It’s back to books on this week’s show, when storyteller/novellist Megan Taylor and publisher/writer Ian Collinson of Weathervane Press join June, Tina and Sue in the studio…

Megan’s latest book – published by Weathervane Press – is a collection of short stories, The Woman Under the Ground.  Her writing is brooding and mysterious and her characters are often the victims of absence and loss: a child taken to a neglected museum by her forsaken father; a woman revisiting the scene of an ended affair; a couple taking a road trip to try to reconcile the death of their daughter…

From dark adult secrets to night visitors and the dangerous passions of small girls, these stories explore fractured relationships and moments of self revelation. Definitely not fluffy chick-lit, but if you enjoy dark stories, you’ll enjoy these.

Megan’s first novel, How We Were Lost, a dark coming-of-age story, was published by Flame Books in 2007 after placing second in the 2006 Yeovil Prize. Her second, The Dawning, is a domestic thriller set over the course of a single night, published by Weathervane Press in 2010. In her third novel, The Lives of Ghosts (2012), she plays with ideas of inheritance, motherhood and the haunting power of memories that refuse to be suppressed.

She has also been published in an anthology of short stories by Nottinghamshire writers, These Seven (published in July 2015 by Five Leaves Publications) and regularly runs creative writing workshops in and around Nottingham.

Ian is founder of independent publisher Weathervane Press, specialising in publishing contemporary adult literary fiction by local writers. He created Weathervane Press in March 2009 with the self-publication of his own novel, I Love Samuel Taylor, and published his second, Find Amy, on Kindle.

Ian also writes and performs poetry and regularly writes reviews and articles for literary magazines.

Join the Girls Around Town and their guests on air or online between 10am and 1pm on Saturday – in the meantime, you’ll find more about Megan’s work here and about Weathervane Press here…