I am delighted to welcome into the world my short story The Red Suitcase, published as a beautiful limited-edition chapbook by Nightjar Press.

Eight years, then, before I got an acceptance. The story is just over 5,000 words, so too long for many UK magazines, though I submitted to some that do publish longer stories. I tried a few competitions, online and US magazines. I tinkered with the text, wondered about the title. But I didn’t want to – couldn’t – give up on the story. I can’t now recall the circumstances of writing The Red Suitcase. I know the roots of the setting, and some of the other elements. Did I know how the story would end when I started writing it? I don’t think so.

And now it has found its home, and I couldn’t be happier for it. Nightjar Press, run by Nicholas Royle, has been publishing single short-story chapbooks for over a decade. Each chapbook is signed by the author. The stories all have an unsettling, sometimes weird, ambience, a Nightjar je-ne-sais-quoi. I’ve got eleven Nightjar chapbooks, and had wondered about sending my story to the press but wasn’t sure if it was quite the thing Nicholas Royle was looking for. The other factor holding me back was that I’ve known Mr Royle for many years and value him both as a great supporter of writers and happily also as a very good friend. Back in the day, before my writing shifted to focus mainly on poetry, Nick had included several of my short stories in anthologies for which he was the editor. He’d also turned down at least one story, very gently. How would I feel if he said no to The Red Suitcase?

Then one afternoon this summer Nick walked across London to meet my Nick in Battersea Park to give him two CDs, and to catch up, at a social distance of course. I joined them a bit later and Nick asked how my writing was going. I told him about indoors looking out and, though poetry isn’t really his bag, he promised to tweet about it. As we were about to part, I screwed up my courage and asked him what was the maximum word count he would consider for a Nightjar story. The cat was out of the bag then. I told him I had a story I’d been trying to get published for years, that I’d love it to be published by Nightjar Press but I wasn’t sure if it was quite right for him. I also mentioned I was unsure about the title, but when I told him the title he said he loved it and not to change it. He wanted to read it. If he didn’t take it, it would be because it wasn’t a good fit for the press.

Over the next week I reviewed The Red Suitcase. I made a few edits, mainly to the opening. I’ve definitely got better at editing my work since writing more poetry, and specifically thanks to the mentoring Joolz Sparkes and I received from Jacqueline Saphra as part of our Arts Council funding for London Undercurrents in 2017/18. On the 8th of August I emailed The Red Suitcase to Nicholas Royle. The following day he replied saying he loved it and would love to publish it. YES!! My hand was shaking with excitement when I wrote that on the index card.

Nick came back with a few additional edits, all of which I was happy to accept. Then last Tuesday he brought over boxes of hot-off-the-press chapbooks for me to sign. I’d cleaned the dining table and turned on the heating. I felt a bit nervous, and also unsure as to what type of pen to use. I prefer my fountain pen but it turned out not to be compatible with the paper – no ink flow. So I went with the rollerball pen instead (biro is always a last resort for me). I’d put on a favourite CD of piano music, The Transcendalist, performed by Ivan Ilić, and after 47 minutes (Nick timed me) I had signed 200 copies. Do check out Nightjar Press chapbooks – there are three other new stories published alongside mine, which all sound gripping.

• 

•