THE Ledbury Reporter’s Gary Bills-Geddes has been turning over a new leaf, by publishing his first ever collection of short stories, with an American publisher.

The stories, called Bizarre Fables, were written by Gary but co-plotted with Heather, his wife, who also provided the illustrations. Some of the illustrations, including the cover design, were produced last year: when Heather successfully completed her MA in advanced digital media at the University of Worcester.

Gary has been published as an author before, albeit as a poet. His 2002 collection of verse, The Echo and the Breath, was published by Peterloo and, in 2004, Bluechrome published his second collection, The Ridiculous Nests of the Heart. In 2005, he edited The Review of Contemporary Poetry, for Bluechrome.

He said: “It’s been somewhat quiet on the publishing front since then, and this was my first foray into producing a book of prose. We had great fun co-plotting these tales, most of which have a medieval atmosphere. Some are amusing, I hope; some are outrageous and others are more serious, even disturbing. I suppose Heather and I, when choosing themes, wanted to spread a pretty broad canvas. There are eight tales in total; some are long, and some are short.”

The publisher is The Little French Ebooks, which is based at Delaware and New York.

Gary said: “It’s all happening pretty quickly, and now it seems they want to bring out a full colour hardback version, which is great for Heather, because her illustrations will be seen in all their glory, which they deserve.

“I’d actually signed a contract with The Little French for an adult novel, A Letter for Alice, which will come out later this year, all being well. But the publisher wanted to hopefully ‘warm up the market first of all’, as I’m hardly well known as a prose writer; and so Bizarre Fables was also taken up, and now it’s out! I keep pinching myself. We can hardly believe it.”

Bizarre Fables, by Gary Bills and Heather E. Geddes, is available now on Amazon, both as an E-book and as a black and white paperback.