MANUSCRIPT ASSESSMENT AND EDITORIAL ADVICE SINCE 1996
Henry Fry
Henry Fry
“I started HackLand to speak specifically to LGBT+ teens, and TLC’s Free Reads is a fantastic opportunity for me to have the space to develop my work and hopefully speak to a new generation of YA readers. I want to show young readers that there is a voice out there that supports them, that understands them, and, hopefully, will inspire them to feel proud and confident in who they are, whatever their differences.” From the Introduction
“I looked at the ticket on my phone again, at the spirals spinning around the castle on the island, then looked back at the real thing. It was all starting to look so similar – that’s why I’d felt the déjà vu. Sim was right, I could see it now we were closer; metal loops spilled out of the dark edges of the old fortress, and I realised it must be Pegasus – the fastest roller coaster in the world.” Extract from ‘HackLand’ – included in the showcase
Previous Showcase Authors
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Emma Cameron
“Catrìona walked along the path beside the kirk carrying a bunch of spring flowers,…
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Vince Laws
“Poet John Faust is suicidal. His benefits have been stopped without warning, the bailiffs…
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Carl El Khoury
“It happened in flashes like a sequence of snapshots in a stop motion film…
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Pallavi Gopinath Aney
“Every so often Mrs. Mehta dutifully waited to do her washing after Mrs. Chadha…
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Maggie Humm
“Plucking a glass of champagne from a passing waiter, Lily was desperate for a…
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Pauline Walker
“Some things you can see coming, like when sunlight fades, dusk falls, darkness rushes…
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Hafsah Aneela Bashir
“I will tell God everything The sharp metal pieces Taken out of my stomach…
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Luke Tarassenko
“I hate flying. I heaved my bag up into the luggage compartment and clambered…
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Finn Dervan Showcase
“The curve of orange sun nudged the horizon and inched its way above the…
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TLC Pen Factor Special – winner Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
“I open my eyes to see a Mexican wave of women dashing to their…
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Melanie Gilbert
"As soon as we leave the building he lights a cigarette and puffs hungrily.…
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Christine Laurenson
“The bird swooped down over them, landing a short distance away, near the dragon.…
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Leonardo Boix
“A leap away from becoming ghost. She stood erect, her bathing floral suit, sugared…
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Jill MacLean
“Priest and wise-woman have left him alone with a man whose brothers are afeard…
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Kamala Jackson
“As arranged, I met with Satyan in a solitary shack found where the margins…
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Vanessa Onwuemezi
“Routine was the word. I liked routine, a route to somewhere in time. A…
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TLC Pen Factor Special – winner Adam Sharp
"The carpet on the stairs is thin and tattered. A thousand shuffling footfalls have…
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Sagheer Afzal
Sidra stepped forward and looked out again. She looked around apprehensively. She knew she…
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Harun Rashid
“Wadud’s story was entangled in the story of his nation, bookended by the two…
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Romalyn Ante
“This is the most important secret my father told me: Whenever you are lost,…
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Maán Jalal
“Noor’s mother wore black and the air was scented with gardenias when they stepped…
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Alice Burnett
“Over the previous few days, Leonie had asked Venus questions in bursts. Where was…
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Alick Glass
“He had always felt more Scottish than Jewish. For his Barmitvah he had learned…
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TLC Pen Factor winner special – Neema Shah
"Asha walked out towards the vast water, stretching so far that it looked more…
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Akeem Balogun
“She watched with her hands holding onto her knees and her legs tightly closed.…
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Maeve Clarke
“All their mother’s warnings about what a dangerous place it was and how they…
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Bernard Hall
"Lorraine unlocked the car doors and they climbed in. A nervous passenger at best,…
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Sheila Chapman
“Taksheel looked resigned. It was the conclusion he had reached himself but to have…
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TLC Pen Factor Special
“He’d check for signs of life in a moment. For now though, he just…
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Anna Mazzola
“Miss Sowerton stopped before a black door and produced a large key. A rumbling…
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Richard Buxton
“In the centre of the square, under the American flag, a loose halyard slapped…
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Kelleigh Greenberg-Jephcott
“Truman wills himself awake, peacock-plume eyed, empty champagne bottle in his lap. He squints…
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Michael Forester
“11.00pm glides on oil into midnight and 12.30 am, until Tolly finally finds the…
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Jane Aitken
“The Prime Minister’s posture looks relaxed, but if you look closely he still has…
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TLC Pen Factor Special
““I’ll get straight to the point”, said Dr. Mangan who proceeded to do no…
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Dilys Daws and Alexandra De Rementeria
"Studies show that fathers experience the same physiological response to a baby’s crying as…
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James Cook
“Ever since writing my first callow lyrics aged 14, I’d been striving to develop…
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Michelle Wareham
“Eli wrote every week from the Western Front, until his letters stopped arriving two…
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David Turner
“I marvelled at the vastness and flatness and emptiness of the parched red desert…
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Pen Factor Special
"I turned about the room, toe to toe, making the smallest circle. What I…
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Bernice Landry
“What I find interesting, he says, is that your clothing is all white, like…
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Jennifer Makumbi
“Now the crowd was in control. Everyone clamoured to hit somewhere, anywhere but the…
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Rebecca Swirsky
“Celia, on the other side of town, is kissing the tiny, sweet brown moles…
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Daniel Pembrey
“The glade was peculiarly dense around Vogel’s ungated entranceway. Pine, maple, and scrub oak…
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Jeremy Stafford-Deitsch
“Tristan did not consider himself brave. But then he did not consider himself a…
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David Spon-Smith
"A cold breeze blows over my face. Then something warm an’ wet, stinking of…
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Rosanne Daryl Thomas
"The annual Christmas present debate was abruptly suspended. Their adored maestro, Walter Albero, PhD,…
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Balvinder Banga
“Looking at the calendar of Ravidas, and the photograph beside it of the grandchildren…
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Piers Bearne
"I should have been in London, not this Essex midden swirling with pigeon-chest men…
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Tina Seskis
“In the end they settled on Caroline Rebecca, although Frances didn’t particularly like either…
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Neamat Imam
Mass graves were discovered in different parts of the country. The buried were exhumed…
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Philip Makatrewicz
"Ibimina’s husband has come once again to call. He must want something - a…
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Ruby Cowling
“Behind these fences are big houses; the houses of plump-skinned people who soften their…
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Adam Courtenay
“In 1542, Spanish conquistadors travelled east from the Peruvian colony of Quito, over the…
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Nicholas Lim
Dudec nodded. He fluttered a hand. “This could be something new!” “Rafal, when you…
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Suhel Ahmed
"‘That’s when I made the mistake,’ Amina exclaimed. ‘I should have taken the money…
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Prue Leith on her experience of TLC
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