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    Pulp Idol Firsts 2016: Pulp Idol Firsts, #6
    Pulp Idol Firsts 2016: Pulp Idol Firsts, #6
    Pulp Idol Firsts 2016: Pulp Idol Firsts, #6
    Ebook126 pages1 hour

    Pulp Idol Firsts 2016: Pulp Idol Firsts, #6

    By Pulp Idol Finalists

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    About this ebook

    Pulp Idol is a unique writing competition for novelists. Pulp Idol gets you published. With great success from previous finalists it is an inspiring opportunity for writers. Pulp Idol focuses on supporting new original voices and getting them heard. We provide a platform for up-and-coming writers, helping with exposure to new audiences and providing contacts with key publishers and agents.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWriting on the Wall
    Release dateDec 14, 2015
    ISBN9781519919694
    Pulp Idol Firsts 2016: Pulp Idol Firsts, #6

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      Book preview

      Pulp Idol Firsts 2016 - Pulp Idol Finalists

      Foreword

      2015 has been an amazing year for Pulp Idol. In January we launched Alice and the Fly (Hodder and Stoughton), the debut novel of Pulp Idol 2010 winner, James Rice. In May we launched Pulp Idol 2014 finalist Clare Coombes’ debut novel, Definitions (Bennion and Kearney), and in October 2010 Pulp Idol finalist John Donoghue called in to thank us for our role in helping him get his novel, The Death’s Head Chess Club (Atlantic Books), published, which has now been translated into five languages.

      We are incredibly proud of these writers, and the role we have played in the development of their careers; they deserve to be published, and it’s a tribute to Pulp Idol that they have gone on and used the competition as a platform for mainstream success.

      You will find the same level of quality represented here with the 2016 collection of Firsts from the 2015 Pulp Idol final as selected by our judges, author James Rice, and literary agents Laura Longrigg from MBA Lit, and Hellie Ogden of Janklow and Nesbit.

      As the competition grows so does its intensity. All those represented here have earned the right to be published. We are sure all our readers will enjoy these opening chapters, which will hopefully whet their appetite for more. We encourage publishers and agents to follow up those writers they feel they can work with to develop these chapters into complete novels for publication, so they too can enjoy the success of previous finalists.

      Mike Morris, Editor and Co-Director of Writing on the Wall

      Introductions

      The Gig, by Pulp Idol winner Jamie Carragher, is a savvy, sharply-written novel set in Birkenhead. In the ex-chippy basement of Skeletal Records, the narrator, Danny, a schoolboy music buff, is planning to stage the gig to end all gigs. His aim? To go down in history, win back his family and friends and, most of all, wreak revenge on Year 10 scally enemy Nate Sloan.

      In This Way Home, competition runner-up, Emma Morgan, grabs the reader by the throat and doesn’t let go. Her introduction to Nic and Linus, the teenage Shaw twins, who are trying to cope with a traumatic and dysfunctional family life, is as powerful as it is heart-rending.

      Arnold Strange, the lead protagonist and anti-hero of runner-up Jack Roe’s Strangetown, is just one of the marvellous characters populating this intriguing opening chapter, to what promises to be an unforgettable debut novel.

      Billy Cowan’s The Crow Lady is told by Gabe, a tall, gay teenage outsider bullied by his dad and now living alone in a tent, supported by his friend, the Doc Marten-wearing Boots. Here, in this local park, he meets a mysterious, white-haired lady with pink and white Nikes beneath the hem of her cloak, whose cohort of birds reveals to him a new, surreal reality.

      The Locomotive Giant by John Hewitt is an extraordinarily fresh and original piece. The eccentric narrator gives such striking images of Little Prospect and its inhabitants and of his surreal invention that the reader is instantly beguiled and intrigued.

      David Lowes’ When a Fox Preaches is set in the reign of Charles II. Having accepted a living in the small town of Burford, its hero, parson Jeremiah Elsking, uncovers corruption and even blasphemous rites, the exposure of which threatens his marriage, his reputation and, finally, even his life.

      Kate McLoskey’s Miracle babies is a beautifully crafted tale of teenage obsession exploring the contemporary issue of anorexia through the eyes of Cathy, as she reflects on her mutually destructive relationship with her friend, Bea, and her own dark shadow.

