Frank McMahon’s short drama, Detach from World, has just been produced on a podcast by Ragged Foils Productions.

It tells the story of a married couple and their journey to the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich. The wife has a terminal illness.

The drama was selected for professional production by this new independent producer.
The podcast warns listeners about the content, contains an interview with Frank and details of organisations to contact for people personally affected by this issue. To listen go here.

The Wilts & Cotswold Standard is reporting that Somewhere Else’s own Frank McMahon has published his first collection of poems.

‘At The Storm’s Edge’ are poems about love and fury with a keen sense of the natural world.

They are inspired by children, as Frank set up and managed a SureStart children’s centre in Kettering before moving to the Cotswolds.

Frank, who has two children and six grandchildren of his own, said: “There is nothing like working with and for young children.

“They constantly teach you to look at the world with fresh eyes and be open to new experiences.”

‘At the Storm’s Edge’ is available to buy from Amazon and Palewell Press

Frank’s short play ‘Detachment’ has also been chosen by Ragged Foils Productions for recording in January 2020 by a professional director and actors. It will be available in a downloadable podcast (date to be announced). The story concerns a married couple on their journey to the Dignitas Clinic in Zurich.

Frank McMahon’s first collection of poems ‘At the Storm’s Edge’ is being published in January 2020 by Palewell Press. The poems cover themes of love and loss, wonder at the natural world, anger at social injustice and the celebration of other creative voices. It will be launched at an event in Cirencester towards the end of January, and will be available for purchase at Waterstones and Amazon.

Palewell Press publications focus on environmental concerns, social justice and excluded groups and communities.

Pigs – where would we be without them? That question is brilliantly answered in Richard Lutwyche’s brilliant non-fiction book:  ‘The Pig: A Natural History’. Published by Princeton University Press and beautifully illustrated, it tells the story of this prolific, ubiquitous, smart and adaptable animal, from origin to domestication and beyond. It would make a great Christmas present and is being stocked in Octavia’s bookshop in Black Jack Street, Cirencester, for the next few weeks, as well as being available on Amazon.

Richard is also the author of this month’s Cirencester Scene short story – a darkly funny tale about death. It was inspired by a creative writing exercise based on a picture from the Italian Alps showing the body of a man preserved for around 5,000 years. You can find his story here.

Richard developed his writing skills through a career in marketing. He has had articles published in trade journals and magazines including Country Life, The Field and Country Living and edited The Ark magazine for the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, a national charity, for over 10 years.

He has had four non-fiction books published – Rare Breed Pig Keeping (2003); Shetland Breeds (co-author), 2003; Pig Keeping (2010); Higgledy Piggledy (2010) – all of which hint at one of his main interests. He is proud of the fact that he won a lifetime achievement award at the BBC Food & Farming Awards for his work in conserving rare breeds.

Clare had a great evening at Ragged Foils Productions ‘Wrap Party’ at a noisy pub in Soho last week where she met the talented podcast creatives for 12 very different stories: the director, sound recordist, actors and other writers for Season One. Her piece ‘An Ordinary House’ is available here on the SE website.

Linda Dyson’s story ‘Happy Families’ is our story of the month for November – and is also being featured in this month’s Cirencester Scene. It will appeal to anyone who has ever braced themselves for a family get-together.

Linda joined Somewhere Else Writers in an attempt to get back into writing a novel started several years ago. Two of her short stories have been published in an anthology organised by the ‘Aspiring Writers’ group on Linked-in and a number of poems included in other collections. Her play ‘The Piano’ was broadcast on Corinium Radio earlier this year, and works for children have been performed at local schools. You can read Linda’s story by clicking on the ‘Story of the Month’ logo.

The poetry magazine ‘Black Bough Poetry’ has just published ‘Japanese Garden’ by Iris Anne Lewis. Described by editor Matthew M. C. Smith as excellent imagist, precise, sharp poetry, ‘Japanese Garden’ was first conceived by a visit to a Japanese-style garden in the grounds of Warwick University.

‘Black Bough Poetry’ publishes micro-poems from across the world. Only the most compressed, the most pristine, the most vivid, make the cut. It takes its name and its ethos from a two-line poem from Ezra Pound.

In a Station of the Metro
The apparition of these faces in the crowd:
Petals on a wet, black bough.

‘Japanese Garden’, is published in issue 3, page 10, of the magazine, which you can find here.