Fiction

	Title	Editor rating (1-5)	Reader rating
	Open Pen - issue 6 - Open Pen - Open Pen's sixth issue starts with an editorial from rapper Elliot Eggerton (aka Bang On!) examining the glass half full – Oi you’re nicking my pint dichotomy. The short stories commence with Tadhg Muller’s humorous ramble ‘In Lieu of a Memoir’. Extract: I’d wound up trudging...
	Open Pen - issue 7 - Open Pen - This issue starts with an editorial from journalist Ian Gittins on the challenges writers face making a living in the 21st century. The short stories start with AJDunn’s ‘Heir Hunter’ from which this extract is taken: Mrs Tindall stood for a moment in the doorway and observed her son...
	Our Dog called Pizza, and the Dragon - Ron Aaron - Old friends meet up after many years and unwittingly embark on another new adventure. Tommy, Gideon, Ron (that’s me) and the dog Pizza, who had recently been bewitched with the smell of pizza, find themselves entering an enormous cave owned by a fearsome Dragon. After the Dragon,...	1	2
	Mr. Robinson Goes to Eat - Ron Aaron - Mr Robinson is a very wealthy fat man who discovers a talkative worm on his dinner plate at his favourite restaurant. The restaurant staff and diners think Mr Robinson has gone crazy when they notice him talking to his plate as they can't see the worm which, by the way, has an appetite to match...	2	2
	Zen & The Art of Stand-up Comedy - Eugene Binx - Zen and the Art of Stand Up Comedy, is a crazy mix of unexpected events and people being in the right place at the right time. A tale of unlikely connections, it’s crowed with complementary, and not so complementary, characters who will make you laugh (or maybe even cry) in between shaking your...	2	2.5
	Armour in Fate - Dotun Adesida - As the title suggests, only faith can offer protection against the harsh conditions in a place torn by civil war, food shortages, and scarcity of medical supplies - with no medicine, no beds for the sick, no medical doctor, no running water, no electricity, no classrooms, no sewerage, no...	2	2
	The Tea-time Sunshine - Iain McCulloch - “The Tea-time Sunshine” is a comic novel commencing in Glasgow in the early 70's where the seeds of mental disintegration take root in the green and pleasant land of a child's playground. The central character in this work is Steven, a diagnosed schizophrenic and voluntary patient at a...	2	3.5
	The Three Dollar Phoenix - Walt Sautter - Doctor Ed Bennett hadn’t spoken to Charlie since, he had to think now, 1978. Yes, and it was June 1978 to be exact. Charlie probably didn’t even remember it. He was so drunk that he could just about talk, much less remember. That was the day the Raiders drafted him. Ed meets up with his old...	2	1
	The Little White Cloud - Ron Aaron - This is a story about a Little White Cloud perched on a mountain summit. At the base of the mountain is a small farming village. The village is protected and nourished by the cloud. Until one day a bad wealthy man attempts to take over part of the village and its fields. The man and his...	3	4.3
	Cross over murders - Frank Atanacio - Nick PT Barnum is back, and this is the best Barnum book yet! When illegal aliens are taking over our union jobs..someone is out for revenge. Something sinister is about to happen and the City of Bridgeport is in for a killing spree it would never forget. In comes Nick Barnum who has to act like...	3	4.3