Storytime

Storytime

He may be best known for his dark and macabre crime novels, but Goldster's resident creative writing tutor is urging members to join him for a series of bedtime stories that won't give you nightmares. 

David Mark is launching a new series of bedtime stories, guaranteed to make readers think, feel - and hopefully appreciate different voices in literature. He has hand-picked some wonderful examples of prose, poetry and short stories.

David, a Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, has hand-picked a selection of masterful short stories and hopes members will log on at bedtime to hear him introduce and read each tale. 

David said: "The short story is a very under-appreciated art form and I'm so pleased to be able to introduce Goldster members to authors they may not have read before. I've hand-picked four terrific tales that take less than half an hour to enjoy, and provided my voice holds out and nobody asks me to do any accents, I think we'll have a great time. They're not going to be the kind of tale that will wake you up at 2am with a head full of questions, but they may end up costing you dear in book tokens as you're going to want to read more and more stories by these terrific writers. 

"My creative writing group is tackling the short story genre at the moment so it's the perfect time to see how to really do it well. I promise not to mind if you're in your curlers and slippers. I might be too."

Experts believe that reading aloud, and listening to spoken word stories, may have many health benefits, from helping improve our memories and understand complex texts, to strengthening emotional bonds between people.

The first Bedtime Story will be The Strength of God, by American novelist Sherwood Anderson.