Showcase
The Literary Consultancy is excited to be working on an innovative showcase for its writing talent, initially in association with Staple Magazine. See TLC Showcase Introduction for more on the inception of the Showcase and please see below for where it is now.
Once a month we will highlight the work of one author whose work we believe deserves a platform, whether simply because our readers felt it worth championing, or whether we have helped the writer on to commercial publication.
If you enjoy reading our Showcase, please feel free to share, and let us know on Facebook or on Twitter.
Mark Blackburn
“It’s a very long time since I got the binoculars out and spotted a plane, but I still dream about them. Often. Not quite a recurring nightmare, but a recurring theme – planes crashing.”
From ‘Final Approach’– included in the showcase
Previous Showcase Authors

Zad El Bacha
“When she had first met him, they had sung together. Their voices had fused into one, a full, complex voice. Only an expert ear could have told the different elements

Jessica Irena Smith
“What struck me most about the picture, though, was how happy they looked. Mom especially. I’d never seen her like this before, I realised – so carefree. It made me

PEN FACTOR SPECIAL – Winner Ptissem Abourachid
“I think God is trying to send me a sign, and I’d like to send it back. This is not what I prayed for. I asked for a soul-mate, not

Tim Stretton
“I’ve been in the underheated waiting room for nearly two hours. Standard institutional chic—puke-coloured lino, plastic wood chairs bolted to the floor, posters curling away from tatty pinboards, and a

Lucy Weldon
“The Lazy Susan is turning. Anneka watches. Guests’ fingertips spin it clockwise then anticlockwise, slowly, politely, waiting for each serving spoon to be placed back. The chicken satay Madura on

Zakia Carpenter-Hall
“As a child, I mixed up the words musician and magician. I couldn’t be sure which one relied on magic, which was mostly preparation. Which artist makes something appear from nothing, who

Chuck Dalldorf
“While I enjoyed exploring Aldeburgh, it was far enough away that daily trips from the base on a bicycle were not realistic. I needed an easily accessible safe place, a

MW Sun
“AHLUK My mother and her six daughters. My poor mother, she kept trying for a boy, but all she got were girls. That’s me, the baby, the sixth girl. At

Ambreen and Uzma Hameed
“When H asked me to dance, I was unwilling at first. For the last few years – in fact, dating back precisely to the time of my Loss – it

Miriam Burke
“I love my job. I love standing in the darkness taking in the smell of their cooking, a whiff of perfume, or a trace of lemon fabric conditioner on a

Daniel Adediran
“Dolapo knew he was going to die. Not in any vague, distant way, but in a manner quite acute and not at all of his own making. The premonition clung

Lachlan McIver
“Life and Death Decisions is my little crate of dynamite. It’s part medical memoir, part call to arms for action on some of the greatest but neglected global health crises of

Shazia Altaf
“Ishrat knew a false step could be it. A plunge. The end at the beginning. Crossing jagged ancient steps root arteries snaked cliff faces offering secret footholds, whilst grassy clumps

Janet Savin
“I had been living in Prague two years at the time of the Velvet Revolution. I was fluent in Czech and had been following the politicisation of the studio theatres,

Pen Factor Special – winner Johnny Gaunt
“There was the saw-toothed ‘kronk’ of the dawn raven, throaty enough to splinter dreams, send them skittering like silverfish. Chrissy-boy stirred, but his eyes stayed shut. Parched, he was. And

Sarah Clement
“From the doorway, it looks as if a flock of baby doves has landed on our coffee table. Mum glances up at me from where she’s sitting crossed-legged on the

Lauren Nathan-Lane
“Self-care when you’re long term sick is incredibly important but sadly the idea of self-care seems to have been hijacked by the more toxic side of ‘wellness’. In this chapter

Jools Abrams
“The winter wind had bitten through her thin coat. She hung it in the wardrobe and fingered the worn astrakhan collar. It was time for a new one. A small

Kate Oliver & Toby Oliver
“It’s time to wake up! Some people open their eyes and are full of enthusiasm for the day to come; others groan and yank the covers back over their heads.

Nicholas Graham
“Above us the kilns glowed deep against the darkness of the valley sides. Mud clung to my boots, every step adding a fresh layer. The last heave up to the