Catherine Edmunds

Catherine's poetry has been published in: The Northern Echo; Madeleine; The Select Six; Rhyme and Reason; Guardian Unlimited; Pemmican Press; Unlikely 2.0; Digitally Organic (Earlyworks Press); Writers Dock Anthology; 3 Lights Gallery; Issue 5, '14'; La Fenetre issues 4 & 5; Shoogle Tide (Earlyworks Press); Rogue Symphonies (Earlyworks Press); wormwood, earth and honey (Circaidy Gregory Press); The New Curiosity Shop (TWI Publications); Dragon Writers 2007 Anthology; Hand Luggage (Open Poetry Ltd); Poems for Big Kids; Voices from the Web 2008; Misfit Mirror (Earlyworks Press); electric velocipede, issue 15/16; Mad Hatters Review; Cool land Qirky; Scratching at Cardboard; Ink, Sweat and Tears; A Handful of Stones; Anomalous Appetites; nutshell magazine; Dancing with Delsie (Leaf Books)

Catherine's fiction has been published in: the roundtable review, issue 2; The Sleepless Sands (Earlyworks Press); The Final Theory (Leaf Books); Rogue Symphonies (Earlyworks Press); The Road Unravelled (Earlyworks Press); The Sand in the Painting (PublishAmerica); Derek & More Micro-Fiction (Leaf Books); Beyond Centauri (Sam's Dot Publishing); Pen Pricks, issue 5; Clonepod; Dragon Writers 2007 Anthology; Byker Books website; Radgepacket volume 1 (Byker Books); Misfit Mirror (Earlyworks Press); Loretta's Parrot (Earlyworks Press); Dark Tales Volume XIII; write this.com; Small Poisons (Circaidy Gregory Press)

Catherine's art has graced the covers of: Survival Guides (Earlyworks Press); with islands in mind (Earlyworks Press); Digitally Organic (Earlyworks Press); Shoogle Tide (Earlyworks Press); wormwood, earth and honey (Circaidy Gregory Press); The New Curiosity Shop (TWI Publications); Allakazam! (BeWrite Books); Misfit Mirror (Earlyworks Press); Night Falls on Everyone (Readme Publishing); Loretta's Parrot (Earlyworks Press); Small Poisons (Circaidy Gregory Press)

Catherine's illustrations feature in: Allakazzam! (BeWrite Books); Night Falls on Everyone (Readme Publications); Anomalous Appetites (Ed John Irvine); Dragon Writers 2008 Anthology

Catherine has had the following competition successes: runner up, toowrite competition 12; runner up, interaction March 2006; shortlisted, Earlyworks Press High Fantasy Challenge, summer 2006; winner, Guardian Unlimited topical haiku of the week, July 06 and Nov 06; winner, Mad Hatters Review, Fish and Plane contest, Autumn 06; shortlisted, Belmont Poetry Prize, autumn 06; highly commended, The Plough Prize, December 06; highly commended, Twisted Tongue Flash Fiction Competition, January 07; Writers' Choice second prize, The Moontopples 'Vision' competition, February 07; highly commended, Twisted Tongue Flash Fiction competition, May 07; winner, writethis.com 'banned words' competition; shortlisted, Earlyworks Press Open Poetry Competition, spring 07; shortlisted, Earlyworks Press short story competition, summer 07; shortlisted, Fish One Page Prize, spring 2008; longlisted, 1st With Words International Online Haiku Competition 2008; shortlisted, Earlyworks Press short story competition, autumn 2008; third prize, Dark Tales Short story competition, autumn 08; winner, the Grail short story and poetry competitions, December 08; runner up, Grailwriters Flash Fiction competition, spring 09; longlisted, UKAuthors Opening Pages competition, spring 09; second place, Book Cover of the Year 2008; winner, Whittaker Contest prose category, 2009; highly shortlisted, NAWG Annual Competition, Poetry collection category, 2009;

Catherine's short story, "I Have a Daughter" appears in the High Fantasy anthology: The Sleepless Sands, ISBN 978-0-9553429-3-6, published by Earlyworks Press.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I have a daughter."
     My father's deep tones rang out, commanding silence, and the moment I'd been dreading since I turned sixteen finally arrived. I clutched Shull's fur and watched intently from behind the grill that had helped keep me invisible all these years.
     The tall warrior's eyes lit up. These were the first words of a ritual, and barbarian or no, he knew them well, but had never expected to hear them himelf. None in the hall would have know of my existence; the fact that my father had a daughter. There was a murmuring of surprise, then a hushing to silence.
     "I have a daughter," my father repeated, softly this time, and this time the warrior responded. The ritualistic words were spoken harshly, his voice cracking with the strain of sudden unexpected hope.
     "I have need of a wife..."

"The Sleepless Sands" may be obtained directly from Earlyworks Press

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In April 2008, the audio version of I HAVE A DAUGHTER will be available from Clonepod.

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ANOMALOUS APPETITES
Editor: John Irvine, Art Editor: Dave Freeman
ISBN 978-1-4092-5973-2
Available from lulu.com

ANOMALOUS APPETITES is "an anthology of the best speculative poetry and art for 2008 from around the world" according to the front cover -- and who am I to disagree? Particularly as I am lucky enough to have half a dozen poems and over sixteen illustrations included in this fantastic book.

Every single poem is accompanied by a full page illustration, many of which are extremely 'horrid', as Jane Austen might say. Even some of the portraits of the authors are a little worrying. A warning: don't buy this book for anyone of too delicate a nature. Do buy it for anyone who appreciates top notch writing, jaw-dropping illustrations, and big glossy books, that smell like -- ooh! Just smelled it. That's weird... brrrr....

Here's an example of one of my poems, together with its illustration (at lower resolution than in the book).

KEEP IN TOUCH

keep in touch
he said with a smile
as he drew the blade

and as she clattered to
the floor
she wondered how?
how keep in touch?

he threw black roses
into the pool of red red
blood
that throbbed from the
wound
and spattered his white
white gloves

keep in touch
he said again
with a sneer this time

but he felt a chill
and wondered if
against all the odds
she'd managed to work out
how