Short Story of the Month, December 2023

Having personally had a sad experience among the delirious people who speak in tongues that sound a lot like jazz scatting and are big into the laying on of hands, I can relate to this gripping tale of sex, mass hysteria, hallucination and snake oil. Oh, and love. (Ed.)

The Willesden Herald Story of the Month 

December 2023: Shimmer by Alan McCormick

… I’d just dropped out of university – thankfully no question of ever going back home after that – when shag-a-rent landlord Nick spoke to me in my bed and hooked me in: ‘You ought to come and hear him speak. He’ll make you feel good about who you are, and help you do things you never thought possible.’ …

Alan McCormick

Alan McCormick lives in Wicklow. He’s trustee of InterAct Stroke Support who read fiction and poetry to stroke patients. He was recently awarded an Irish Arts Council Literature Bursary to work on a collection of memoir essays. His writing has been published in The Stinging Fly, Southword, Banshee, Best British Short Stories, Confingo, Sonder, Popshot, Exacting Clam; and online at 3:AM Magazine, Fictive Dream, Dead Drunk Dublin, Words for the Wild and Époque Press. His story ‘Fire Starter’ came second in 2022’s RTÉ Short Story Competition, and ‘Boys on Film’ was runner-up in this year’s Plaza Sudden Fiction Prize. www.alanmccormickwriting.wordpress.com

Submissions for Short Story of the Month

Just a reminder that we're always in need of new Short Story of the Month stories. There's no set deadline and when each month's story is selected, others in the inbox are released. Some may be carried over as possibles for a future month but generally turnaround is pretty quick, especially when compared to other publishers online. 

There's no reading fee but we give a copy of one of our New Short Stories anthologies as sort of payment in kind. So although that's not cash, it's also not nothing - which is what many online publishers offer. At present we are out of copies of #12 but have a few #11 and some other back numbers. 

Steve with mock-up WH in Gigi's. Photo by Vanessa Gebbie

If your short story is selected, you will be in good company. It would be lovely to pay contributors real money but Willesden Herald publishing has what is generally termed "no visible means of support." What we do have is boxes with brand new unsold books.

Please send your best wild or semi-tamed or even nice polite stories your parents would be pleased for you to marry to Willesden Herald Submittable and make my day. (Ed.)

Sudbury Hill tube station

View across the tracks from the eastbound platform, Thursday

Autumn comes to South Vale

Tuesday afternoon: A few moments with hardly any traffic on a wet overcast street lined with trees, including magnificent old oaks with the leaves turned their autumn colour and a few other sorts still green. On the left side of the street, which has no footpath, are the trees and fence that form the southern boundary of Sir John Lyon School's playing fields known as Sudbury Fields. To the right on a little slope down from the road are some 1930s Metroland semi-detached houses. The verge in front of the houses is planted with newish Italian alders, some much older tall ash trees and further along some winter cherry. (South Vale, Harrow, HA1)

The Green Cabin - Sudbury Hill

The Green Cabin - café Greenford Road, HA1

Sign outside The Green Cabin

"NOTICE

FREE MEALS FACILITY FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE UNABLE TO AFFORD THEIR MEALS.

TIME - 3 PM - 6PM

ALL NATIONALITIES ARE WELCOME (STUDENTS/HOMELESS/OTHER)

THE MANAGEMENT GREEN CABIN"

The Green Cabin is on the same block as Sudbury Hill underground station, Greenford Road.

Doreen's Florist, 149 Greenford Road

Shopfront in the process of transformation from The Flower Nest to CakeCo*

Before the "CakeCo" there was "The Flower Nest" and before that there was "Doreen's" florist, 149 Greenford Road, as you can see from the old shop sign newly exposed today and soon to disappear again. It's hard not to think that those old shop signs were so much nicer than the new. 

* The photo has been artificially straightened.

Justice for Grenfell sign, Ladbroke Grove

Ladbroke Grove, Canal Way roundabout, North Kensington

The photo shows a London black taxi, a painted sign JUSTICE FOR GRENFELL painted in stylised white block capitals edged with red, along the height and length of a black hoarding that spans under two huge billboards, the most prominent one being an outsize one for Barbie the movie, Canal Way roundabout, Ladbroke Grove, North Kensington today.

Soon-to-be Bald Cypress

 

Whitton Avenue West

Bald Cypress getting ready to live up to its name, all foliage turned to rust, Wednesday, North Greenford

The Phone Book (final edition)

Cover of the last ever phone book

The Phone Book

We've been delivering it to you from 1880 to 2024.
Harrow, our last book has landed at your door.
Final edition. Hold on to it forever.

(From Royal Mail/BT this morning)

Back of the shops, Greenford Road, Sudbury, Harrow

Street drinkers' litter

 

Street drinkers' tidy

Back of Greenford Road, near Sudbury Hill station, Harrow, HA1. [Couldn't we have made them green bottles? I have a joke in mind. Never mind, there's eleven anyway. Ed.]