With the publication of ‘Alt Future’ in 2005, QueenSpark took a foray into fiction with a book featuring local people’s creative imaginings of a future Brighton & Hove.
‘Alt-Future’ includes a vision of text-messaging in 2045, a description of how ‘Zero Tolerance’ might operate on the city’s streets in the not-too-distant future, through to a sci-fi ‘DownsLand Experience’…
Also published in 2005, its companion work ‘Alt-History’ features past ‘histories’ of Brighton & Hove, providing a glimpse into an alternative world.
Fiction was not a new venture for QueenSpark. We have long recognised the enjoyment and personal satisfaction that can be gained from creative writing:
‘From Circle to Spiral’ (1995)
Is the product of a QueenSpark writing group consisting of seven women who spent two hours per week exchanging ideas and writing together in a mutually supportive environment. It can be viewed as a testament to the positive benefits that can be gained through the medium of creative writing.
‘On the Writing Trail’ (1999)
A diverse anthology of short stories, allowed people who might not otherwise have classified themselves as authors to see their creativity find an outlet through the publication of their work.
In 2012 QueenSpark Books celebrated our 40th anniversary with a fundraising event that reached its target towards the printing of BRIGHTON: The Graphic Novel. The popularity of this book led to another graphic novel project, this time exploring stories of Brighton in World War One, Brighton’s Graphic War.
In 2017 QueenSpark Books will be celebrating 45 years of community publishing. As part of this we’ll be looking at life in Brighton and Hove in 1972.
