Short Story of the Month, September 2018

The Willesden Herald New Short Stories Story of the Month

September 2018: The Almost-Widow by Carina Buckley

“If I had known, then, that a dull night’s companionable reading would prove on reflection to be a moment of perfect bliss, it’s hard to say what I would have done. Is the horror past or present? All I know is that right now, today, I am greedy for those days, and all the ones I had are not enough. It was their timelessness that made them worth having.”

Carina Buckley grew up in Margate, Kent, and now lives in Salisbury. She works in higher education and has recently completed her first novel, THE TRANSPARENCY OF WATER. She is working on a collection of short stories as well as a full-length play, SINCE I LAST SAW MY SISTER. She has had two short plays performed at the Salisbury Fringe festival.

Things were different back now

If you're doing anything shockingly brutal, cruel and inhuman, it might be understandable because things were different back now.

— New Short Stories (@storyofthemonth) August 18, 2018

I'm trying to be bookish and keep out of the argy-bargy but in the swim on Twitter, at https://twitter.com/storyofthemonth. (I give it six months.) By the way, if you have stories and would sell one for a free book, please submit to Story of the Month. (Steve)

Laser removal of rust (video)

This is how laser cleaning works to remove rust pic.twitter.com/XfXtBXF5KC

— How Things Work (@ThingsWork) August 16, 2018

Fascinating. Brave for the guy to run the thing over his hand?

The earliest colour film of London - 1924

Beautiful, evocative and moving: This is the earliest known original colour film of London, taken in 1924 - only 5 years after Armistice. pic.twitter.com/En0GGNKNZL

— BabelColour 🎞 (@StuartHumphryes) August 16, 2018

"Home at last! A personal study of Claude Friese-Green, inventor of the Friese-Green colour process"

Taken in 1924. Note the people around the Cenotaph in Whitehall. And so many people, in what looks like Petticoat Lane market, probably not one of them left alive today.

R.i.p. Aretha Franklin

Many pleasant, sometimes blissful hours, owed. The video is of a special performance with guests including the Obamas and Carole King.

Aretha Franklin, 'the queen of soul', dies aged 76 (from The Guardian)

British visa hell

So, Twitter. In light of the ongoing clusterfuck that is #brexit, let me tell you a little about my white, Australian experience of dealing with the UK visa authority, a complete shitshow of a bureaucracy that is in no way prepared to handle what's coming.

— Foz Meadows (@fozmeadows) August 9, 2018

It's worth reading this thread of 34 tweets, to get a picture of the rotten heart of British bureaucracy, under Theresa May.

"But how are you going to pay for it?"

When the Tories ask 'How are you gonna pay for it?', here is their answer. 🙌🙌🙌 pic.twitter.com/AreCSJaprQ

— Momentum (@PeoplesMomentum) August 9, 2018

Here is the answer from a rising US Democratic Party star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the candidate who turned out many times more voters than is usual to win a primary in New York against a leading and long-term Democratic incumbent.

Short Story of the Month, August 2018

The Willesden Herald New Short Stories Story of the Month

August 2018: Independence Day by John Califano

In 1960s Brooklyn, New York, sensitive and empathetic Johnny Boy struggles to navigate adolescence. Here his worldview is shaped by the trauma inflicted by the violent and competitive relationship between his father and his older brother, who despises their father’s closed-mindedness and is the only one willing to stand up to “the old man.”

John Califano grew up in Brooklyn, New York and lives in Manhattan. He’s worked as a writer, actor, visual artist and musician and has performed in clubs, art galleries, feature films and Off-Broadway productions. He recently completed his debut novel, JOHNNY BOY, and is currently working on a second book and a collection of short stories. His work was recently featured in The Broadkill Review.

Life is a holiday from non-existence.

There's lots to see and do,
And when it's time to go,
you wish you could stay
another week. But oh
in the end, you may say
we're tired and, after all,
we'll need another holiday
when we get home.