It is something of an oversight on my part that I haven’t posted about this before now, but here we are!

In 2022 my short story John Truslove was published by small press, Lucent Dreaming, in issue 11 of their beautifully produced magazine.

I wrote this story during my Creative Writing MA with the Open University and before it was published it was in the top 50 stories in the BBC Short Story Competition in 2021. The story speaks of the life and death John who was, in fact, a real boy but whose life I have imagined.

I’ve walked the paths and roads in the village so many times that I know every stone. I know every ankle-turn and stumble. I know where the hares make their forms. I know the farms – Manor, Gate, Green and Leam; I know where to stand to see the sun rise above the elm by Leam. I divined the way to the Roman Well using sticks and spoke with the guardian there after dark. And I know the dark path used by uncommon folk. I’ve lifted coins from the earth and pulled gleaming treasures from the hedgerows before Michael’s Day. And I know the corpse way; I know the bridge where the bargemen cross themselves lest their corpse should cross next.

John Truslove by Elin Heron

Read John Truslove for free here at Lucent Dreaming or buy a copy of the magazine and read the other wonderful stories and poems.