Fly on the Wall Press – förlag

It is 1989, and in a small Baltic city in East Germany, the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, three young people from vastly different backgrounds become friends. Armando is a factory worker from Mozambique, Lolita is a medical student from India, and Theo is an East Berliner who dreams of being a writer.When Armando and Lolita make a grisly discovery, they find themselves caught up in the politics of Theo’s homeland more than ever before. While a quiet revolution sweeps through Eastern Europe, and the Berlin Wall teeters, the three find themselves entangled in a poignant love triangle which threatens their futures.As the world order shifts, their three lives are bound together in a web of love, lies and fears, leaving each irrevocably changed.

Stories traversing identity, sexuality, and human connection across the industrial towns and satellite villages of Northern England.Opening with the Commonwealth Prize-winning "Lech, Prince, and the Nice Things," the collection weaves through teenage sexual awakening, family secrets, and post-pandemic isolation. Characters grapple with class divisions, discrimination, and desires they barely understand themselves. Unflinching and deeply human, these stories capture pivotal moments when lives quietly but irrevocably change course.

When the sciences and the arts begin to work together, a powerful force is created. This anthology was founded upon the belief that words have the power to change. Through poetry, photography and art, creatives across the globe, from the age of 8 to 80, have united to express the urgency of global warming, facing the facts but never losing hope. "A new metaphor is as useful in the climate fight as a new solar panel design. We need poets engaged in this battle, and this volume is proof that in fact they're in the vanguard!" - Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and leader of the anti-carbon campaign group 350.org. An anthology for our timePoetry and Photography Edited by Isabelle Kenyon Foreword by Dr Michelle Cain, Science and Policy Research Associate, Oxford University Featuring Emily Gellard Photography and a commissioned poem by Helen Mort

"I set desire / on fire / and she screamed/ I couldn't tell / if the scream / was agony / or ecstasywhat's the difference?" - From 'What's Left' "and when we settle into our dens at night, we talk of you, as one might talk of a cupped hand, fading slowly, the rest of the body long departed: a rusty bucket, offering water-all that's left of a god. " - From 'Somewhere in Indiana' Ricky Ray entwines the beauty of the world and his love of life with the weight of physical pain he shoulders daily, in this stunning chapbook which urges you to find new meaning in nature's mysterious workings: "Every time I look up/ into a canopy, I see a mind at work." In The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself, Ricky Ray invokes the animalistic yet the utterly, undeniably humane. Visiting the most intimate corners of memory, this is a chapbook that promises linguistic prowess and the healing - however raw - of the ache of living. From Indiana, Florida, and Oklahoma to the inescapable moment of our own death, the moment the sun sinks below the horizon, the moment 'the cancer / bloomed like an angry / flower in her liver', Ray's language is masterful, transfixed on elevating the mundane and exposing every private moment of our existence. - Kayla Jenkins, Writer

A series of personal, curated interviews with the best of the UK's Small Presses. From advice on taking your manuscript to publication, marketing for authors and publishers and a look at contracts, these publishers wish to demystify the publishing process for budding authors, across a wide range of genres.

Rachel Bower''s accomplished debut collection seeks to recover the lived experiences of women who have often appeared only fleetingly in official histories. The poems push towards a more expansive concept of motherhood, including our collective responsibilities for lives, environments and natural worlds.With heartfelt lyricism, Bower weaves stories of labour and love. In moments of fear and determination for survival, this collection is a hymn to the people and places which shape us."In Rachel Bower''s powerful new collection, you will find mothers displaced, mothers deceived, mothers labouring to stay sane and alive. But woven amongst any vulnerability is a fierce celebration of the mother-body, opened up to prove the unique and complex stories each one holds. I am grateful to Bower for finding these women - historical, biblical, autobiographical - and offering me such inventive, arresting poems, brim-full with blistering truths."- Rebecca Goss, Poet"Powerful, compelling and exquisitely crafted, These Mothers of Gods is a tour-de-force of female-focussed storytelling."- Teika Marija Smits, Writer and Editor"Rachel Bower''s poems show us mothering as we''ve never seen it before, through time, history, and mythology. The collection centres the voice of the other, while conveying poignant experiences of joy, elation, triumph and hardness. These image-rich verses are poems of intense curiosity and beauty."- Jason Allen-Paisant

