Brindley Hallam Dennis
BHD writes short stories. Many have been published & performed - often by Liars League, in London, New York & Hong Kong. He has won several prizes and awards. His novella 'A Penny Spitfire' was published in 2011 by Pewter Rose Press, and a collection of short stories, 'Talking To Owls' followed in 2012. In 2010 Unbound Press published 'That's What Ya Get! Kowalski's Assertions'. Writing as Mike Smith, he has published poetry, plays and critical essays - the latter mostly for Thresholds, the International Short Story Forum. He blogs at www.Bhdandme.wordpress.com and his stories appear on Vimeo at BHDandMe. He tweets @BHDandMe. He has recently experimented with self-publishing for Kindle on amazon, producing several short story collections, including, Departures, The Man Who Found A Barrel Full of Beer, Other Stories & Rosie Wreay and, in collaboration with fellow CUT writer Marilyn Messenger, Ambiguous Encounters , Doubtful Outcomes and Previously. As Mike Smith he has published collections of essays on the short stories of A.E. Coppard (English of the English) and Rudyard Kipling (Kipling's Own People), and on adaptation (Take Two, how adaptation changes stories).
Credentials
Brindley Hallam Dennis in 60 seconds
When did you start writing?
1967 Burton Upon Trent.What do you love about short stories?
Brevity. Their gem-like quality. Their cutting facets, their sharpness, their sparkle, their durability. They last for centuries and still make you laugh, or cry, or even both!Do you write in other forms?
Yes, but not as BHD. Mike Smith, my alter ego, writes poetry, plays, and essays - sheesh!What distracts you from writing?
Necessity (and BBG)Outside of writing, what are your other passions?
I have an unhealthy relationship with a big, black electric fretless bass guitar, that I call BBG.What is your favourite book?
Weep Not My Wanton by A.E.Coppard. (or The Little Farm, by H.E.Bates).Who are your favourite writers?
V.S.Pritchett - Try his story 'The Fall' , Lewis Grassic Gibbons - it's his use of language, and in particular of punctuation, which I love. and James Joyce - for the novel Ulysses, but also for short story, 'The Dead'.Where is your dream location?
When I was young I loved remote places, but as I get older, I value people more and more.What one item would you put into Room 101?
Probably me, on reflection...Do you have any advice for new writers?
Try something else... I wish I could do better than this, but it does seem like good advice. I'm surprised I thought of it. Another might be, don't value the writers, but the individual writings, and don't look to be valued yourself, but want it for your writing. Care about the writing more than about the responses to it. I'm a romantic. Sorry about that.Work by Brindley Hallam Dennis:
Days to Come
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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A collection of eight short speculative fictions with a Lake District flavour.
Twenty-Five Tenpenny Tales
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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A collection of twenty five flash fictions. Most of these were written during 2016/17 although a handful date from earlier. The Flash Fiction label is a mixed blessing, not least because it doesn’t seem to have settled down yet into any specific meaning. Discussion centres around that word flash. American originators of the term meant the flash of a single white page being turned. Some writers I know feel the story should have some sort of jolt, or flash, at the end: Ta Dah! All except one of the stories here are less than 500 words. Other than that, they are simply short stories, as varied as any other group of stories I might produce, joined perhaps by the one facet I look for in all short stories, however long or short, that they have a narrator who knows why he, she, or it, is telling the story!
Contributory Culpability
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Morning walks, an irrational fear, and a story of past, lethal transgression revealed.
Dawn Chorus
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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On the road, escaping from a confrontation a young man unexpectedly returns home, but when his friend retells the story, does he get it right?
Personal Calls
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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A mobile phone in the wrong hands, can lead to who knows what messages in the wrong ears...
A Feast of Flash Fictions
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Ten Flash Fictions, from 449 to 96 words short. Illicit affairs and railroad crashes, murderous spouses and vengeful neighbours.
The Cover Story
Brindley Hallam Dennis
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Apparently, this story was going to be 'disqualified with merit' from an Earlyworks Press competition...but that was too ridiculous...so they gave it Second Prize! It's on of the stories in Talking To Owls (Pewter Rose Press) and you can hear it read on Vimeo.
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