We couldn’t choose between David Bevan’s two stories – ‘The Golden Frog’ and ‘The Bull’ – so we decided to publish them both, together. They share more than just their author. Joanne Done and Douglas Thompson contribute eerie crime stories – ‘Medlar’ and ‘The Dissolving Man’ – with a difference. During lockdown, the hospitality sector shut down; the protagonists of Françoise Harvey’s ‘Guest’ and David Gaffney’s ‘The Country Pub’ might wish this were still the case. Pairing stories is a big part of what we are trying to do at Nightjar, so when the opportunity came along to publish a pair stories with the same title – ‘The Lake’ by Livi Michael and ‘The Lake’ by John Foxx – we didn’t hesitate.
Thank you, as ever, to John Oakey of John Oakey Design, who is the designer and typesetter of all our publications. Without him we would be unable to function. Bella Royle maintained the website during a transitional phase, and we are grateful to her; she has now handed over responsibility for that role to Nicholas Royle, so expect website chaos from here on in. Thanks, also, to our excellent printers, H&H Reeds Printers Ltd of Penrith.
The cover images for three of these pairs of titles were taken by Nicholas Royle, but the images for the two stories by David Bevan are details of photographs by writer and photographer Maya Sharp. David Bevan and Maya Sharp – and Joanne Done, for that matter – are all recent graduates of the MA Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.
For the last year or so, as many international customers will know, we have been experiencing enormous difficulties with sending orders overseas. Well, sending is fine. We send them – and they disappear, or they come back, or they are delayed in Customs in Chicago for three months, or they arrive in pieces in a plastic bag. We have had to replace a lot of lost orders. This is not the fault of international customers, of course. If only we did know whose fault it was. Brexit – that nightmarish own goal scored jointly by David Cameron and 52% of voters in the referendum – is partly to blame, but not wholly, as the problem is not confined to Europe. We considered restricting sales to the UK from now on, but couldn’t quite bring ourselves to take that step, so for now we trudge on, into the further reaches of the unknown.
Please get in touch (see About page) to find out about our ten-issue subscription offer or to request a discount on bulk orders. Do check Twitter for special offers and fun stuff.