Light at Midnight

J.S. is very pleased to have a new, darkly illuminating short story in the second Midnight Ink anthology. The story is "Candles" and you can find Midnight Ink 2025 on Amazon

Word Salad at Thrive - the last one.

A final opportunity to attend Word Salad at the Thrive Cafe, Norfolk Street, Cambridge. No, it's not the end of Word Salad, but sadly it is the end of the lovely Thrive Cafe, which will be closing its doors on the following day, Sunday 16th November 2025.

But back to the salad...

On Saturday 15th November, beginning at 6pm, at the Thrive Cafe (on its penultimate day) J.S. will be one of the selected open micers and will be reading a couple of her poems from Songs of Steelyard Sue and Underword.

Best of 2025?

So, it's that time of year already, and websites, magazines and literary organisations are preparing their best-of lists for 2025, even though there's two and a half months of the year left to go.

J.S. has selected her most enjoyed reads in 2025 (well, the first nine months of 2025, to be precise) 

for Shepherd. You can read about her three chosen reads here, though the photo below may give you a clue as to what she has selected.

They Came for Me At Dusk

A dark, one minute, horror flash fiction read, written by J.S.Watts and published by Dream Theory Media - They Came For Me At Dusk. Read for free here

An Easy Life

In the October issue (#20) of Corncrake Magazine you can find a new, between-the-wars, short story by J.S.Watts. Described as "a playful vignette of a socialite" by the magazine's editor, even a sweet cocktail can contain bitter undernotes. 

You can read An Easy Life by J.S. Watts via the magazines' website: https://corncrakemag.com/

A September Flurry of Poems

J.S. has a flurry of brand new poems falling into publication this month. First, it was Falling like Feathers in the month's issue of Acumen (# 113). Now it's two crisp new poems in #106 of The Frogmore Papers. The poems are Fen Shadow and Swimming Through a Hot Summer Night and they are in a pile of stunning poems in the September issue.

Acumen 113

J.S. has a new poem, Falling Like Feathers, in the September issue of Acumen, Issue 113.