Fauna follows the lead of the bacon-skinned Pig with a menagerie of twisted tales about the lives and times of our fellow-feeling creatures. There are guinea pigs in the underworld, elephants in a virtual world, vengeful birds from a far-off world, and so much more beastliness. There will be nowhere for the humans to hide."Brilliant imagination and sharp storytelling aside, Dr. David Hartley shows us a delightfully fresh way of looking at who should, really, be our closest friends."-  Nik Perring (Author of Not So Perfect, Freaks!) "Fiercely original, these are stories that are at times disturbing, absurd, and darkly comedic, and which refuse to conform to the constraints of time and space. A startling collection, that begs to be read aloud. Hartley is a brilliant storyteller, with the kind of imagination that leaves you feeling a bit fearful for your own safety." - Lucie McKnight Hardy (Author of Water Shall Refuse Them) "I haven''t read anything quite like these brilliant, dark and often fairy-tailish short stories. The tension is found here on the edges and boundaries: human/animal, natural/man-made, happiness/horror. With humour and an incredible versatility in voice and style - not to mention technology-hacking rabbits and horses who time travel - Hartley asks us to look hard at our own world and never, ever, underestimate the animals. " - Tania Hershman, author of Some Of Us Glow More Than Others and My Mother Was An Upright Piano Extract: A Panda Appeared in Our Street     A panda appeared in our street, skewered to the railing outside my house. Let me paint the picture: there''s the road outside my house, then there''s this long strip of grass, then there''s the houses opposite. And the grass has got these railings all the way around it, for kids to kick their footballs off and stuff, and this panda was just there that morning, stuck on a row of the spikes, directly opposite my house.     So, I went up to it and I was like that to the kids who were playing out, I was like; who''s is this panda, lads? And they were like; dunno, dunno mate and they didn''t seem to care. So, I knocked on to my neighbour, Gail, and she comes out and I''m like; Gail. Check this out. A panda. And she''s like; hmm, oh yeah aye. So how are you keeping Jon, are you well? But I''m like; Gail, it''s a panda! What should we do? And she''s like; leave it, it''s just some kid''s toy.     And that''s when I realised. The people of the street; they weren''t seeing the same thing I was. They were seeing a stuffed toy, like a teddy bear type thing, all synthetic fur and glass-bead eyes. But I was seeing something else. I was seeing a real-life panda skewered on a row of the railing spikes. And the poor bugger was still alive.     There was blood on the floor and the panda was squirming and crying out a bit. I didn''t know what to do. I thought about trying to lift it off, but you shouldn''t do that in case you hit an artery. Or it might get angry and start attacking me, or it might run off and hurt some kid. So, I thought; ring the RSPCA, Jon, but if I''m the only one who can see it''s a real panda, they might end up locking me away instead. So, I just left it. I guess I thought someone else would figure it out, or it would free itself or something.

