Your characters are talking. Are readers listening?Nothing kills a promising story faster than wooden dialogue that sounds like it was written by a robot having a bad day. Readers can forgive plot holes, overlook setting mistakes, even tolerate the occasional typo-but make your characters sound fake, and they'll close your book faster than you can say "As you know, Bob...""Talking Out Loud" is the dialogue guide that actually gets it.

Welcome to 'Gold Rings,' a collection of four evocative short stories from Mo Fanning's acclaimed collection 'Five Gold Rings.' Each tale, narrated by a different voice, transports you through the seasons, unfolding a tapestry of human emotions and experiences. And if Christmas is just a little too jolly, let Mo change your mind.

When life deals you lemons, it's time to make lemonade. But what happens when the lemonade turns sour?Reformed alcoholic Alexandra Small has it all - a successful career, a beautiful home, and a football superstar husband. But when her husband is caught in a compromising situation and her life crumbles, she finds herself broke, jobless, and pregnant.As she builds a new life with the help of her best friend, her rather lovely lawyer, and the cafe of her chil...

Lisa knows time is running out. She's in danger of becoming the sort of woman who talks to strangers on the bus, wears fur boots and collects feral cats. She's fast approaching 40 and, as her best friend Andy points out, single.At a New Year's Eve party, the pair pledge to turn things around. Andy will find work as an actor and Lisa will find herself a husband. In the cold light of January 1st, she regrets her impulsive words. The regret grows deeper when an invite arrives to her b...

TRUE LOVE STARTS WITH A LITTLE WHITE LIEWe all say things we'll regret on New Year's Eve. Lisa Doyle is no exception. At the annual office bash, along with best friend, colleague and flat mate Andy, she contemplates another year as a singleton.Tired, emotional and a little worse for wear Andy challenges Lisa to find love before hitting 40. Lisa bets Andy he cannot land a decent acting job within the next year.Will either rise to the challenge? Is Lisa destined to ...

In Hollywood, every pavement star tells a story. Not all of them shine.Wannabe actor Kyle Macdonald is down on his luck. Working as a supply teacher in an inner-city Birmingham school, he's single again at 28 and sleeping in his childhood bedroom beneath a 'Hard Candy' Madonna poster.He gets a call claiming he drunkenly married top Hollywood director Aaron Biedermeier in Vegas six years ago. Rather than panic, he sees a golden ticket to fame and the life he...

Alexandra Small used to manage other people's reputations. Now she is the scandal.After an intervention, six weeks in rehab and a divorce delivered by video call, Allie is sober, jobless and living in her best friend Izzy's spare room. Her Premier League husband offers her £75,000 to disappear quietly. Allie should save every penny. Instead, she stakes almost all of it on The Beachcomber, the derelict Brighton café where she and Izzy worked as teenagers.Reo...

Lisa Doyle is fine. Absolutely fine.At least, that's the story she's been telling herself. Her best friend is getting married.Everyone around her seems to have a partner, a plan, and a life that makes sense.Lisa, meanwhile, has four glasses of wine in her, a talent for making bad situations worse, and a growing sense that she is being left behind. So she does what any sensible woman in a crisis would do.She announces that she's engaged. Ther...

Life is messy, uncertain, and full of surprises-both good and bad.This compelling collection of short stories captures the humour, heartache, and humanity of everyday life. From a man trying to make sense of the afterlife after being hit by a bus, to a woman unexpectedly pregnant at forty-two, to a father grappling with his son's suicide, these stories shine a light on our shared experiences.Though the characters face pain, adversity, and loss, there are al...

Sometimes the most unexpected voyage leads to the most important destination.Silas French never imagined he'd spend Christmas dressed as Santa on a gay cruise ship. At sixty-two, recently ghosted by his son and scraping by financially, he's desperate enough to take any job-even one that terrifies him.Ellen Gitelman is equally lost at sea. Seventeen years after 9/11 took her husband Otto, she's still afraid to truly live. Now a lupus diagnosis has shattered ...

Five Gold Rings: Christmas tales about hope, longing and the wonderfully messy people we loveFrom deserted doorsteps to algorithm-controlled festive "joy", these darkly funny, deeply human Christmas tales celebrate the people who feel left out of the holiday spirit - and the thin thread of hope that pulls them back in.A grieving dog-lover finds a new reason to hang a stocking.A gay couple revolt against a world where Christmas comes twelve times a y...