The book opens with a scene that seems almost mythical: In 1730, a woman named Amrita Devi pressed her body against a tree trunk as axes swung toward it. Her final words, before her head was severed, would echo through centuries: “Sar santey rukh rahe to bhi sasto jan” — “My head for a tree; it’s a cheap price to pay.” By day’s end, 363 Bishnoi villagers lay dead.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler (Four Walls Eight Windows, 1993) is a dystopian novel following 15-year-old Lauren Olamina as she navigates America through the years 2024 to 2027. When her community is attacked, Lauren leads the survivors towards Canada in search of a safe haven and a fresh start. It borders on terrifying how relevant some of the issues depicted in a novel written in 1993 are to the current state of society.
Our second edition celebrated Cornish writers and artists and was so lovely to assemble that we decided to release the prose from it as a paper anthology, to be released in December, with a reading event in Cornwall. Below is a little more detail about this fantastic short story collection.
On the rocks at Carne, flotsam washes in alongside memories of lost love. A family picnic at Lostwithiel leads to the rediscovery of ancient Cornish language stories. In The Three Ferrets at St Ives, a weary barmaid dreams of sailing away on a yacht with a dubious stranger, and a man in search of love is tricked by the Queen of Fey at Rough Tor.
This captivating anthology showcases Cornwall’s most exciting contemporary writers, both established and emerging. This is an amazing range of new short stories and non-fiction that makes Cornwall feel fresh and unexpected; writing that engages with folklore, history, and landscape in an emotionally compelling way, celebrating a love of Cornish history and wildlife. Moving through time and space with each story, you’ll find contemporary retellings of folklore, compelling memoirs, and flash fictions that brim with tension and discovery.
Authors in this Anthology: Rebecca Johnson Bista, Anastasia Gammon, Tim Hannigan, Kate Horsley, Clare Howdle, Adrian Markle, Tim Martindale, P. T. McAllister, Rob Magnuson Smith, Mark Plummer, Katherine Stansfield, Jackie Taylor, Karen Taylor, Shelley Trower, Emma Timpany, Tom Vowler, Ella Walsworth-Bell, Elaine Ruth White and Becky Wildman.
