About

Panocticon is the name given to a small group of writers and friends, who met over the course of several years spent on a creative writing course in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire. We've since carried on meeting up once a week, most weeks, at a series of cafes in and around Whalley. Much of our friendly banter revolves around writing and books; genres and themes; and whether there's any hope for the world (we may have concluded that there was some).

Thanks to Fred's estimable willingness to engage with a host of technical issues, we managed to produce a collection of our short stories, and publish it, under the Panocticon label: Lancashire Tales - Light and Dark. It went down quite well, and not only with friends and family who all received it that Christmas(!).
Furthermore, it was considered for the David St John Thomas anthology prize, but disappointlingly, didn't make the final cut.
It is available from Lulu.com (download or print copy) Amazon, and retail outlets in East Lancashire. You can also find it available from many on-line booksellers or get it direct from us.
octoscope@gmail.com

Since then, as you can see from the Publications page, some of our members have produced their own very impressive collections of short stories. Other members have expressed their intention to do so, and when encouraged or inquired about, have muttered something on the lines of '...just getting things together...  Soon, honestly...'
We've also entered writing competitions at various times, with occasional success.

Examples of our work are displayed here now and again. We may also post about broader writing-related topics.
We welcome any feedback - positive or negative; we need to know how we are doing.