Ruth Brandt''s debut short story collection tackles stubborn, impulsive and adrenaline-seeking human nature. From the formation of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the early life of Turing, to modern day families, Brandt lays bare the social systems and customs we live by. To read and recognise Brandt''s characters, is to recognise humans are social chameleons - an acknowledgement that through pain, loss and memories of war, we can choose to love and live with abandon.  "Ruth Brandt carries the reader into the dark heart of our shared hopes and fears. Always subtle, with a deft understatement and a pared-back style, these are stories that open up our understanding of how we are. They are quietly unforgettable." - Jonathan Davidson, poet and memoiristExtract: In Wenceslas Square, after the synagogues and the memorial, we attached ourselves to an American tour group and listened to the story of the ''89 Velvet Revolution, of Václav Havel''s balcony speech. Rob marvelled and repeated sections, not knowing that he is recounting my own history.You came looking for me after ''89, I know. But everything was uncertain. Lines of communication suddenly closed. So what then of our role to ''contribute towards the downfall of capitalism'' when my country had embraced that enemy? Where did I fit?I was trained to be invisible. I could walk on sand and leave no footprints, pass along a street and be un-remarked upon. A social chameleon is what you''d made of me. And, Tomas, I was pregnant with another man''s child - that''s how deep my entrenchment in British society had become.I was good by then, better than you could ever have known. I acquired a new passport, destroyed my papers and my one-time decoding pads. I disappeared for the second time in my life. I hid so that my child and I could have stability, certainty.Here I am, lying in the shade of a tree in the Rose Garden on Petrin Hill, watching a triangle of sun creep across my foot. Rob has gone to fetch ice creams - he says he didn''t imagine it being this hot here. The scent of roses infuses the air around me and with a man, who loves me enough to bring me to Prague as a birthday surprise, fetches me an ice cream, while all I can hear is my mother crying goodbye in our communist prefab flat. ''Just for a little while,'' I told her, when in truth I had promised a lifetime commitment to the StB. "''Lucky Underpants'' describes a romantic encounter that goes awry because the narrator becomes distanced by his thoughts. One thing definitely leads to another but not the kind of climax he was hoping for. In the space of less than a page we get a sense of character, a sense of the way his mind works. ''Nothing happened,'' says his might have been lover, but for the reader plenty has happened, in fact.''" - Monica Ali on flash Lucky Underpants (Highly Commended 2018 Bridport Prize)

In these dark, witty short stories, Katy Wimhurst creates off-kilter worlds which illuminate our own. Here, knitting might cancel Armageddon. A winged being yearns to be an archaeologist. Readers are sucked in a post-apocalyptic London where the different rains are named after former politicians. An enchanted garden grows in a rented flat. Magical realism meets dystopia, with a refreshing twist.''An iridescent, compelling collection. Darkly magical in all the right ways.'' - Irenosen Okojie, author of Nudibranch and Speak Gigantular

A series of personal, curated interviews with internationally-acclaimed literary editors. This book is the chance to widen your horizons as a writer, discovering new and established literary journals across the world. Sit down with these experienced editors to find out what they really want from a submission, and allow them to demystify the publishing process, across a wide range of genres.; "Accessible and informative, In Conversation with... Literary Journals is an essential tool for emerging and established writers, publishing their work across all genres. Make space for it on your bookshelf." - Dr Jenna Clake, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Teesside University

Folklore and futurism: these stories question everything from the guest worker economy to childbirth as the world collapses. Follow hairpin turns into the remote hillsides of North Yorkshire, where two boys take a holiday with their besom-wielding, rabbit-skinning granny. Disappear into dark caves on Philippine islands and scale sheer limestone cliffs with men who search for the world’s most expensive animal product: prized nests woven from a mysterious bird’s saliva, rumoured to make one live forever. Feel sand under your feet in the middle of the night as you search for love beyond limits. You will long to hold a child, even when that instinct has been erased from your body and mind. Of Myths and Mothers will make you see some of our most accepted customs in a new light and fill you with wonder, as the best stories do.

"requite (verb): to return love and affection or, on the other side of the coin, to retaliate for injuries inflicted.” MALTA 1941. Eleven-year-old Joe Zarb's life is about to change. The war has created a rubble-strewn, dogfight-watching, soldier-saluting adventure, until a telegram arrives with news of his papa, Victor, that will shatter everything. Twenty years later, with Malta seeking independence from the British Empire, a nurse and a former RAF pilot travel to the island. Beth is looking for Joe, the son of her wartime husband, Victor. Her companion, Stuart, is seeking revenge for the horrific burns he suffered in the war. When they find Joe and a man purporting to be his papa, a chain of events is set in motion that sheds new light on what happened two decades before...

Written during the three years Matt Broomfield spent living and working in the autonomous, Kurdish-led region of Syria known as Rojava, these poems paint a unique picture of the revolution there, from the inside out. From Broomfield's own place in the revolution as an 'internationalist' volunteer, to the future of the region in the face of war, this collection raises serious questions and seeks to capture of the energy of Rojava, so often overlooked by the primary-coloured propaganda and grey criticism of our media. "The revolution is living, ugly, beautiful, writhing, self-contradictory, hopelessly compromised, and utterly worth fighting for."

