New Year Sale
Four Books for £20
Lucky Dip!
We will mail you a random selection of 4 paperback books from our back catalogue for £20, including postage.
This is a saving of at least £12 from our current listed prices.
(UK & USA customers only.)

2020 Cerasus Poetry Olympics: Silver Medal Winner

Sophie Norton
A creative writer and journalist, who has had her work published in the UK and internationally.
A Snake Charmer’s Assistant is punchy and surreal. A collection that observes both emotions and individuals in this absurd and dynamic playground that we call life.
The First In Our New Chapbook/Pamphlet Range

‘The Coveted‘
by Laura Jane Round
Available to buy now in paperback from Amazon or to download as an ebook from our Ko-fi Shop, this is the first, of what we hope will be many, in a series of new chapbooks and pamphlets.
Submissions Update

We are currently giving preference to submissions of pamphlets/chapbooks that are oven-ready for publication.
Please also consider submitting your poetry, prose and artwork to our quarterly Magazine.
Buy us a coffee
All our ebooks are now available to download in one place, from our brand new Ko-fi Shop.
Our Top 10 Editing Tips
- Do not overuse similes, saying something is like something else. Poetry is usually improved by metaphor. The yellow sun is like an egg yolk can become the sun is yellow as an egg yolk or the sun is egg yolk yellow or simply the sun is an egg yolk or just the egg yolk sun. Then you can start thinking about albumen clouds.
- Beware the use of weak verb endings. A phrase sounds more dynamic, direct and active without them. The dog is barking is made more immediate when the dog barks.
- Doubly beware the use of adverbs and adjectives, which lack precision and again weaken your phrases. Instead of he runs quickly say he hurries or he hastens. Otherwise, devise a metaphor involving a zephyr or some such fast moving thing, unless it clutters the scene.
- Avoid repetition. You may have favourite turns of phrase and images, but should employ each one only once in a manuscript – unless making a deliberate cross-reference or echo.
- Be specific. For example, when you say bird, you may picture a starling while the reader sees a sparrow. This affects the accuracy and effectiveness of your images. It is like using a generic piece of clip art rather than an actual photograph. Remember, names have power. A dove and a hawk are both birds, but symbolize contradictory attributes.
- In a similar way, when you say something, you are avoiding the challenge of articulating more exactly what that thing may be.
- It is so easy to fall back on well worn phrases and sayings, especially when they convey exactly what you want to express. But poetry is about communicating your unique point of view, your personal thoughts and experiences. Place yourself in the situation. What do you honestly think and feel? What does each of your 5 senses tell you? Remove the filters through which you normally perceive the world and admit the truth, no matter how painful. Only resort to cliché in the interest of bathos or irony. Show, don’t tell.
- Be careful about asking the reader questions, unless you answer them. It can sound badgering and the reader may feel backed into a corner and demand How the **** do I know? You tell me! Even a rhetorical question can be problematic, as it assumes the reader sees things the same way you do.
- Exclamation marks are, of course, beyond the pale.
- The first draft of a poem is often a journey into mystery and you don’t know where it’s going until you arrive at the end. Looking back over your path, you may see all sorts of twists and turns and diversions and dead ends you mistakenly took on the way. For the benefit of fellow travellers who follow after, it is probably best to simplify your route. This is also known as kill your darlings.
CERASUS Magazine Issue 0

CERASUS Magazine is now available to buy on Amazon as a full colour A4 size 44 page paperback, priced at £5.99, featuring poetry and prose by Seth Crook, Jim Ferguson, George Gunn, SJ Howarth, Maxine Rose Munro, Zach Murphy, Penny Sharman & Morelle Smith.
Or to download as an ebook from the CERASUS Magazine Ko-fi Shop.
2020 Cerasus Poetry Olympics – Final Results
It is my pleasure and honour to announce the Final Winners of the 2020 Cerasus Poetry Olympics:
Gold Medal: ICELAND (Mark Kilburn)
Silver Medal: FIJI (Sophie Norton)
Bronze Medal: OMAN (John Gallas)
Laurel Wreath: PERU (India Halstead)
Many congratulations to 4 most worthy champions and to everyone else who took part in this competition and made it such a positive experience (though by no means easy) to judge.
Important Notice
Please note that, for the duration of the Coronavirus epidemic in the UK, we will not be selling any books via our website. This is to avoid visits to the Post Office, which tends to be always crowded, in order to maintain ‘social distancing’.
All titles are still available on Amazon.
Stay safe everyone.