, flash fiction, Gill James, new anthology, new book, publication news, The Best of Cafelit 9, Tripping the Flash Fantastic, Zoom Event

Part 2 – The Writing Game – and What to Watch For

July 31, 2020 By Allison Symes 2 Comments

Welcome to Part 2 of my new series. You can find the link to Part 1 here. Writing colleagues and I share tips we hope will be useful ranging from contracts to marketing to even handling professional jealousy. There is much to learn from here!

Any industry attracts charlatans. Writing isn’t exempt. From copyright infringements to piracy, it pays to be aware of what can happen and where to go for advice. It is also useful to know what to avoid.

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Tags: advice, Allison Symes, Amanda Baber, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, Dawn Kentish Knox, fantasy, flash fiction, Gill James, hints, humour, Paula C Readman, publishing, scams, short stories, tips

Waterloo Arts Festival 2020 Goes Digital – Online Writing Event

June 19, 2020 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

The Waterloo Arts Festival is an annual celebration across several art disciplines all based on a theme. This year’s one was Transforming Communities. Previous topics have been Transforming Being and To Be…To Become.

bhp31l — The Bridge House Publishing logo. Image from Bridge House Publishing.

For the last three years, there has been a writing competition as part of the Festival and Bridge House Publishing have been the sponsors behind this. I’ve been privileged to have had winning stories in all three ebooks produced. Each ebook is a compilation of the fifteen winning entries in each year.

The Waterloo Arts Festival goes online for 2020. Pixabay.

Tags: Allison Symes, Bridge House Publishing, ebook launch, online writing event, publication news, Transforming Communities, Waterloo Arts Festival, Zoom

Introducing Paula Readman: What Books Mean to Her

February 28, 2020 By Allison Symes 5 Comments

Paula Readman and I have publishers in common. We’ve both been published by Bridge House Publishing and Cafelit. We’ve shared the great joy recently of both of us having two stories in The Best of Cafelit 8 and also a story each in Nativity, the most recent books published by Bridge House. Naturally we are both keen on the independent small presses!

Paula R C Readman – image kindly supplied by her

Paula is going from strength to strength and is starting 2020 off in great style with a recently released novella and a short story collection to come later in the year but more on that in a moment.

I learned a long time ago if someone makes something look easy, that same someone will have worked very hard for years to get to that point. This is true for Paula and she’ll share more about this too.

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Tags: books, Bridge House Publishing, creative writing, Days Pass Like A Shadow, Demain Publishing, fiction, marketing, Paula Readman, The Funeral Birds

Friends and Traditions

December 13, 2019 By Allison Symes Leave a Comment

This is the time of year when many traditions are upheld, of course, but I think the best involve getting together with friends to celebrate something you have in common.

For me, this winning combination works so well with the Bridge House Celebration Event held this year at St. John’s Church, Waterloo, in London on Saturday, 7th December 2019.

St John's in Waterloo was a beautiful venue — St John’s in Waterloo is a huge church. The Waterloo Arts Festival was held here in June. The Bridge House event in December was held in a downstairs room. Extremely handy place to get to from the station!

Tags: books, Bridge House Publishing, creative writing, friends, readings, traditions

Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

December 14, 2018 By Allison Symes 3 Comments

On 1st December, it was my great joy to travel to London once again to meet up with fellow Bridge House Publishing/Cafelit/Chapeltown Books authors at the annual celebration event. On the way up by train, I enjoyed my usual routine of writing stories on my phone app and getting quite a bit of work done by the time I got into Waterloo. [Read more…] about Celebrations, Crackers, Chapeltown, and Cafelit – London 2018

Tags: Allison Symes, anthologies, author event, book celebration, Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Chapeltown Books, creative writing, flash fiction, independent press, short stories

Bridge House Publishing

Image Credits:- Many thanks to Gill James for supplying author and book cover pictures. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos or images supplied by Gill. Screenshots were taken by me, Allison Symes.

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Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Hannah Retallick for supplying book cover, book launch, and author photos. Screenshots taken by me, Allison Symes. Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or photos supplied by Hannah or are directly from PIxabay.

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Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book cover and author pics. Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Some images are directly from Pixabay. Screenshots were also taken by me, Allison Symes.

Introduction – Part 2

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Image Credits:-

Many thanks to Debz Hobbs-Wyatt for supplying book cover and author pics. Some images from a Bridge House Publishing event supplied by Paula Readman and me. Screenshots were also taken by me, Allison Symes.

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Image Credits:-

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay photos. Screenshots and photos of my earlier publications were taken by me, Allison Symes. Book cover images are from Bridge House Publishing. Creativity Matters – Find Your Passion for Writing book cover photo was supplied by Wendy H Jones.

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Photos taken by me, Allison Symes. Many thanks to Lynn Clement for taking the image of me reading work. Other images created in Book Brush but using one of my photos.

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Image Credits:-

Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.

Photos taken by me, Allison Symes, with one exception. A big thank you to Lynn Clement for kind permission to use the photo of her with Gill James and myself at the Bridge House Publishing event.

Also thanks to Gill James for the YouTube link showing what BHP have been up to this year – it is easier to see what BHP have been up to than to list it!

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Image Credit:-

My speaking at Swanwick 2019 was taken by Penny Blackburn.

Many thanks to Lynn Clement for supplying her author photo and book cover pic.

Other images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images or were direct from Pixabay.

Book cover pics from Chapeltown Books.

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**Some images created in Book Brush using Pixabay images.**

**Photos taken by me, Allison Symes, with one exception. A big thank you to Lynn Clement for kind permission to use the photo of her with Gill James and myself at the Bridge House Publishing event.**

**Also thanks to Gill James for the YouTube link showing what BHP have been up to this year – it is easier to see what BHP have been up to than to list it!**