Set in contemporary India, Sangeeta Mulay's unforgettable debut novel is a compelling story of four unforgettable characters:Aparna - a courageous campaigner of rationality and freedom of expression. Will the patriarchal grip of a Hindu nationalist government manage to silence her?Hari - the passionate founder of a religious organisation. As Hari becomes a rising star for the local Hindu right-wing, will he lose himself?Naseem - Aparna's wise daughter who is discovering her sexuality. Will she have the strength to stand up for her mother?Kashi - Hari's daughter who is in love with science and...girls? Confused about her sexuality, will she be able to lead life on her own terms?Confronting issues of religion, bigotry, sex and politics, DISOBEDIENT WOMEN tells the interwoven stories of two families and their battle of ideologies.

“I wanted to be close to you. So I went to the forest…”Gardens, relationships and imaginations run wild in Katie Oliver’s debut short fiction collection. The world is unpredictable and no woman is safe. Boundaries are blurred: between fantasy and reality, technology and nature, autonomy and oppression. The threat of violence simmers throughout as women transform into birds, converse with plants and plot their revenge. These dark, surreal tales will put down roots and stay with you long after reading: how close… is too close?

"I am the exposition lady; in soft focus I undress while listening to Max Richter on vinyl; I eat a pastry in my underwear; I stretch, pull back the curtains; I am carefree; a perfume advert; a vaseline lens to a teenage dream;"In this chapbook, Helen Bowie composes a love letter to the poorly-scribbled female characters of Hollywood and beyond, who exist solely to move the plot along. These witty poems navigate the eco-systems that women navigate. They ask us to think: what do the roles we see on stage and screen tell us about the roles expected of women in society?"

Twenty-nine international creatives raise their pens, celebrating the power of protest. In the face of historical and current injustice, 'Demos Rising' elevates the collective voice of the people, striving for democracy and freedom of speech for all. 5% of profits go to Amnesty International. Poetry, stories and artwork: a powerful and poignant tribute to the pressing issues of our time from people that dare to strive for a better world.

Julian Bishop cultivates ‘an army of stubborn weeds’ in this compelling ecopoetry collection, blending darkness with flashes of wit. From the gritty streets of London’s Whitechapel to the ethereal world of jellyfish, Bishop’s verses illuminate humanity’s most critical battle: climate change. With keen observation and lyrical prowess, he chronicles the shifting face of our planet and the diverse global responses to this existential crisis.

Imperfect Beginnings lays its poems out to rest on uncertain terrain. Visa paperwork deadlines hang in the air. New-borns, torn too early from their mother’s breast, learn to adapt to harsh guardianship. Belonging and exile are mirrored in the stories of having to leave one’s birthmother—or motherland. From narrative poems such as ‘My Father Sold Cigarettes To The Nazis’, Fogel takes us on a journey throughout history, spanning ancestry, wartime, adoption and peacetime, as life settles. Family, work, love and the natural world provide purpose, meaning and a sense of coming ‘home’.

Set in contemporary India, Sangeeta Mulay''s unforgettable debut novel is a compelling story of four unforgettable characters:Aparna - a courageous campaigner of rationality and freedom of expression. Will the patriarchal grip of a Hindu nationalist government and a religious society manage to silence her?Hari - the passionate founder of a religious organisation. As Hari becomes a rising star for the local Hindu right-wing, will he lose himself?Naseem - Aparna''s wise daughter who is discovering her sexuality. Will she have the strength to stand up for her mother against societal stigma?Kashi - Hari''s daughter who is in love with science and...girls? Confused about her sexuality, will she be able to lead life on her own terms?Confronting issues of religion, bigotry, sex and politics, DISOBEDIENT WOMEN tells the interwoven stories of two families and their battle of ideologies. A novel of the choices women make under pressure, where to be disobedient is the only option that offers change.

