Established 2003. Now incorporating The Sudbury Hill Harrow and Wherever End Times

Sunday, February 23, 2014

Short list for the 2014 short story competition

There were 381 entries and reducing them to ten wasn't easy at all. Many brilliant stories had to be omitted. It was fascinating, as always, reading each and every submission. When you think of all the craftsmanship, thought and sheer imagination there is out there, it's quite heartening.

Short List 2014
  • Piercings by Jo Barker Scott
  • Such is her Power by Joan Brennan
  • The Beekeeper’s Daughters by Gina Challen
  • Ward by Nick Holdstock
  • Rock Pools by CG Menon
  • Rip Rap by Dan Powell
  • Postman’s Knock by Angela Sherlock
  • Rash by Megan Taylor
  • The Stealing by Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson
  • Cotton-Fisted Scorpions by Medina Tenour Whiteman

Congratulations to the writers of the short-listed stories and thanks to all who entered. The first and runners-up prizes will be announced by the judge, Charles Lambert, on April 16 at a special event in BAR Gallery in Willesden. New Short Stories 8, the anthology containing all the stories above, will be launched at the same time.

Steve Moran

About the Authors

Jo Barker Scott was born in London, but grew up mostly overseas, in Kenya, Pakistan and Iran. These days she lives in Winchester, writing fiction and loitering on social media. Her work has been variously ignored, long-listed, short-listed, prize-winning and published, and she is currently polishing a novel. Her dream is to become a good enough writer to do justice to her family’s story.

Joan Brennan lives in London and writes full-time. Her stories have been short-listed for the Bridport, Fish, V.S. Pritchett and Lightship. She was placed second in the final London Short Story Comp. She lived in America for 7 years which is the setting for her recently completed novel, ‘The Bean Farm’ - currently short-listed for the Exeter Novel prize. After gaining a degree in Art she went on to complete an MA in English Lit. and over the years has worked as an illustrator, education editor, F.E. tutor, and university librarian. Originally from Lancashire, Joan still hankers for the North

Gina Challen is originally from London but has lived in West Sussex for over 30 years. She left her job as an Insurance Broker in 2012 to complete a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Chichester. This she calls her mid-life crisis. Her short stories have been published in anthologies by Cinnamon Press and Rattle Tales, and her essays can be found on line at The Thresholds Short Story Forum. She is currently working on a collection of short stories linked by the life and landscape of the Sussex Downs.

Nick Holdstock is the author of The Tree That Bleeds, a non fiction book about life in China's Xinjiang province. His stories and articles have appeared in the London Review of Books, n+1, The Independent, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His first novel will be out from Thomas Dunne in Spring 2015.
www.nickholdstock.com

CG Menon is Australian, but currently splits her time between London and Cambridge. Her stories have appeared or are forthcoming in a number of venues including Litro Online and Stupefying Stories. She was short-listed for the first Words and Women competition and has a story forthcoming in the associated anthology.

Dan Powell grew up in the West Midlands and currently lives in Lincolnshire. His short stories have been published in Carve, Paraxis, Fleeting and The Best British Short Stories 2012. He is a prize winning author, receiving both the Yeovil Prize and an Esoteric Award for his short stories. His Scott Prize short-listed debut collection of short fiction, Looking Out Of Broken Windows, is published by Salt. When not writing, Dan teaches part time and takes care of his young family as a home-dad. He is currently working on his first novel and procrastinates at danpowellfiction.com and on Twitter as @danpowfiction.

Angela Sherlock has worked in engineering and in education but now lives in Devon where she writes full time. She has published reviews and articles but currently concentrates on fiction. Her first novel, The Apple Castle, (as yet unpublished) was long-listed for the Virginia Prize and short-listed for the Hookline Novel Writing Competition. She has published some short stories and is currently working on a novel that draws on the history of Plymouth. Postman’s Knock, her third story to be short-listed by Willesden Herald is from her collection, Exports, which explores the Irish Diaspora.

Megan Taylor is the author of three novels, ‘How We Were Lost’ (Flame Books, 2007), ‘The Dawning’ (Weathervane Press, 2010) and ‘The Lives of Ghosts’ (Weathervane Press, 2012), but for the last year and a half, she has been concentrating on her short stories. In 2013, she was highly commended in the Manchester Fiction Prize and had a story published in an anthology, ‘Weird Love’ (Pandril Press). She was also recently awarded runner-up in Tin House’s Shirley Jackson competition and in Synaesthesia Magazine’s short story competition. She lives in Nottingham with her two children.

