What's New?
Well have a look and see for yourself...
November 27th – More free fiction and some Radgepacket's left – get in quick.
There’s a couple of new stories on the ‘Radgepacket Online’ page that are worth a read from Ragna Brent and Patrick Belshaw – scroll down to their names and you’ll see them. The ‘Your Shout’ page is proving popular with a lot of positive stuff about ‘Radgepacket – Tales from the Inner Cities’ – it appears to be going down well.
With that in mind we’ve got a few left so if you’re stuck for a stocking filler for that special person in your life then at £5.99 with FREE p&p you could do worse than this….probably.
Remember Radgepacket isn’t just for Christmas – it’s for life!
November 4th – ***Radgepacket Volume 1 Launch date announced***
Yes it’s here at last (big fanfare followed by drum roll...)
‘Radgepacket – Tales from the Inner Cities Volume One’ will be available from 17th November. This is a strictly limited edition publication featuring brand new fiction from up and coming British authors Andy Rivers, Will Diamond and Nick Boldock amongst others as well as an exclusive story from renowned novelist Danny King.
Pre-Order your copy from the Byker Books website now to avoid disappointment.
‘Byker Books have mustered a cabal of writers who write like people possessed about people possessed. Tales from the Inner Cities wades into the British underclass with tight clenched fists and eyes wide open.
Pick it up if you’re hard enough – put it down if you can.’
Matt Nesbitt, Oxfordshire Press
October 31st – New Stories, New Comments Page and News on Radgepacket 1.
There’s a couple of new stories on the ‘Radgepacket Online’ page that are worth a read from Emma Lee and Fiona Glass – one of which was shortlisted for a major prize this year. As promised we’ve introduced a page on the site entitled ‘Your Shout!’ in order to highlight a cross section of the many comments we receive from you lot – so if you fancy seeing your name on screen then give us a shout at the usual address.
And…finally…’Radgepacket – Tales from the Inner Cities’ is at the printers! So save your pennies as very soon you’ll have the chance to get your hands on the book that’ll change the world (or maybe not…ho hum) for the magnificent price of £5.99 and we’ve even thrown in FREE postage and packing…credit crunch? Pah.
Anyway, that’s it for this week, keep an eye on the site and remember - keep it Radge.
October 24th – New Story and New Club Men Chronicles.
We’ve added a new story from an up and coming writer by the name of Joe Ridgewell – he’s also going to be featured in ‘Radgepacket 2’ next year and is well worth a look. His past publishing credits also include a highly rated book of contemporary poetry (Where are the rebels?)so don’t say we’re not cultured here at BB towers!
The Club Men are still going strong and have a few new adventures in October for your delectation and, last but not least, we’re thinking of adding a comments board on the site so if you’ve got anything to say give me a shout and we might just make you famous…
October 9th – New Fiction, New Page, New Approach.
We’ve added a new page to the site detailing our publications (one at the minute!), stuck a new story on ‘Radgepacket Online’ and have changed our approach to informing you about updates.
Our new page is entitled ‘Our Publications’ (have a look at the list on the left) and will, going forward, detail all of our printed works. It’ll contain synopses, reviews, probably a bit of cheeky banter and, most importantly (for us anyway!), info on how to buy these mighty works. Have a look now and get the lowdown on our debut publication
‘Radgepacket – Volume One’ – a stocking filler if ever there was one…
The eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed we didn’t send our usual weekly update last week, that’s because we’ve decided to leave a longer gap between updates online in an effort to preserve quality and also to save your inboxes from overflowing.
So have a look, enjoy and send any comments, queries or general abuse to me.
Sept 25th – New Stories and New Club Men.
New fiction this week takes the shape of ‘One Small Step’ by Anne Ayres – a Tom Sharpesque look at the changing face of being retirement age – and ‘The Anniversary’ by Glenn Upsall – a pre-Halloween tingler for you.
The Club Men are at it again, discussing sex and relationships the way only men can – could be a useful tool girls…
Have a good one.
Sept 18th – Major interview, new clubmen and a top new story.
We’ve managed to track down and interview the mighty Christopher Brookmyre just for you this week. Read his thoughts on reading, writing and…St Mirren on our interviews page now. Obviously we’ve added another piece of quality British fiction to Radgepacket Online but hey, nowt new there and we’ve dropped in on the clubmen again.
Right, time for a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich I think – off you go…
Sept 11th – New Stories, New Clubmen and a new look.
Got some new stories for you as ever this week, Jan Carr and Ragna Brent doing the honours so take a look. We’ve also popped in to see the Clubmen again and get their thoughts on life, love and lager as well as updating the look of our home page. It now promotes the ‘Radgepacket Online’ writers right from the off and gives them much more exposure – we like it and hope you do too.
