Wood End Road this evening

All this happened because of the damn fool clocks going back malarkey. Simple as.

Enough with the short stories already

The End of the Road

We are now closed indefinitely for submissions of short stories. It’s been fun.

Take care. Be good. See you around!

Ed.

Our Short Stories of the Year 2024

Willesden Herald Short Stories of the Year 2024

• January: Cranes by Alex Barr
• February: My Yellow by Amanda Huggins
• March: Outlaws by Neil Brosnan
• April: With Every Choice Something is Lost by Mike Fox
• May: At the Hotel Swinburne by Cath Barton
• June: New Moon by Michael Howard
• July: The River by Pia Quintano
• November: I O U by Robert Stone
• December: The Man on the Train by Sarah Turner

Thanks for another lovely lot of short stories this year, though we only managed to find some for nine out of the twelve months.

Here’s wishing everyone a peaceful and happy new year. (Ed.)

Photo: South Vale this afternoon

South Vale, Harrow, London HA1, this afternoon

Bill poster in action today

What would make a good caption for this - "Culture clash"?

Photo: bill poster man in hi-vis work clothes up tall ladder to replace the topmost of two large billboard posters. The bottom one is a poster advertising flats at Greenford Quay "West London's Vibrant Rental Community". The top one is half and half and it's hard to tell which poster is being added and which being covered over; one is for "First Hindi Entertainment on Samsung TV Plus"; the other appears to be a fashion advert for White Fox brand leisurewear.

Update:

The new poster completed (for First Hindi Entertainment Channel)

Short Story of the Month, December 2024

The trouble about helping strangers is you just never know what you're getting into and you don't know what other strangers there might be when you get into it. The clue is in the word "strangers". (Ed.)

Short Story of the Month - December 2024

The Man on the Train by Sarah Turner

“I’d speculated about the man even before we spoke; he interested me as soon as I saw him on the station platform that afternoon, in his long tweed coat and beaten-down, once-formal shoes. He caught my eye and paced towards me with a focused look that made me think he was about to ask me something.”

Sarah Turner's short stories have been/are due to be published by Shooter Literary Magazine, The Sonora Review, J Journal, The London Magazine, Epoque Press, Fictive Dream, Litro, LEON, The Phare, and others, and in 2023 one of her stories was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize Short Story Award. Some of her published work can be read at www.scturnerfiction.com.

Short story related Starter Pack (Bluesky)

Bluesky starter pack for Short Story Related

If you are on Bluesky and want to follow short story related accounts on there, you could take a look at this starter pack I created. With starter packs on Bluesky, you can browse the list and follow some, view their posts, or even click on "follow all". There are starter packs for all sorts of interests, some very specialised, like "17th century history", some a bit more general. There are all sorts of "feeds" you can subscribe to as well, e.g. Literary Agents, Irish Writers etc etc. Link: https://bsky.app/3pZT3Aa (Ed.)

Bonus book for the next Story of the Month

Cover: Day of the Flying Leaves

In addition to a copy of one of the New Short Stories anthologies, the next Story of the Month author will receive a copy of Day of the Flying Leaves, poetry by yours truly. I will also inscribe and sign an as-yet unpublished poem on a blank page. I hope this will not be a disincentive! (Ed.)

Short Story of the Month, November 2024

We've just arrived back to civilisation and found a great short story of the month for November. It's a "read twicer". Did anything happen while we were away? Ed.

The Willesden Herald Story of the Month

November 2024: IOU by Robert Stone

… When Brett left, Bill hadn’t realised she was going. Her drink was unfinished. And when she was gone the others didn’t seem to miss her or to take the opportunity to talk about her and that surprised him and taught him a lesson …

Robert Stone

Robert Stone was born in Wolverhampton. He works in a press-cuttings agency in London. He has been a teacher and the foreman of a London Underground station. He has had stories in 3:AM, Stand, Panurge, The Write Launch, Confingo, Eclectica, Punt Volat, HCE, The Decadent Review, Heirlock, Lunate, Main Street Rag, Clackamas and Wraparound South. Micro-stories have been published by 5×5, Third Wednesday, The Ocotillo Review, Star 82, deathcap and Clover & White. He had three stories published in the Nightjar chapbook series. A story has been included in Salt’s Best British Stories 2020 volume.

The canal at Ladbroke Grove, Tuesday

12:22 5 November 2024

Photo: Looking along a canal that bends away to the right in the distance from this viewpoint on a bridge, with a swan beside a houseboat barge on the right bank, on bright calm shiny water, with a variety of buildings alongside the left bank, foremost one completely covered in brightly coloured graffiti. (There is another swan following some distance back by the next houseboat. They both leave gentle V-shaped in their wake.)

Lime + Uber eBikes chaos – London

Kensal Green: 5 November 2024, 11:08 a.m.

Photo: “On Lime + Uber” branded eBikes piled up blocking the pavement outside Kensal Green underground station, 5 November 2024 

Trailer: “Reawakening” – a new film written and directed by Virginia Gilbert

“Reawakening, starring Jared Harris, Juliet Stevenson and Erin Doherty, is the powerful, psychologically piercing and searingly emotional second feature from BAFTA-nominated writer-director Virginia Gilbert.” (Facebook)

Some of you might remember when Virginia Gilbert’s short story “Winter Lambing” won the Willesden Herald short Story competition in 2012, as judged by Roddy Doyle. There is even a video of the awards presentation at the old Willesden Library Centre [with Mourny three sheets to the wind. Ed]

Reawakening had its US premiere at the Newport Beach film festival last week and has already been nominated for awards and included in other film festivals.

