A few words from Dianne Stadhams, a contributor to 'Aftermath'

 

Tell me about your story  in  Aftermath - but don't give any spoilers! 

Entitled An old game for the new normal my story focuses on playing a guessing game during lockdown. It’s a comic cross between I Spy and Who Done It?... with a twist.

 

What inspired you to write this?

Given the doom and gloom of lockdown in addition to all those images and words about death and suffering I thought it might be worth risking how other players saw the pandemic. My character faces challenges but celebrates survival and the future.

 

Why did you think it important to contribute  to this collection?

As I live in a relatively isolated place amidst a forest the pandemic provided its own challenges and benefits i.e. nobody around but the squirrels, deer and wild boar. Writing with fellow authors meant I was still part of a community.

 

How have you coped with the pandemic?  

A diet of Netflix, tiramisu... and a lot of wine!

 

Can you tell us about your other publications?

I have short stories published in Bridge House anthologies – Snowflakes, Baubles, Glit-er-ary, Crackers, Nativity and Mulling it Over with a new volume Resolutions due for publication in November 2021. Links (2019) is a collection of short stories around a theme of what happens when... something to make you smile and squirm. A young adult novel, Doll Face, was published in 2020 by The Red Telephone. Other non-fiction publications which consider my communication work in non-European cultures are listed on my website www.stadhams.com. 

 

 

A continuing response by writers to the Covid19 pandemic in 2020 and during the ongoing aftershocks in 2021, this collection is of work by writers we have published before and whom we trust, and their trusted colleagues. When disasters strike writers respond and react in words. They share with us their hopes and fears. They describe and rationalise.