Author Conor McAnally on how the contributors to a new anthology ‘have nourished, fostered, cajoled and comforted each other for years . . .’
Nine authors on three continents create eighteen short stories for one book. That’s the background to Stories of Place ///zinc.level.blindfold published by Black Rose Writing on April 10th. Each story title is a unique combination of three words pinpointing a three metre square in the narrative using the What3Words geolocation app.
This all started with a Curtis Brown Edit and Pitch Your Novel course in 2020. Critiquing each other’s work was one of the course components and ten of the participants came together in a Zoom group to figure out who they were critiquing. All ten of the writers — Emile Cassen, Lily Devalle, Catherine Johnstone, Sandy Foster, Billy Green, Conor McAnally, Niamh McAnally, Nina Smith, Ben Tufnell and Wendy Williams had a manuscript almost ready for pitching. Over the weeks a very strong and supportive bond was formed and we decided to continue meeting after the course was over. We’ve met every single month ever since.
About a year into these meetings we floated the idea of getting together in person at some point in the future. Cathy was in Australia, Niamh in Florida, Nina in Japan, me in Texas and the rest of the gang in various places in the UK. It wasn’t going to be easy but we made the commitment and in June of 2023 rented Pettistree House in Suffolk for a weekend writers’ retreat. Those first in-person meetings were wonderfully weird. These were people each of us knew intimately, had shared their highs and commiserated with their rejections, refused to accept their imposter syndromes and steadfastly supported their continuing efforts to publish their creations. But we’d never met physically. The hugs were hard, long and heartfelt. Except for one. Wendy Williams had never been in good health and sadly passed away the week we were due to meet. The anthology is dedicated to her.
Over the weekend we worked on our own stuff but decided over lunch one of the days that it would be really cool if we were all published together. Success in the group was a variable. Some had found agents, Niamh had published Flares Up: A Story Bigger than the Atlantic. Ben had published The North Shore. Each of the nine writers would write two short stories for an anthology. Simple enough. The problem came when we talked about creating a theme. All of the nine wrote in very different styles and genres. There were memoirs and thrillers, fantasies and romances, nothing to glue the stories together.
Emile Cassen came up with What3Words. Most of the group had never heard of it. Its an app conceived by Chris Sheldrick and Mohan Ganesalingam. Chris was in the music logistics business and struggled to get equipment delivered to the right loading docks at large venues. Postcodes didn’t do the job. He tried using GPS co-ordinates but transposed numbers led to chaos and on one occasion delivered a band to the wrong wedding. Mohan is the author of The Language of Mathematics and knows a thing or two about numbers. They divided the entire globe into fifty seven trillion three metre (10 foot) squares and with linguist Jack Waley-Cohen created an algorithm which allocated each square with a unique three word combination. They teamed up with entrepreneur Michael Dent to create the company.
We were eating outside on a beautiful June day at a long table shaded by large umbrellas while figuring this out. The exact three metre square we were sitting in was ///zinc.level.blindfold, and that became the subtitle of the book Stories of Place.
It takes a lot to wrangle a wriggle of writers but thankfully my sister Niamh was well up to the task. She’s an amazing organiser and kept us all on track. We agreed deadlines for each of the stories and went off to write our first drafts. The group split into three groups of three and we became each other’s editors. Every story got feedback from two other writers. After second drafts we switched up. In the end everyone read and contributed comments on every story but, even so, we had a professional editor go through the entire manuscript.
Anthologies are notoriously hard to get published but Black Rose Writing was convinced to go ahead by the idea that nine authors would be conducting launches on the same day in six different parts of the world. April 10 started with Cathy Johnstone’s event in Melbourne, followed by Nina Smith in Perth. I launched live on Clare FM’s Morning Focus with Alan Morrissey and was followed by a big London gathering where Emile Cassen, Lily Devalle, Billy Green and Ben Tufnel joined forces for a sold out event. Sandy Foster briefly interrupted her honeymoon in Barbados to introduce the book and, finally, Niamh brought the anthology to life in Florida.
Our various skills were brought to bear on marketing and promotion. Nina and Lily managed the social media inputs, I created launch videos, Billy handled our liaison with What3Words etc. It was a truly collaborative and hugely rewarding effort.
The paperback book is available in independent book stores and worldwide on the Amazon platforms. The e-book is out there and will be followed shortly by an audiobook narrated by the brilliant Simon Alison.
Every writer needs a tribe and ours is called zoomwriters international. We have nourished, fostered, cajoled and comforted each other for years. Stories of Place ///zinc.level.blindfold is proof of our love.
(c) Conor McAnally
Conor’s novel, Bullets In The Water, will be published by Stoney Creek Publishing in November 2025.
About the anthology Stories of Place ///zinc.level.blindfold
Stories by: Niamh McAnally, Emile Cassen, Lily Devalle, Sandy Foster, Billy Green, Catherine Johnstone, Conor McAnally, Nina Smith, Ben Tufnell
“A varied and eclectic collection, showcasing new writers of promise. There are voices here I hope we’ll be hearing more from.” -Mick Herron, author, CWA Steel and Gold Dagger winner, creator of Slow Horses
Edited by the award-winning author, Niamh McAnally, Stories of Place will take you on a whirlwind journey across the globe courtesy of nine international writers whose tales span the genres of thriller, adventure, mystery, coming-of-age, LGBTQ+, young adult, and literary fiction, as well as the vast spectrum of the human experience. Each story is titled using the innovative geocode system What3Words, which uses three words to identify a precise location on Earth.
From the bustling streets of Tokyo and the rugged landscapes of the Australian bush to the Mexican-American border and the Dublin suburbs of Ireland, this anthology offers a unique perspective on a variety of stories: teenage passion, familial love, the cruelty of war, and the quiet tragedies of later life. Readers will find themselves immersed in a rich tapestry of emotions that will linger long after the final page. Let your journey into this eclectic collection begin.
Order your copy of the anthology here.
