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Author Archives: martin

This one goes to 11! Brittle Star survey.

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Fill in our survey for a chance to win a Stonewood Press print (worth £75), and help us to develop the magazine. 

We came up with 10 questions to help us learn more about what you like about Brittle Star and what you’d like to see included in the future, but when we were checking it over we realised we’d missed out a major question (which goes to show the power of proofing!). So this 10-question survey goes to 11!

It would be brilliant if you could take a little time out of your busy day to fill it in. It really will take only a few minutes (round about 5) and goes well with a cuppa and a bicky in your lunch break or a nice glass of wine of an evening. We’re not asking for any personal information such as your name, postal address, what you ate for breakfast – it’s not that kind of survey – but your answers really will help us to develop. Most of the questions need to be answered for you to move on to the next one. The survey closes 12 April 2018. Thank you for taking the time to help us – Martin & Jacqueline, Editors, Brittle Star.

 

Click on this big blue button to take our survey.

NOTE TO CURRENT SUBSCRIBERS

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Hello lovely subscribers. If you want to enter our competition online, you can enter your 2nd story or poem for FREE and here’s how to do it:

 
Click on the ‘Entry without Subscription’ button. Enter however many poems/stories you want in the dropdown menu.
 
A discount of £3.50 will be deducted at the checkout (you need to have a minimum of 2 entries).
 
Just type in the code – subcompfree2 – when you make your payment and follow the upload instructions.
 
If you’re not sure if you’re currently a subscriber, get in touch and we’ll let you know.
 
If you’re not a subscriber but want to take advantage of our offer, click on one of the ‘Subscribe and Enter the Competition’ buttons.
 
Good luck and good writing!
 
 

Flu Lurgy and the Competition

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Competition hare and tortoiseHello Everyone. We’ve been full of a very nasty flu these last ten days or so here at Brittle Star. Trust us, you don’t want details, but it explains why you’ve not heard too much from us lately. We’re really sorry about that because we do like to have a good old chat with you and encourage you to submit to the magazine or get your entries in for the Poetry & Short Story Competition.

We’re on the mend now (although still a bit washed out) and we just want to let you know tomorrow is our competition deadline. If you want to get your entries in you have until at 12 Midnight to enter online, and postal entries should be postmarked 14 March. We’re manning and womanning the computers so if you have any problems do drop us a line. Click here to enter http://www.brittlestar.org.uk/competition-2/

Competition Judge: Pascale PetitCompetition Judge: Nicholas RoyleOur judges Pascale Petit and Nicholas Royle have been brilliant helping us to spread the word, but you, our lovely writer-friends, can also help us by sharing the link with anyone you think might want to enter. As you know, we’re volunteer-based and not for profit which means money raised from the competition goes back into producing the magazine so your entries are a massive help to us. First prize is £250 + publication + a reading in London. 

Click HERE to enter – it only costs £5 and you could win £250. (And don’t forget if you subscribe or become a Patron you get a free entry).

Competition

Subscribe and enter our competition for free

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The deadline is fast approaching for our biennial Poetry & Short fiction competition. 

We hope you’re thinking of entering because we love to read your entries – and it’s also a massive help to the magazine because all money raised goes back into production (after we’ve paid the prizes and the main judges’ fees, of course).

As always,  if you’re a subscriber you get your 2nd entry for FREE (you can even take out a new subscription today and get your 2nd entry free), but for the first time ever if you become a Brittle Star Patron  you get your first entry for FREE. Visit our Patreon page to find out how you can become a Patron for as little as £1 a month, giving you access to the lovely rewards and treats that we give our Patrons as a special thanks for supporting us.

The normal cost of entry is only £5 for the 1st entry then £3.50 for any following entries – which is really good value anyway, but not as good as free!

The deadline for the competition is 14th March. The first prize in each category is £250, plus publication in the magazine, a subscription for you to keep for yourself or give to a friend, and an invitation to read at our launch and Prize-Giving at the Barbican Centre Library in London.

The judges this year are the brilliant Pascale Petit and Nicholas Royle (and our own Jacqueline Gabbitas). Pascale is an award winning poet, 4-times shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. Her most recent collection, Mama Amazonica (Bloodaxe, 2017), was a Poetry Book Society Choice. Nicholas is a novelist and short story writer. His most recent collection is Ornithology (Confingo, 2017). He is well known as the series editor of Best British Short Stories (Salt).

To find out more about the competition, including the rules and T&Cs, and to enter click on the big bright orange link HERE! Good luck and happy writing!