Lindsay Waller-Wilkinson worked in fashion for 25 years, but more recently spends her days writing – mainly short stories and poetry – and has been published in various literary magazines, both online and print. She is working on her first full length poetry collection titled DressCode and a novel length collection of linked short stories. She is an associate editor for The Word Factory and blogs at www.poemstorydreamreality.com.

Medina Tenour Whiteman is a writer, singer, musician, translator, small-time farmer and mother of two children who writes at a frenetic rate in the rare opportunities she has to do it. Born in Andalusia in 1982 to American-English Sufi Muslim converts, she is currently based in the Granada province, where she is co-writing a travel guide to Muslim Spain and trying to find time to finish a novel.

First prize includes a writing retreat courtesy of LitCamp.

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Competition update 12 February 2014

It's been fascinating reading all the entries, as usual, and it was hard to reduce 381 to 10. Although I can't announce the short list as yet, I can confirm, because you have been waiting a long time I know, that if you haven't heard from me by now, then your story has not made it to the short list. Please check your email or Submittable account for new messages, just in case you were one of the ten. Thanks to everyone who entered and supported the competition. The short list will be announced in due course. Thanks.

Steve

Monday, February 10, 2014

We apologise for not being dead

We feel the need to apologise, like Leonard Cohen said, for not being dead. And here is a video that could make you laugh, which is, after all, something useful.



It's Noel Gallagher's scathing commentary over the videos made by Oasis.

Sunday, February 09, 2014

Competition update

Testing 12 and 12 are 24. Looks like I'm on my own here. So I'm using AudioBlagger because I can't type. I'm one of the old school. Not that one, the one before. Who can't type. You'll be wanting to know what's happening with the results and our fairweather friends have seen fit to leave me here with no backup. I'm trying to get hold of Fred to put up the black smoke/white smoke chimney but he's not answering his phone. So I'll just tell you that the ten short-listed stories have been selected and we will let you know which they are as soon as possible. There are a few formalities to complete. In the meantime if anyone really needs to know whether their story is among the ten, you can send in a message via Submittable and we can say yes or no. Don't all do it, for God's sake. There are nearly 400. So there you go. Feargal, I'm not best pleased. Good work you writers, as usual. Nifty lot of stories there, I see. Cheers.

Red

Friday, February 07, 2014

WTF?

I go on a cruise for four weeks of dysentery and norovirus and come back to find the place boarded up. Do I have to do everything myself? What's all this about moving to Sudbury - is this Poorboy Pirbhai's work? That bugger has been the bane of my life.

Red

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Winter Thoughts

They put me in school. They do it to us all
and they teach us the alphabet and how to read,
how to add up and take away and memorise
the dates of battles, the names of kings,

while round outside the classroom the sun
illuminates the unread leaves and stirs
the untaught robin to sing his rhapsody
for which there is no do-re-mi, no metronome.

And we learn like Pavlov's dogs; how to please,
to supply the formula, to recite the text
we copied from the board and in return we get
rosettes, prizes, kisses, presents, Easter eggs.

But when the teacher has retired and our mams
and dads have forgotten everything or died,
we're left to wander abroad with nothing
but ciphers, tokens, money from a vanished state.

And late, now very late, the sun breaks through
a bare giant tree to solitary benches
where, as this afternoon, I wonder who to ask
to teach me how to read the day, the light

on public footpath signposts and leafmeal,
to diagram the last of the afternoon sun
warming a railway bridge in a country lane,
to derive the angles in a fine terrace below.

And I think of Yeats, Spender, Goldsmith,
walking through a classroom and being moved
to mystic reverie, fierce compassion, wonder.
But beyond the class there was a secret school

that taught us how to hear the ocean in a seashell,
to observe a crab blowing bubbles, the local names
for honeybees, how to draw houses, smoke & flowers.
Take me back to the school of streets and fields.

--
Stephen Moran

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Shoes - a YouTube music playlist



With most tracks suggested by friends on Facebook

Merry Xmas

Jacintha Pucka & Bartell Darcy

Monday, December 16, 2013

Closing date this Friday - 20 December 2013

Thanks to everyone who has supported the competition, re-tweeted, sponsored and generally been what we can only call angels.