      Everything’s about to change in Paul McDermott’s excellent dystopian adventure story, 20-23, as Joe receives a mysterious call summoning him to retrieve ‘the item’ that has been hidden for twenty-five years. Meanwhile, with Europe under a downpour of biblical proportions, Munro is summoned for a mission led by the shadowy figure of General, Emanuel Nastasi.

      In Lizzie Morrison’s Land of Shadows, Ruban Green, a fourteen year old Cumbrian, lives in the shadow of Gebrecan, a nuclear power station. In this fantasy novel with a strongly political edge, Ruban goes on a journey to this dangerous Land of Shadows to rescue the friend who has herself risked everything to save him.

      Alan Barnes’ Time Writer combines comedy and science-fiction in a brilliant opening chapter populated by the lead character, Harry Greene, who meets himself going forwards, backwards and sideways, in a ‘real-life’ story that threatens to out-do the sci-fi novel Harry himself is set on writing.

      In The Shade of the Tamarind Tree opens nostalgically on Blackpool pier in a direct, unshowy prose style, that vividly conjures the characters in their time and setting. Andrew Taylor’s story of lost love and missed opportunities promises an emotional and thought-provoking read.

      In Danny and St Nicholas, James Wafer leads the reader and his young hero into a mysterious world of time travel and long kept secrets when Danny’s stay with his grandfather develops an unexpected twist.

      Jenny Newman, Penny Feeny, Editors.

      ––––––––

      Jamie Carragher

      [email protected]

      Jamie is a Writing on the Wall Young Writer and a graduate of the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Young Writers' Programme.

      The Gig

      Nate Sloan is ruining Danny's life, both at home and at school. Things are looking hopeless until Danny discovers the abandoned floor of Skeletal Records. There, Danny plans to put on a gig so good that it will reverse his fortunes and win back his family and friends.

      The Gig

      Danny had always wanted a nemesis and thanks to Nate Sloan now he had one. It was much less fulfilling than Danny had imagined it would be. Having an enemy was exhausting. One reason why it was so difficult was that Nate Sloan was a scally and he displayed some classic scally tendencies such as:

      Gobbing on the pavement,

      Clutching his balls whenever and wherever

      Wearing an unused knuckleduster that contained very low metallic content

      Handing out pubes like fliers

      He was always backed up by a group of Year 10s. That added to the shame of it, getting laughed at by idiots from the year below. Nate was a year behind where he should have been, but this only gave him extra status amongst that lot. He was King of The Idiots.

      One Friday when Danny walked out the school gates, Nate and his mates were waiting for him.

      'Danny - yer a fuckin' virgin loser.'

      'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not,' replied Danny, coolly, instantly.

      (Quite quietly.)

      Danny had used the Arctic Monkeys album title as a rebuttal before. He liked doing so because it perfectly expressed how he felt whilst also letting the idiots know that he liked good music and was therefore better than them. Double whammy.

      But the retort was not risk free. If anyone ever accused him of being contrarian, Danny knew he would be screwed.

      But Danny wasn't afraid of Nate stumping him with logic. He was afraid of Nate repeatedly whacking him with a cricket stump. Or stapling his arm pits. Or setting him on fire.

      That Friday he was safe. Danny moved clear of the group and walked towards Birkenhead, navigating his way past fellow students who had once been his friends. He felt relief rush through his body. It wasn't usually that easy.

      Danny was on his way to his favourite place in the whole world: Skeletal Records, a grotty shop round the corner from McDonalds and Cash Converters. It had a big, red, metal door and no bottom floor. To reach the shop you had to climb up a creaky, narrow staircase.

      'Alright, Danny.'

      'Alright, Midget.'

      Midget was the owner and sole employee of the SR. Midget wasn't his real name. Permanently positioned behind the counter, he spent his days filling out forms, penning angry letters and flipping records instinctively like a chef.

      'You know what I think's underrated?' Danny asked.

      'What?'

      Danny shuffled on the spot.

      'Treble.'

      'You're not wrong, ya know.'

      Danny was not entirely sure what treble actually consisted of. But he was entirely sure that he disliked any song that explicitly boasted about the dropping of bass and he thought it was about time treble got a look in. Midget grabbed a pen and added it to the list of Musical Commandments:

      Rule #557 Underestimate the treble at your peril.

      Above Midget, a science lab skeleton hung from the ceiling like the victim of some terrible piñata tragedy. Around the skeleton's neck was a sign that read: 'This guy asked for a discount.' Danny peaked over

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