Liars' League

Mother's Milk by J.A. Hopper

Mother's Milk MP3

Read by Elizabeth Bower

Everybody said the first baby was the hardest. All the books told you what to expect, then completely undermined that by saying every baby was different and that really, nobody knew what to expect. Her friends' experiences with their own kids had ranged from the nightmarish to the transcendental – but in all Jo's NCT classes, breastfeeding coffee mornings (not that you were really supposed to drink it) and furtive internet searches, she'd never come across anything like this.

 

Beasts of London by Dan Coxon

Beasts of London MP3

Read by Lionel Laurent

Niall doesn’t mean to forget the milk. Nobody means to forget anything. But he tells himself to check the fridge before the moon comes again, and he doesn’t do that. He forgets, and now there’s no milk. No biscuits either. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

He runs through a quick inventory as he stands at the door. Cycle helmet, shoulder bag, claw hammer. Child’s cricket bat, unmarked, with five six-inch nails splitting the willow.

 

The Magic Slate by Pat Black

The Magic Slate MP3

Read by Lois Tucker

Terri tied back her hair, and slid a heavy jacket on over the top of her scruffies. It was time to trail Ben down to the corner shop. This was how a wet Wednesday went during the school holidays when Terri needed cigarettes.

The boy didn’t want to go, wriggling while Terri fitted his wellies, truculent as a puppy straining at the leash. In the shop itself – only a matter of yards away, but an epic journey on days like this – Ben drifted over to the stand featuring the cheapo toys, bizarre plastic confections in garish blue, orange and neon pink.

 

 

Locked In by Liam Hogan

Read by Carrie Cohen

I suppose you could call what I have: ‘Locked-In syndrome.’ I’d ask a doctor, a neurosurgeon perhaps, if I could, which I can’t, and if they weren’t in such short supply.

It’s always the way with epidemics. Medical staff get hit hardest. First responders as well: the Police and the paramedics, and then the Army, and finally anyone stupid enough to volunteer.

Ahh... that’d be me. Won’t be doing that again.

 

 

Kalimantan by Lisa Beyt

Read by Nicky Diss

They followed Tenabi through the rainforest for eight days before they glimpsed the first mountain. The flesh on their feet remained raw and their faces were striped with earth and perspiration. They carried as much as they could manage, their belongings trailing behind them like the tail-end of a runaway kite.

After the third day, the echo of foreign voices gave way to the song of the cicadae. In the newfound quiet, the children vocalised their losses without restraint. It would take time before they would learn why the adults did not look back.

 

 

The Hotel Entrance by Brindley Hallam Dennis

Read by Silas Hawkins

I don't believe in ghosts, I said.

So how do you explain it? He raised a quizzical eyebrow.

The fact is, whatever you don't understand, because you aren't in possession of all the facts, seems like magic, or the supernatural, I told him.

 

 

Signs & Omens (for Hallowe'en!) Tuesday 13th October

BOO!

It's that time of year again, when ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night ooze from under the bed and down to the Phoenix's subterranean bar for our pre-Hallowe'en SIGNS & OMENS event on Tuesday 13th October. We've got a truly fiendish line-up for you this month, with zombies and werewolves and haunted hotels, monsters and cannibal vampires, oh my! And here they are:

 

SIGNS & OMENS WINNING STORIES

Kalimantan by Lisa Beyt *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Nicky Diss

Mother's Milk by J. A. Hopper *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Liz Bower

Beasts of London by Dan Coxon *NEW AUTHOR*, read by Lionel Laurent *NEW ACTOR*

The Magic Slate by Pat Black, read by Lois Tucker

Locked In by Liam Hogan, read by Carrie Cohen

The Hotel Entrance by Brindley Hallam Dennis, read by Silas Hawkins

 

Doors open at 7pm, we kick off at 7.30 and tickets are £5 on the door (venue details below). As is traditional, the night will also feature scary sweeties, the terrifyingly tough interval quiz, and an unholy trinity of dark and sinister books to be won. See you there - if you dare ...

 

WHERE & WHEN?

Signs & Omens for Hallowe'en

Tuesday 13th October at 7.30pm, £5 on the door.

Venue: Downstairs at The Phoenix

37 Cavendish Square
London W1G 0PP
www.phoenixcavendishsquare.co.uk