Copying/moving from Blogger to WordPress

It's a sad day in many ways. This Blogger site is in the process of moving to WordPress, which can be reached by the Willesden Herald .com domain name. There are over 9800 posts here, according to the import utility. The move will mean that the New Short Stories and Willesden Herald will all be on one site. The export/import process claims to include all content and comments but I know very well that there will be disruption, if not complete chaos. So this Blogger site will remain as it is until the Mahamanvantara or some tycoon buys it and ruins it.* It's been quite a ride, as they say, though with a different meaning in my native Ireland. Thanks to everyone who visited, commented, contributed words. (Steve) 

* Problems: 

• Most of the posts ported to the WordPress blog rely photos that still reside on Blogger and/or Google photos.
• Ported comments are all attributed to "Anonymous" but they have their chosen handles on here.

Dusk on Wood End Road - photos

Chiltern Line view towards Sudbury Hill Harrow station

A bend in the road, Wood End Road, Harrow, 10/10/2024

Amazing restaurant bus, London

"Bustronome - Voyage Gourmand" Website link: bustronome.com

Spotted motoring along Harrow Road, NW10, about 11:15 a.m. yesterday, 11 Sept '24. You can see a chef working away by the window near the back. The bus is a double decker with tables upstairs and down. It's an extraordinarily long vehicle and probably keeps to wide open roads, as small roads and turns are out. 

Posters: "Kidnapped - Bring Them Home NOW"

On a postbox in Harrow, London HA1 today

Small but mighty

Basking in the sun this morning. A little Herb Robert and
Alyssum growing between paving stones. 18 July 2024

Home Fashion, First Avenue, London W10

Midday. "Home Fashion" furnishings shop. Corner of First Avenue and Harrow Road. 18 July 2024

 

Short Story of the Month, July 2024

In Pia Quintano's 29-page short story of the month for July, we're in New York, the capital of the world. Unless that is London or Paris or actually there is no capital of the world. It is though (U.N.). But what lies beneath the sheen of its river water, behind its apartment doors and in the minds of people you've grown up with? A child is missing. We're going into that water. (Ed.)

The Willesden Herald Story of the Month

July 2024: The River by Pia Quintano

"It felt like they were mining the East River, as if the heavy machines they were using to dredge it could easily unearth a car or the core of the planet. I could feel the FDR tremble under my feet but suspected that the heavy barges with their mysterious cargo would be undisturbed, as the men stretched apart the river’s seams..."

Pia Quintano

Pia Quintano is a New York City based writer/painter who often writes about characters who have experienced a loss that they have never been able to integrate. She spent a winter at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire and has had her fiction published in Havik, Lunch Ticket and Landlocked. She enjoys sharing her small apartment in New York with a demanding cocker spaniel and two lively parakeets.

Star of the Raglan Road (lyric video)

This is a hybrid of Raglan Road and Star of the County Down with a chorus and additional verse by yours truly. Míle buíochas to Phil Rynhart for the arrangement and all the music. (Stephen)

Late afternoon, Wood End Road

Wood End Road, Saturday 21 June 2024

Message to US Republicans

"What will you tell your kids?" Strong case made against Donald Trump by the Lincoln Project, Republicans in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln and against the would-be tinpot dictator and puppet of Vladimir Putin, friend and admirer of Kim Jong Un and other obnoxious men of that type.

Short Story of the Month, June 2024

Is it June already? There's a cold northwest wind blustering through rainy London, so I said to myself, let's go to Vietnam for a while, meet some interesting people, and see what happens. I'm still there. (Ed.)

The Willesden Herald Story of the Month

June 2024: New Moon by Michael Howard

"…He almost never shut the doors giving onto his balcony and when he did it was only for a few minutes at a time—half an hour at the most.

That’s how Tram came to know these things…"

Michael Howard

Michael Howard's writing has appeared in Mekong Review, New World Writing, Paste Magazine, Gordon Square Review, Creative Loafing, Hypertext Magazine, The Forge, and others. He lives in Vietnam.

Chalk directions/pavement art/fun

"Have a good day!"

"Step" ... "Jump"

"Hop on one leg"

...and into the sunset

Photos: 100+ yards? Along the pavement on the south side of Whitton Avenue West, 6 May 2024.

Short Story of the Month, May 2024

I think I remember a line from The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor, "Things can go wrong in an empty house." Also in a seemingly empty hotel and arguably an empty relationship, perhaps. Intrigued? Read our Story of the Month for May by Cath Barton to find out what happened. (Ed.)

The Willesden Herald Story of the Month

May 2024: At the Hotel Swinburne by Cath Barton

When we returned to our room after breakfast on the fourth day of our holiday, Arnold told me he didn’t like the mirrors in the hotel.

‘Really? We can cover that up if it bothers you,’ I said, pointing at the full-length one opposite the end of our bed. ‘I suppose some people get a kick out of looking at themselves performing.’

‘For goodness sake, Marie,’ he said.

Cath Barton

Cath Barton is an English writer who lives in Abergavenny. Her novella The Plankton Collector won the New Welsh Writing AmeriCymru Prize for the Novella in 2017, was published by New Welsh Review the following year, and is due to be republished by Parthian Press later in 2024. Subsequent publications are In the Sweep of the Bay (2020, Louise Walters Books), Between the Virgin and the Sea (2023, Novella Express, Leamington Books) and The Geography of the Heart (2023, Arroyo Seco Press). Her most recent publication is a pamphlet of short stories, Mr Bosch and His Owls (2024, Atomic Bohemian).