December 2015 Winner Announced - Nancy Bachana

Congratulations to Nancy Bachana for her winning story, Twenty-Three Hundred!

The Pen Factor HQ in The Apple Isle spent the morning organising a Skype call to the Big Apple where our winner, Nancy Bachana, lives with her husband and children. Nancy kindly spent time talking to us about the inspiration behind her story and her writing dreams.
It wasn't long before we opened some champagne and announced her as our competition winner. The final decision was made by our guest judge, prize-winning crime author, Susan Moody. View this morning's surprise announcement on YouTube. Don't forget you can keep up with all The Pen Factor news and announcements by liking our page on Facebook!)

Well done, Nancy!

Read our article about Nancy and her short story as our December Writer of the Month.

Finalists Announced for December 2015 Competition

The Pen Factor team, headed up by guest judge, Susan Moody, is delighted to announce our five finalists for the December 2015 Competition.

Congratulations to:
- Mark Hildebrandt (Redlih B. Kram) - The Warrior King
- Rachel Bryan - The Unlikely Serial Killer
- Nancy Bachana - Twenty-Three Hundred
- Stephanie Allwright - The Karma Chronicles
- Alex Ambrozic - Homecoming (a Translation)

We wish all our finalists the best of luck as Susan makes her final decision in the coming weeks.

Special mention to the following writers who narrowly missed out on becoming finalists:
- Mary Rogan - After Vince
- Rosie O - Searching
- Travis Kennedy - The Devil's Room 
- Kirsten Leggett - Horatio 

Keep the dream alive. Keep writing!

Guest Judge for December 2015 Competition - Susan Moody

The Pen Factor judging team is delighted to welcome crime novelist Susan Moody as its 2015 December Competition guest judge. Susan was born and brought up in Oxford and has been a professional writer for nearly 30 years. She has published 34 crime and suspense novels, including the Penny Wanawake series and the Cassandra Swann series. She has also written many stand-alone novels, among them Losing Nicola andA Final Reckoning. The Colour of Hope was an international best-seller and sold in 20 different countries. Her novelization of the Gold Blend coffee ads, Love Over Gold, reached the Sunday Times best-seller lists.

She is a former Chairman of the Crime Writer's Association, served as World President of the International Association of Crime Writers, and was elected to the prestigious Detection Club. Susan Moody spent two years as Creative Writing Tutor at Bedford Prison and is a past Writer-in-Residence at the Universities of Tasmania and Copenhagen. Susan is married to the Australian mathematician, Professor John Donaldson, and divides her time between England and France.

Her latest novel, Quick and the Dead, the first in a brand-new mystery series is out on the 29th January 2016.

Quick and the Dead, a contemporary British mystery by Susan Moody