“There was a time when I was not the Dictator’sWife though I’m not supposed to talk about it.”The Dictator’s Wife confides this in you: her husband has blind spots. Any day now, he may be overthrown. And what of love? It is paling her, until she fears her own transparency. Who is this father of her children, this man who does not smile?Through the eyes of the dictator’s wife, Aryamati Prize winner Katrina Dybzynska paints a world of mystery and intrigue, where the lines between loyalty and betrayal are blurred, and the true nature of power is constantly called into question.

“this is no fairy story but a story of human beings”The State of Us takes the reader from the twitching curtains of suburbia to the deserts of the Middle East, from the interior life of a street photographer to outer space, and back again. With an eye reminiscent of Samuel Beckett, the stories in it are often satirical, sometimes uncompromising and occasionally fabulous. What they have in common is a question - what are we doing? - and an answer that suggests we should look, more closely, at the state of us...

Tyranny is in the air in the city of Finer Bay, and Professor Wendowleen Cripcot would like to be left alone, thank you very much. The memories of the last one hundred years are quite enough to be getting on with, if only these young upstarts from the government body, The Finery, would stop trying to control her every move. With the eyes of a dictator upon her, there are not many places to hide...but Wendowleen has never been one to back down from a fight (just ask her pet wolf), and insurrection is brewing underground.

Four stories of feathers, blood and eggs. A girl chases a different future on the back of a Suzuki 250. A sibling seeks her brother, hoping answers will heal. Inside the walls of her speaking house, a ‘kept’ wife tries to learn to be content with her identity. A young woman falls in love with a Goose and grows wings. These are journeys fuelled by love, loss and self-discovery, in which characters must fight or take flight.Stories by Helen Kennedy, Katie Hale, Louise Finnigan and Jacqueline Ward.

Open-hearted but naive Lillias Gilfillan is sixteen when she elopes with an older man with ulterior motives. When her expectations of married life are shattered, Lillias must hold onto her sanity in the face of imprisonment.Follow three plucky generations of Gilfillan women as they navigate the dangers of Victorian Scotland and battle against a systemically corrupt police force.

Tyranny is in the air in the city of Finer Bay, and Professor Wendowleen Cripcot would like to be left alone, thank you very much. The memories of the last one hundred years are quite enough to be getting on with, if only these young upstarts from the government body, The Finery, would stop trying to control her every move. With the eyes of a dictator upon her, there are not many places to hide...but Wendowleen has never been one to back down from a fight (just ask her pet wolf), and insurrection is brewing underground.

Straight-laced and content with the comforts of his home on politically-neutral Neo-Yuthea, Albert Smith leads a quiet and unremarkable life. His days are filled with sipping tea with his beloved wife and tending to his cherished garden—a picture of tranquillity in an otherwise chaotic universe. Little does he know that destiny has extraordinary plans in store for him.When Mr. Zand, an agent of extra-terrestrial chaos, launches his mayoral campaign, the once peaceful colony faces uncertain and unsettling times. Striking deaths attributed to mysterious forest creatures, forced arranged marriages, and a looming threat of suppressing secret garden meetings propel the community toward the edge of turmoil. In the face of this encroaching darkness, Albert and his neighbours must band together to resist oppression and fight for their freedom before their world collapses.

Delve into a world of change and reinvention.Where relationships are as delicate as turtle eggs, and just as easily smashed.This poignant short story collection explores the pivotal moments that transform our lives. Jenny, whose life is defined by small disasters, discovers a bigger, more generous version of herself. A traveller girl might just win her race and alter her life’s course. A widow, cut off in a riverside backwater, opens her heart to a stranger.In this captivating collection by award-winning writer, Alice Fowler, readers will be moved by the raw vulnerability of human connection, and the resilience that allows us to grow and thrive in the face of hardship. In change, Fowler’s characters find the ability to be truly free.

At dusk in a scented garden, a refugee names moths. The dying Miss Bethan asks Sofia to do a terrible thing. Something a mother should never ask.THE NAMING OF MOTHS features stories of magical realism, myths and legends re-imagined, where all the characters are undergoing transformation or facing a pivotal moment of change in their lives. People and animals interchange their shapes. Story landscapes flit from fairy-tale woods to urban homes. Here love, hope and kindness weave between the realities of man’s endless talent for cruelty.