Nick Cross

As you may know, Stew Magazine unfortunately ceased publication in late 2016. I'd had 12 short stories published in the magazine - all of them beautifully illustrated - but that seemed to be an end to it.

What I didn't know was that the editor of Stew had commissioned a final illustration for my remaining story Mindworm, from talented Dutch artist Mei-Li Nieuwland. Mei-Li contacted me after the demise of Stew, and we agreed that the story and illustration were just too good to keep to ourselves. Which is why I'm offering it here as a free download.

Mei-Li has produced a stunning presentation of the story that would have looked right at home between the covers of Stew Magazine. As for me, I'm just happy that this twisted story of apps-gone-bad has become my unofficial 13th Stew short story. 13 will definitely be unlucky for someone. But who?

Click here to download the PDF of Mindworm and find out


You can see more of Mei-Li's illustrations at her website or follow her on Twitter.

It's a little-known fact that I am a qualified spam archivist! And in that role, I've taken to the pages of Notes from the Slushpile to give my informed opinions on a range of spam comments left on the blog. Can spam be touching, poetic and downright weird? Most definitely.

Read the article here.

I've recently launched a new column for
SCBWI's Words & Pictures magazine, called Alphabet Soup. But what (apart from a tasty and educational foodstuff) is Alphabet Soup?

It's a column looking at forms of children’s publishing where writing and illustration have equal importance – areas like highly illustrated chapter books, children’s comics, educational publishing or digital media. Alphabet Soup is about the intersection between words and pictures, a world in which presentation, design, layout and interactivity have their own impact on how a story is told.

You can read Alphabet Soup on Words & Pictures by clicking here.