Summer’s nearly finished so you should make the most of it this weekend and get your wellies on and splash in the puddles…
Sept 4th – An interview with a difference plus top new fiction.
This week we’ve got a special treat for all you writer types out there – we managed to track down and interview one of the countrys top agents – Camilla Bolton of the mighty Darley Anderson agency. Have a look at the interviews page for her thoughts on the business of selling books and authors. Also, as ever, we’ve got some new stuff for you to read, this weeks’ offerings come from Kate Winser and Anne Ayres and they’re well worth a look.
I'm off for a pint now...
August 28th – Three new stories for you…all for nowt!
We’ve posted three new works of short fiction by some up and coming authors. Cain Michaels, Tom Arnold and Mark Hibberd are all featured this week and are well worth a look. Further to this we’ve arranged with another leading North East sports magazine – Players Inc. - to feature a story selected from our archives in their publication*. So, if you’ve submitted in the past you never know you might just get a surprise in the post!
Have a good one.
* If you've been featured on the site but don't wish to be considered for this then let us know otherwise we'll assume you're fine with it - Ed
August 21st – New stuff on the site and the submissions are flooding in for our first publication
Another good week on the fiction front for you lucky people. We’ve got three new stories from Ragna Brent, John N Price and Patrick Belshaw which are up on the site now awaiting your critical eye as well as some more of the clubmen.
Also, you may have noticed we have called for submissions for our forthcoming debut ‘Radgepacket 1’ publication, well we’ve had a very good response to that call so take our word for it – it’ll definitely be worth acquiring when it hits the streets. Mind you there’s a bit of space left if you fancy having a go yourself – that’s what Byker Books is all about, bringing new writers to the publics’ attention – so don’t delay, hit us today.
Right got to go the bloke’s here with the pizza.
August 15th – Final Winners of Danny King Comp and a new star interview.
We’ve been at it again this week boys and girls. We caught up with Charlie Williams, the man who brought the world the ‘Mangel’ trilogy and introduced us to the legendary ‘Royston Blake’. As well as this we bring you the final two winners of the Danny King comp – take a bow Paul McDermott and A MacMillan – their stories are up on our competition winners page now so have a look.
Also, one of our previous winners – Andy Rivers – has been featured in the latest edition of ‘True Faith’ fanzine with his entry ‘The Invisible Man’ and we’ll be in a position to show you that soon.
Anyway, that’s it for now so get back to work you slackers…
August 7th – New stories on site and last hours for Danny King Comp.
It’s been a busy week here at the BB bedsit. We’ve acquired and published three new stories to the site. They are ‘A Bitter frost’ By John N Price, ‘No Escape’ by Lorna Windham and ‘Hark the Herald Angels sing’ by John Irvine. Have a look and let us know what you think of them (or anything on the site for that matter). Also, it’s your final reminder that our Danny King Competition is set to close – you’ve got until the end of play on Friday 8th August to get your entries in and then that’s it. No amount of pleading or blackmail gets you a shiny new book from our pile.
Right, you know what you've got to do so you crack on and I’ll sit here and guard the beer…
July 31st - Call for Anthology submissions and more quality reading.
As ever we've added more stories and more clubmen for your enjoyment this week, now...on to the really important stuff.
We're looking for submissions to be included in our first 'Radgepacket' anthology - published sometime around November - and thought we'd give all you lovely people the heads up first.
We envisage the book will contain somewhere in the region of fifteen stories and a couple of extras by published authors (Danny King has already given us an exclusive short) depending on space.
What we want are stories of 3000 words or under on modern British life, they can be as near to the knuckle or as straightlaced as you like but they MUST be British and you can submit them as per the instructions on our website.
In return you'll get a copy of the book to impress your friends with, the kudos of appearing next to well known authors in a quality publication, oodles of exposure (copies of the book will be landing on the desks of various agents) and an answer to just what to get your friends for Christmas!
So, there you go, fancy it? Then get scribbling...
July 25th - Deadline announced for ‘Scumbags’ comp and yet more top stories.
Our ‘Scumbags’ competition, which has been running for the last month, has to end sometime so we’re letting you know it’ll be soon. The deadline for entries is 8th August, after that we’re giving any remaining books to charity, so get scribbling, get it in, get on the site, get famous and, probably, get laid on the strength of your new found celebrity…or something.
Also, as usual, we’ve added more top stories, submitted by the twisted claws of our ever growing band of reprobates…I mean readers.
Keep an eye on the site as next week we’ve got another star interview for you from one of our favourite and funniest authors and will undoubtedly have more clubmen chronicles for you to shake your head at and ring your MP about.
