Short Story of the Month, July 2022

A guest story to cool the air this summer. Sean Brijbasi has kindly lent us this far out story as a reprint from his unknowed book of the same name. Sean is one of the unknowed people behind the Willesden short story competition. Please do not write in to tell us that unknowed is not a word! (Ed.)

The Willesden Herald Short Story of the Month

July 2022: The Unknowed Things by Sean Brijbasi

… To my surprise, I received a response, stating that a vice admiral couldn’t be blamed for the consequences of my ingratitude. Such a knowing people, I thought. It was true. Lily had given me everything even when I didn’t ask, appearing with unexpected gifts even when I deserved nothing. She told me the most beautiful stories that I, in turn, told to others as if they were my own …

Sean Brijbasi

Sean Brijbasi lives in America.

Sometimes he writes.

“You get the feeling that NO ONE CAN SEE THE WORLD I LIVE IN by Sean Brijbasi is the kind of book inspired by people who will most likely never read it.” –Rail Drinks Magazine (?)

Interview with The War Diaries by Sartre

"I get the real story, unlike some of those other sham interviewers." This is very interesting, especially the interjections by the translator and the bar lady. There is a suspicion that the translator is deliberately mistranslating the questions and answers, or that the book is not answering the same questions.

Café Hopeless

Book listings update

Our proprietor Red Woodward has never seen a penny from the Amazon listings over there. [Update, July 2008: Recently received £12.89 Amazon Associates commission. Unfortunately reinvested it all in a business in Cheltenham that failed to come in. Red] When last checked there was about 50 pence built up in the Amazon Associates account, too small an amount to transfer.

Anyway, now that that hilarity is out of the way, the listings have been updated with books by some of our previous years' short story competition finalists: "Bed" by Tao Lin (Melville House, 2007), "Seven Loves" by Valerie Trueblood (Sphere, 2007), "To the World of Men, Welcome" by Nuala Ní Chonchúir (Arlen House, 2005), "One Note Symphonies" by Sean Brijbasi (Pretend Genius Press, 2007), "Show Me the Sky" by Nicholas Hogg (Canongate, 2008) and "Words from a Glass Bubble" by Vanessa Gebbie (Salt, 2008). The last one was short-listed under a pen name, but that's by the by (or who by the who by, if you prefer).

"Is This What You Want?" (Bloomsbury, 2007) is the anthology of the Asham Award competition, which kindly posts an online link to ours. Their anthology also contains commissioned stories.

Just as composers who wrote songs have also given us chamber music, concertos and symphonies, writers of short stories are as likely as not to compose poetry, novellas and novels too. That is by way of introducing another of the books listed, "Last Night's Dream Corrected" an anthology of poetry. It includes poems by Willesden short story competition winner and finalist Mikey Delgado and Raewyn Alexander, respectively. I think it is the book of which I am proudest and fondest. It also has poetry by noted poets Joanne Kyger, Bill Berkson and others. (Amazon wrongly lists editor Feargal Mooney as author.)

The anthologies "Fish Drink Like Us" and "New Short Stories 1" contain some of the winning and short-listed stories from 2006 and 2007. The remaining books are by local authors, contacts and friends of the competition and not forgetting "The Children of Willesden Lane".

"Ice Bears and Kotick" is an amazing true adventure account of the first ever circumnavigation of the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in an open rowing boat. The author was featured recently on national radio (BBC Radio 4). You can meet and hear Peter Webb and see slides from his record-making journey, at The Space, Willesden Library Centre, from 8 pm on Thursday February 28th, courtesy of our friends in the Willesden Green Writers' Workshop and Brent Libraries. (This replaces the previously advertised event.)

