To Hull And Back Short Story Anthology 2021

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buy the anthology - about the anthology - anthology video - book launch - anthology cover

Deep in the depths of a garage, Hilda the hog slumbers, waiting patiently for All Hallows' Eve.

Said eve arrives. Witches congregate and Michael Myers sharpens his knives. Necromantic energy is discharged into the air. Magic gathers and Hilda stirs. A headlight flickers, an ignition switch clicks, an engine fires and the mighty rumble of her screaming eagle exhaust system roars across the land. A book is published. A good book, filled with tales of mirth and legend.

And then, content in this knowledge, she waits for spring and the call of the highway to Hull, when her glorious tyres can tear the tarmac and deliver the winner's copy of the 2021 anthology to its rightful destination.

Cover designed by James Childs, featuring the fascinating features of winner, Emma Brankin

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Where to Buy The Anthology

The 2021 anthology is available from Amazon in print or Kindle (eBook) formats. PDF versions of the book are also available, sent by email.

If you are using ad-blocking software, or a browser that blocks adverts, the links on this page are unlikely to work. Please turn off your ad-blocker if you wish to buy copies of the anthology.

Kindle Copies of the Anthology

You can purchase Kindle eBook copies of the anthology here.

The book is available on all of Amazon's websites. To find it, put the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) for the book into Amazon's search box:

B09J2YQ58Z

Printed Copies of the Anthology

You can purchase printed paperback copies of the book on Amazon here.

The book's International Standard Book Number is:

9798481841458

PDF Copies of the Anthology

Purchasing a PDF is the cheapest way to buy the 2021 To Hull And Back anthology. Pay via PayPal using the button below. I will then email you a PDF version of the book.

When purchasing the 2021 PDF, you can also opt to add the 2019 anthology PDF for an extra £2 (50% discount) or the 2019 and 2018 anthology PDFs for an extra £3 (62% discount). Use the arrow on the right to access the discount dropdown menu.

The PDF(s) will be sent to your registered PayPal email address within 48 hours.

If you want the PDF sent to a different email address, please let me know. You'll be able to do this by adding a note in PayPal during the checkout process.

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About The To Hull And Back Anthology

I’m proud to present the seventh To Hull And Back humorous short story competition anthology. It contains a collection of 25 short stories from the winning, highly commended and shortlisted entrants of the 2021 contest. The book also contains a story written by each of the judges.

The stories in this book are fun and quirky, written by writers with vivid imaginations. This means all the tales are highly original and entertaining to read. I predict that each will become a fable of mirth and legend in the future.

The authors featured in this anthology are:

Alan MacGlas, Bryant Phillips, Christopher Fielden, Dan Purdue, Edward Field, Emma Brankin, Emma Melville, Geoff Mead, George Riley, Ian Tucker, John Holland, Jonathan Sellars, Jude Gray, Karen Jones, L M Rees, Lauren Guyatt, Lynda Nash, Marc Phillips, Mark Rutterford, Mike Scott Thomson, Navaris Darson, Rob Widdicombe, Tabitha Bast, Todd Sherman and Tony Kirwood.

You can see all of their biographies on the 2021 competition results page.

The book’s cover was created by James Childs - you can see his biography below.

The anthology was first released on Hulloween (31st October) 2021. The winner’s copy of the book will make a journey on the Highway to Hull, strapped to a two-wheeled chariot of rampant noisiness. You can learn more about the meaning of the previous sentence and the To Hull And Back competition (which offers the most awesome prize in the field of literature) on the main To Hull And Back short story competition page.

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The To Hull And Back 2021 Video

Here is the winner's video, starring Emma Brankin, a rather large motorcycle, a fat goblin rider (AKA Chris Fielden) and the fine city of Hull.

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Anthology Book Launch Party

The 2021 book launch party took place on Saturday 11th December 2021 at 7PM GMT. It was an online event, held on Zoom, run in conjunction with Talking Tales, an established story telling event run by Stokes Croft Writers.

There were some spendid readings from the book, and from Talking Tales submissions. The order of events looked like this:

A welcome from Chris, which included some stats (sorry, I can't help myself...). Then we got straight into Part One:

1. Geoff Mead – Hacked Off (excerpt)
2. Lauren Guyatt – Deflated Mermaids (excerpt)
3. George Riley – So You’ve Been Cancelled (excerpt)
4. Evan Hay – Window Shopping with L'Étranger (Talking Tales)
5. Bryant Phillips – It's Not Easy Being an Ectoplasmic Mutant Abomination (excerpt)
6. L M Rees – No Mojitos in Siberia (excerpt)
7. Chris Fielden – One Previous Owner (Talking Tales)
8. Tony Kirwood – Random (excerpt)

We had a quick break to grab a drink, deal with calls of nature and to enjoy “Finish the Lines”, although technical issues on the day scuppered any line finishing. Then we got straight into Part Two:

1. Dan Purdue – The Queue (excerpt)
2. Jude Gray – FML (excerpt)
3. Emma Melville – Hard to Swallow (excerpt)
4. Jonathan Evans – Nevermind the Molochs (Talking Tales)
5. Ian Tucker – Catch Me if You Cat (excerpt)
6. Emma Brankin – Eulogy for a Bastard (THAB 2021 winning story)

Then we all clapped a lot and closed the event.

Huge thanks to everyone who read at the launch party, and those who joined us to listen. It was great to share an evening with such a lovely and talented group of readers and writers.

For more information, please see the Facebook event.

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Anthology Cover

The 2021 To Hull And Back anthology cover was designed and created by James Childs.

Chris and James, pictured on tour with Little Villains in Belgium

James is an English musician who relocated to Los Angeles in 2001. Throughout his career he has worked alongside many incredibly talented people in the music industry. He plays in Airbus and Little Villains with Chris.

James's big break came when he was invited to co-write the theme tune to Disney XD cartoon Kick Buttowski. This series was an astounding success earning him an Emmy nomination for best theme tune in 2011.

James is also an artist and has designed many album covers over the years. This is his first foray into book covers.

For more information, please visit James's website.

To Hull And Back Anthology 2021, full book cover by James Childs

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