Stay loose…or failing that eat plenty of fruit – that’ll sort it out.
July 17th – More stories … More comp winners…..
More winners of our ‘Scumbags’ competition this week. Stef Hall with a sad look at the lives some people lead. John Price with a tale of the cruellest cut and Vikki Rothero with a (very) modern day fairytale – all quality prose for our discerning readers (that’s you by the way – just pretend).
We’ve also got more clubmen and more stories on the Radgepacket page – this site appears to have struck a chord with the normal people in this country and long may it continue.
Keep reading, keep writing …..ooh and try to keep breathing, that always helps.
July 10th – Two more winners with stories for viewing and some more Club Men Chronicles.
Two more winners of the ‘School for Scumbags’ comp have been chosen by our esteemed panel of judges – well we say esteemed, probably more accurate to say ‘steaming’ but hey ho. The winners are Anne Ayres with ‘Cutting Comments’ a subtle dig at the state of British youth and Peter McAdam with ‘Burning Car Blues’ a sleazy slice of a day in the life of a Hitman – top stuff.
The Club Men are still moaning, drinking and slagging off everything and everyone – total fiction obviously, people aren’t really like that are they eh?
Right, I’m off cos it’s me birthday and I’ve got a hot date with a cold pint – you all stay cool now.
July 3rd – Two more winners of the competition, an exciting tie up with True Faith and new stories on the site.
We’ve chosen two more winners of our short stories comp and have also put them forward for publishing by ‘True Faith’ a Newcastle United based fanzine that is starting it’s own fiction page. They’re calling the section ‘We live by the River’ (think London Calling by The Clash…) and, as they have a big readership in the North East we think the exposure for the people involved will be fantastic. Unfortunately as part of the deal you can’t read the stories yet but the two people concerned have been informed. They are William Diamond with ‘A chip off the old block’ and Darrell Irving with ‘The kids are all shite’ – books on their way gentlemen.
To make up for you not being able to read their winning entries the two chaps in question have sent us another effort each and we are more than happy to publish these to the site for your delectation – hit the Radgepacket button and look for ‘Figure of Fun’ and’The Dealer, you won’t be sorry.
Oh - The Clubmen Chronicles has also been well received so thanks for that – it’s a bit different but that’s always a good thing.
Anyway, that’s it for this week – be good…..or be quick!
See ya
June 27th – First Winner of the inaugural ‘Radgepacket Short Story’ competition and World premiere of 'The Club Men Chronicles'
After being inundated with stories all week we’ve picked our first couple of winners of the twelve we want. ‘Brought to Book’ by Emma Redgrave is on the site now soon to be followed by another. If you haven’t sent your entry in yet don’t worry, it’s a rolling comp and you’ve got plenty of time – just make sure you do it! – oh and remember to include a small bio …and your address!!
We’ve also added another feature ‘The Club Men Chronicles’, basically we keep hearing stuff that makes us laugh and decided to broadcast it to the world. Have a look, you might like it you might not – but have a look anyway.
That’s it from us for now - have a Radge one..
June 19th 2008 – The latest star Interview on site and news of our short story competition.
Well what a week this has been. We’ve posted our interview with Max Kinnings (author of the excellent ‘Hitman’ and ‘The Fixer’) for your perusal and we’re unveiling a short story competition – see the competitions page for details.
As usual the submissions are coming in and we’re working hard to bring you the cream of the crop so keep an eye on Radgepacket.
Also, if you’re on Facebook make sure you look out for the ‘Byker Books Group’ all members welcome.
Stay Radge people
June 13th 2008 - Three new stories and hints about new star interviews and an exciting competition
We've had a busy week in BB towers. Interviewing another of our favourite authors and devising a competition to go with the prizes we've blagged (coming soon - all will be revealed...). As well as this we've kept up the drive to bring you top quality British fiction by authors the world should know about. This time around we've got an old tale of love and loss with a modern twist; a story of just how far one man can sink and the thoughts of a modern mistress complete with tabs and booze.
Keep it real - keep it Radge...
June 3rd 2008 - Fantastic launch stories capped off by a world exclusive!!!
We've got an amazing line up for our first e-issue. From an excellent one act play that details the different sides of the law to an interpretation of working class morality from an armed robber. We've also got an enthralling tale of two brothers taking on the world - quite literally - and the icing on the cake is an exclusive extract from a future Danny king novel. We think that if Alan Sillitoe was writing his 'Loneliness of the long distance runner' anthology today this short piece would be the kind of thing he'd produce - what do you reckon?
Ladies and Gentlemen, Radgepacket has entered the arena.....life may never be the same again.