re-posting from Paul Burston’s blog.

Paul Burston :
Some months ago I was approached by a man called Bobby Nayyar about a new publishing venture. I’ve known Bobby for quite some time. He used to be the marketing man at LittleBrown, who publish my novels. What Bobby had in mind was a new kind of publishing house, smaller and focussed on books serving the kinds of readers who aren’t catered for by the supermarkets. And so Glasshouse Books was born.

The first book was a collection called ‘Bloody Vampires’, to which I contributed a short story called ‘The Gift’. There have been several other books since – all beautifully produced and all in the space of a few months. And now comes my pet project, a collection of lesbian and gay short stories called ‘Boys & Girls’.

There are some established writers – names like Stella Duffy, V.G. Lee, David Llewellyn, Karen McLeod and yours truly. But half the stories are from new or up-and-coming writers, most of whom have never been published before.

This pleases me no end. When I started my literary salon Polari (www.myspace.com/polarigaysalon), one of my objectives was to provide a platform for new talents often overlooked by the existing publishing industry. So to see a book with stories by Sophia Blackwell, Keith Jarrett, Conn North Morgan and Joe Storey-Scott is immensely gratifying.

‘Boys & Girls’ is out next month, and is available to pre-order now. At a time when most authors are facing difficulties, and gay and lesbian writers more than most, this is a project that really deserves your support.

The book is produced in association with The Albert Kennedy Trust, which is a charity close to my heart. Also included are true-life stories of young people who’ve been helped by the Trust.

To find out more, click on the links below…
http://www.glasshousebooks.co.uk/book.php?book=9
http://www.glasshousebooks.co.uk/buy.php?book=9

and Stella says : I also have a story in Glasshouse Books’ 33, a short story collection with one for each borough of London. (am v proud of writing my Greenwich story as Woolwich-centric!) <a