Ossian

Another great new series: Learning to read

with Sean Brijbasi

lesson 1: reading fundamentalisms¹

as it pertains to reading, such as it is that it is important, it is important to use important terminology and cite important references deemed important by important people, in order to and not withstanding, understand and discuss those aspects of a work that are important to its understanding. although, as has been stated in one of this century's more aggrieved works on writing—the reader is expected to read on a basic level. that is what helps them buy products²—becoming or getting familiar with the important terminological countenance of a work's tangential references, allows the reader to read without cortexing nee oblongating the upper mammalary and if possible pappalary glands.

part 1 of lesson 1 highlights the importance of important terminology.

part 1: important terminology

1. ang

    pronunciation: 'a[ng]

    etymology: origin unknown

    date: 19th century

1 : a word, interchangeable with some other words, used to describe a piece of writing that can be described with no other word

2 : a tack that usually becomes or gets lodged in the cerebral cortex and causes much bleeding <the pain I feel is probably caused by that ang I rolled over the other day — Peter Poontwang>

2. plutarch

    pronunciation: %p[l]oot&archk

    etymology: danzini tribe, iron panties

    date: 3000 b.c.

1 : the tangent of vicissimilitude delimited by the intellectual context of something that has no reproductive qualities other than its own circumspection re: an unknown collective. <the pain I feel is probably caused by that plutarch I rolled over the other day — Peter Poontwang>

3. vicissimilitude

    pronunciation: whitbred

    etymology: old non-sumerian, from middle non-babylonian pistol, to read

    date: 21st century

1 : the act of looking at characters or letters or letters that look like characters and deciphering them in such a way as to make them a function of mutable linear nodes. <Charlotte, what does vicissimilitude mean? -- Henrietta Mcgillacuty (sic)>

2 : the symbol for manganese.

armed with these terms we shall probe the pipe-work of itty worbles³ that will time and again forthwith, ergo...secure them ang-like to the mutable non-/linear nodes.

note: the controversial influence of 3 dots on a reader's vicissimilitude is touched on in the caustic and currently unwritten chapter 4.

example:

I am lion. Watch me faint.

analysis:

in as much as and although these two sentences lack plutarch and vicissimilitude, the experienced reader sees ang in them. a reader who identifies this, enhances his/her function of the non-/linear nodes to a degree that itty worbles get or become impactful.

exercise 1:

analyze the following sentence vis-a-vis ang, plutarch, and vicissimilitude:

what is real is not as real as it was when it was real but it might accidentally be just as real as it was when it was real, although even then one can't be certain that that real was what was really real.

supplementary reading assignment:

masturbating in public by j. tyler blue©2001

coming soon: part 2 of lesson 1 - referencing for cocteau parties

____________________________

¹this is lesson 1

²chi chi, fronting the passive reversal voice (2002)

³in my controversial experiments on aphasiacs, this term, widely unuttered, means itty worbles

Exclusive: Word Cup - Live commentary (starting today)

with Sean Brijbasi

Ladies and gentlemen, if we could have some quiet please, the author is about to begin.

The

Joe: A solid start. The use of the definite article the, though widely used, has really been known to quiver in this man's hands.

Jack: Yes, we've seen it time and again. A solid opening. Wonder where he'll go from here?

Jim:

The dog

Joe: A formidable connection made here.

Jack: There's something of a firebrand in this man, isn't there? I mean who could have—I'm—pardon me ladies and gentlemen I didn't think I would be at a loss for words already.

Joe: Hah hah. He does that to people, though, doesn't he Jack?

Jack: I'm really speechless.

Jim:

The dog ran

Joe: A verb! A verb! He's really picking up the pace now.

Jack: I've seen him do this before. We might be in for a special treat here.

Jim:

The dog ran into

Joe: Touché. He's using everything in his arsenal now. The preposition is, no doubt, playing all sorts of tricks with the readers' minds. I know it is with mine. Definitely the deft touch of a savvy raconteur.

Jack: I dunno Joe. I might have to disagree with you there. It seems to me that he's gotten himself into a bit of a quagmire now. I mean, where does he go from here? But I don't want to speak too soon.

Joe: No. Not with this guy. How many times has his work been spoken too soon of and how many times has he pulled up his shirtsleeves and just gotten the job done? A tireless worker. Probably one of the least appreciated aspects of his personality. And a role model.

Jack: You might be right Joe. Still, I'll be interested to see where he goes with this now.

Jim:

The dog ran into the

Joe: Oh! Another definite article.

