The Spooky Hotel That Inspired The Winning Entry In Our Short Story Competition

Published on: 31 Oct, 2025
Updated on: 31 Oct, 2025

The Mayor with our short story competition winner, Christine Reeves, at the presentation at Paper Moon bookshop. Pictures by Alice Fowler and Fiona Giles.

By David Reading

Many years ago, Christine Reeves was staying in a hotel in Painswick, a small town in the Cotswolds, when she noticed strange paintings on the wall. On making enquiries, she was told about the building’s ghostly reputation.

It was this experience that inspired her short story, Some Games Children Play, which has won the Guildford Dragon’s short story competition launched in September.

Christine received her prize from the Mayor of Guildford on Wednesday (October 29) at the town’s new independent bookshop, Paper Moon, which ran the competition in conjunction with the Dragon.

Christine began writing fiction when she joined a creative writing course back in 2017. She had always wanted to write and was always disappointed that none of her stories ever appeared in the school magazine. However, when she was 18 she secured a job as a trainee sub-editor on ‘She’ magazine and this opened the door to a journalistic career.

Years later, Christine is now a prolific fiction writer with some considerable success. Since July 2018 she has submitted 269 pieces, mostly Flash Fiction plus a few poems, to various online publications and competitions. Of that total, 38 have been published or received some recognition. But this week’s success marked her first prize in an open entry competition.

The Mayor with four of the writers who shone in our competition – Richard Garcka (left), Chris Middlehurst, Christine Reeves and Isabella Pakenham

Author Alice Fowler, one of the judges, said of Christine’s entry: “I thoroughly enjoyed this exploration of grief and loss, which cleverly blended past and present into an atmospheric and satisfying story.”

The Mayor, Cllr Howard Smith, offered his congratulations to Christine, presenting her with £50 in book tokens donated by Paper Moon and £50 in cash from The Guildford Dragon NEWS.

Christine has this message for all writers and would-be writers: “Take the time to observe the world around you, you never know where you will find inspiration. I carry a notebook with me and if I see something that catches my eye I write down the details for future reference, or maybe take a photo. It could be the way someone dresses, or what they say. It could be a particular display of flowers or an arrangement in a shop window.”

The winning entrants with the Mayor and the three judges. Alice Fowler is on the left, Jack Mountford of Paper Moon bookshop on the right, and Dragon reporter David Reading next to him

The judges chose two runners up: Spider Under a Glass written by Isabella Pakenham, and Big Issue by Richard Garcka. Highly commended were The Fish written by Chris Middlehurst and Mother River by Carolyn Patterson.

Guildford Dragon reporter David Reading, another of the judges, said: “We were overwhelmed by entries and I can honestly say that every one was worthy of publication. I would encourage all the writers who entered to persevere. Clearly there is a wealth of writing talent out there.”

He added: “We would like to thank Jack Mountford, owner and manager of Paper Moon, for his support in encouraging literary talent in Guildford. Judging by the response, there are likely to be further competitions in the future.”

In case you haven’t read the winning entry, here it is: Some Games Children Play.

And check out The Dragon during the coming weeks – we are planning to publish the stories written by the runners-up.