In January 2013 my brother, Simon, approached me with the concept of a literary club: writers would be presented a single theme on a monthly basis and required to write within set criteria. My requirement thereafter would be to stay the distance. Less than a month later four writers (all linked to Simon via blood, marriage (Simon’s Brother-in-Law Adam) or alcohol – note to self: potential future title) submitted their first work: exactly nine hundred words long (excluding title and name [with only variable differences based around accounting of hyphenated words]), the first piece featured the words ‘no regrets’ (I rather smugly featured the letters twice via the line ‘neither swan nor egret share my nest. No regrets.’; an achievement I’ve never repeated).
Administered by established writer Martin Bolton (The Best Weapon and the Sorrow series co-written with David Pilling), the stories were written in isolation and uploaded at the end of the month. This was thoroughly unnerving as it was my first foray into broadcast creative writing; however, I was relieved that it was as much fun reading the other interpretations of the theme as it was writing my own. Having settled into a sustainable routine, we collectively realised that the club was not a flash in the pan. Our ranks rose to five as John Pilling (father of Martin’s co-writer David) joined the team with a fresh take on our themes.
A year later the club has grown from strength to strength (in my opinion – you be the judge). With all original writers still on the team (some of us have actually met each other!), February introduces the first guest writer to the club. But the main reason of this blog is to attract your worthy attention to our collective works throughout 2013: The 900 Club Anthology 2013! Available in paperback and shortly downloadable to your portable device of choice, the Anthology comprises of over 50 short stories (each one a good poo’s worth – time, not content) and satisfies the widest spectrum of literary genres.
In my opinion it is the perfect toilet companion. If you don’t like it I’m sure that the pages are thoroughly absorbent – however I can’t speak for your portable electronic device of choice.
Go on. Get your trunk in there (the book, not the toilet).
Happy reading.
Paul Evans
The 900 Club 