What's next for Floodgate

What we'll be doing in the next 12 months

Pete

11/29/20243 min read

Hi folks. We may have been a bit quiet of late but that’s because we’re busy cooking up new stuff.

Before we get to what’s next for our Midlands-focussed output, some housekeeping (yay!)

NIGHT TIME ECONOMY

Night Time Economy, our second anthology of themed writing from and about the Midlands, is doing rather well. It’s a bumper crop of night-focussed stories, some true and some most definitely fiction. All excellent!

Oh, and did we mention it’s one of Voce Books’ Books of the Year?

Don't take our word for it - check out this lovey write up from book blogger Jan Is Reading

https://twoheadsarebetterthanone.home.blog/2024/11/08/night-time-economy/

Buy direct from us or pop into your friendly local bookshop to pick up a copy.

https://www.floodgatepress.co.uk/pre-order-night-time-economy

STORIE

Speaking of Voce, the last STORIE event of the year is happening on Thursday the 12th December 2024. This regular fiction night has been consistently excellent and the upcoming one looks no different. Featuring no fewer than FOUR Floodgate contributors (Taylor Burns, Liz Churchill, Sasha Butler & Alan Fraser) it promises to be an excellent night. See you there?

DIGBETH STORIES

In response to continued demand, we are doing another print run of our debut collection Digbeth Stories. This will be the fourth run of our plucky little anthology. It’s done us proud!

Again, available direct from us or from Voce Books and other indies in Brum.

2025

Moving on to what we’re up to next, then. In brief, we are currently pursuing three projects.

FIRE DAMAGE

First up, available in April, will be a novel. Fire Damage, by our very own Nigel Proctor is an historical story of war and crime in Blitz-era Birmingham. Everyone knows about the London blitz and the destruction of Coventry, but little is told of the ‘forgotten blitz’ over Birmingham that nearly wiped the city off the map.

Here’s the blurb!

The Birmingham Blitz, November 1940

War kills, crime pays, no more so than when the lights are off and everyone’s looking out for themselves – or looking the other way.

After a young girl is found dead, Detective Sergeant Harry Marsh and his new partner, Policewoman Annie Scott, uncover a world of refugees in fear of their lives, arms theft, domestic terrorism and police corruption – all against a backdrop of burnt-out houses and burnt-out lives.

In a world at war, only one thing is certain: life is the cheapest commodity of all.

You’ll want to get in on this if you’re a fan of Peaky Blinders or just straight up good stories about good people in difficult times. It’s VERY Birmingham.

AFTERNOON DRINKING

Next up we’ll be publishing a new collection of short fiction from Brum-based writer and regular Floodgate contributor Alan Beard. Called Afternoon Drinking, you can expect the same raw, emotional, heartfelt prose that characterised Alan’s earlier collections Taking Doreen Out of the Sky (Picador) and You Don’t Have to Say (Tindal Street Press).