It’s time to vote for the IS&T Pick of the Month for February and we are heading into the night: From ‘the slow, funereal booming of the wind’ of David Calcutt’s excerpt from ‘Wintering’ through uneasy mourning in Claire Cox’s ‘The card given out at his funeral’ and Ross McCleary’s ominous ‘I put a wolf in the basement’, rounded out by a disturbing birth (‘Cockroach’ by James Knight) and an even more disturbing rebirth – Kitty Coles with ‘Stonecutter’. Finally, we include a review of Roy McFarlane’s Ted Hughes Award shortlisted The Healing Next Time, a work Pat Edwards sees as ‘bleak, challenging, angry and exposing’ with McFarlane ‘destined to disturb his way into our conscience’.

You can run but you can’t hide!

Please make your choice from the entries below (or see the ‘Vote for your Pick of the Month for February 2019 in the Categories list to your right on the screen.) These have either been chosen by Helen and Kate or received the most attention on social media.

Voting is now closed. February’s Pick will be announced on Thursday 14th March at 4pm.

The winner each month will be sent a £10 book giftcard or, if preferred, a donation of the same amount will be made to a chosen charity. In the event of the winner being from outside the UK mainland, we will make every effort to provide a reasonable alternative.