Jack: That was most unexpected. He's going somewhere new with this. Now I've seen it all. Hah hah hah.

Jim:

The dog ran into the yard

Joe: I'm speechless. Ladies and gentlemen, we are witnessing something historic here.

Jack: Oh, he really is pulling out all the stops now. Fantastic stuff. He may be writing on the fly here. I still think he put himself in a bit of a spot with that preposition, but he's recovered brilliantly.

Jim:

The dog ran into the yard like

Joe: Are we going into simile here, Jack?

Jack: It looks to me that he might be, Joe. So far it's been a dynamic performance. He could have ended with yard and called it a day.

Joe: Not this guy, Jack. How many times has he pushed the envelope? I mean the letters are just falling out. Still, he has to be careful here doesn't he? Just last week we saw someone try this and become completely discombobulated.

Jack: It certainly is tricky.

Jim: I'm still here.

The dog ran into the yard like a

Joe: Yes, it looks like he's going into a simile. One can only shake one's head at this. How many times has the average person tried this on the weekend? He makes it look like child's play.

Jack: And an indefinite article. There must be ice water in his veins. Look at the crowd. No one is sitting now.

Jim:

The dog ran into the yard like a cat.

Joe: Oh my!

Jack: The scene has turned into pandemonium here Joe. A brilliant touch. Brilliant. And to leave no doubt he ended it with the period. All in one motion. Unbelievable. Ladies and gentlemen, remember what you saw here today. We may never see the likes of it again in our lifetime.

Joe: Jack, I gotta tell you. I've been covering these things for decades and I have never seen anyone better. I believe that we are in the presence of greatness. Could he be the best ever?

Jim:

Short stories: update*

Pretend Genius Press is to publish "Secure" by Mikey Delgado, one of the joint winners of this year's Willesden Herald short story prize, in an anthology entitled "Fish Drink Like Us". Mikey's poetry is also featured in the companion volume entitled "Last Night's Dream Corrected".

Outstanding newcomers are included alongside established and award-winning poets such as Bill Berkson, Joanne Kyger, Michael Rothenberg and the one and only Ira Cohen, who also contributes a prose piece. Each poet has a separate section and the physical and visual pleasures of the book are intended to complement the poetry on the pages.

The fiction collection is characterised by highly developed characterisation, uncompromising directness, engagement, and diversity from the surreal and unconventional to the earthy and hilarious. It contains a wealth of showcase pieces by new and established writers, Timothy Gager, Kenji Siratori, Sean Brijbasi, Amy Muldoon, J. Tyler Blue, Andy Henion, Jeremy BeBeau and many more.

The anthologies have their own rather cool web pages. The covers were created by esteemed artist Stratos Fountoulis. Both books are edited by Feargal Mooney.

*Advertisement by Gombeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen™

Willesden short story prize 2006 - result

Two very different stories stood out from the ten shortlisted and after some consideration it proved impossible to separate them. So we have a tie. The winning stories, and joint winners of the Willesden Short Story Prize 2006 are "Dodie's Gift" by Vanessa Gebbie and "Secure" by Mikey Delgado. Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to Zadie Smith for adjudicating from the shortlist.

Here is the complete shortlist in alphabetical order:

"Abe and his Girlfriend" by Jacqui Rowe
"Dodie's Gift" by Vanessa Gebbie (joint winner)
"In Summer" by Michael McCudden
"Sasquatch" by Tao Lin
"Sé" by Nuala Ní Chonchúir
"Secure" by Mikey Delgado (joint winner)
"Ta'waaf: Circling the Holy Ka'aba" by Bilal Ghafoor
"The Finding" by Valerie Trueblood
"The History of Imagining About Blue Horses" by Sean Brijbasi
"Who Would've Guessed?" by Raewyn Alexander

Thanks to all who entered. Every story was read carefully, some several times, and many were strong contenders for one of the ten places on the shortlist. Further details about the competition, the authors and the results will be posted when we have settled a little go slow by our chapel of the Typesetters Union.

Have Pen, Will Travel


Update a year later: 2007 results