Photo: Shiny bottle-green shopfront of new local Budgens supermarket
The brand new Budgens is where the old Barclays Bank branch was. It has a long frontage but inside is only two aisles deep. The shop is on the service road beside the main Greenford Road. Parking is on-street only and extremely limited, to say the least. On the same parade there are already Iceland and a Mleczko Polish local supermarkets. Nearest underground Sudbury Hill (two minutes walk), buses 92 and H17 stop outside.
We're back with a new series of original short stories online. Don't worry, the reprints are still there somewhere on the menu too. And what better way to start the year than with a tale of young people in a northern town, somewhere near the sea and the eternal question about staying or leaving. Ed.
“There was a far-off shimmer to the north, and Da told her it was the glow of Newcastle, luring the unwary with her swagger and shine. Annie knew he’d made it up, that you wouldn’t be able to see the city lights from so far away, but she went along with it unquestioningly, as though she believed every word.”
Amanda Huggins
Amanda Hugginsis the author of the novellas Crossing the Lines and All Our Squandered Beauty as well as several collections of short stories and poetry. Her work has also appeared in a wide range of journals and newspapers and on BBC Radio. She has won numerous awards, including three Saboteur Awards, the BGTW New Travel Writer of the Year, and the Colm Tóibín and H E Bates short story prizes. She was also a runner-up in the Costa Short Story Award and the Fish Short Story Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Bridport Prize and many others.
This feature is open for submissions again from 5 January 2023.
Story of the Month is an occasional feature for literary fiction. The word range for new submissions is from 1000 to 3000 words. There is no reading fee. Payment is a copy of one of our past anthologies. Please read the guidelines in full before submitting. We are seeking to publish new stories by writers not previously featured in Story of the Month or not featured for more than a year. Story of the Month is online only, not for print publication.
It's been a long time in the editing but here at last is the podcast/slideshow/video/audio thingummy from the competition results event and book launch for New Short Stories 12. (Ed.)
NOV 8, LONDON: Who will take the coveted one-off Willesden Herald inscribed “The Willesden Short Story Prize 2022”? All will be revealed on the night. Plus ten cash prizes to the writers of the stories in New Short Stories 12. From The Performance Space, upstairs in The Library at Willesden Green.
With special thanks to Katy Darby, Claire Lacey and Liars' League