The last email-shot went out this morning and you can read it online here. The numbers are going up rapidly now. I'd rather have more but I know the quality is always high before the end. Always has been to date and expecting no less this time. That's the end of the spam.

Merry mid-winter everyone (where it is even possible). Already had some South African hot cider made by someone who knows what he's doing. It's like a mulled wine. Cheers to Mr Mandela, wherever he is now. Good luck to all. (Steve)

Update, January 2014: 381 entries were received. The judging is still in progress.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Save Kensal Rise Library at Christmas

Christmas Carols
At Kensal Rise Library

Wednesday 18th December - 6pm start

*Mulled wine
*Cakes
*You don't have to be a good singer - just in possession of Christmas cheer and goodwill towards all!
*Bring candles in jam jars (or borrow one of ours) and come along for a sing song.
No need to be able to sing well, just come and join in outside the lovely library.
Christmas hasn't really started until you've hung around on the library street corner singing with the community. Everyone welcome!

Cards for Christmas (and beyond)
The campaign has a new hand-painted card (no message inside so it can be used all year) based on an early photo of the library's original reading room. Inside is the report of the opening in 1900.

The cards come in packs of ten, costing £5 per pack.

They are available at Mr Patel's corner shop, Mohammad's shop and café, all College Rd, and
Daniels estate agents in Chamberlayne Road.

Visit the campaign website for the latest news and ways to get involved - http://www.savekensalriselibrary.org

Thursday, December 12, 2013

More about that writing retreat prize

Latest

More info has come our way about the mysterious Writing Retreats in the Welsh Borders which form part of this year's short story competition prize. LitCamp, who some of you may remember, is putting on a spate of retreats in the New Year. "If you plan to get real with writing a book in the new year, check it out. You can even drop Xmas hints about this to your nearest and dearest as EarlyBird tickets rates run until 24 December - you heard it here first. Or, Plan B, win the short story comp!"


Wednesday, December 04, 2013

Tips for writers: He draws to the left so lean to the right

When Bob Hope goes out to a gunfight in Paleface, the townsfolk cowering in doorways all give him different advice about how to play it.
"He draws to the left so lean to the right."
"There's a wind from the east - better aim to the west."
"He crouches when he shoots so stand on your toes."
It's hilarious to watch him try and implement the various contortions as he walks down the street to face his doom.
Sometimes we get stories that sound as if they have been written by committee. Over-edited, they're herky-jerky and riddled with non sequiturs. The story has been shredded and stuck back together with sticky tape.

Monday, December 02, 2013

A long way from Willesden


Trailer

Virginia Gilbert's debut feature film as writer/director, A Long Way from Home starring James Fox, Natalie Dormer and Brenda Fricker opens at cinemas throughout the UK this December.

Virginia is a previous winner of the Willesden Herald short story competition. We reported recently on the launch of her novel Travelling Companion.

Link

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Tips for writers: Hey Jude, don't make it bad

ENTRY AND EXIT

Hey Jude, don't make it bad,
Take a sad song and make it better...

The author was depressed. His brilliant short story called "Entry and Exit" had been summarily binned by the reader for the writing competition he had entered. Apparently they couldn't afford to pay for the right to use his epigraph from a song by The Beatles in their anthology of short-listed stories, and therefore there had been no point considering it. He paid the extra few pound to get the critique and they said it might have been okay if he hadn't interspersed every other paragraph with lines from Eleanor Rigby.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Tips for writers: "Oh and another thing," he stirred his tea

Wrong: "Oh and another thing," he stirred his tea. "Blah blah."
Better: "Oh and another thing." He stirred his tea. "Blah blah."

"He stirred his tea" is not a way of speaking.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Tips for writers: Had you not better had?

As somebody had already said that the word "had" had better not be overused as it had only proved necessary on infrequent occasions, I had thought of not bothering with this tip till I had started this text and had gone this far already. The pluperfect is less than perfect when it infests most of the first page of many texts submitted. I had already come to this conclusion but had never moaned about it till now. In short, it drives me mad. Or it had, had I not always had the ability to escape by closing the page.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Tips for writers: What's not there

Sometimes you have to tell us that something is missing. The ice cream van is not outside the park gates. That's fine. Where it can go wrong is when the writer has an irresistible itch to turn it into a litany. There are no squirming children, no exasperated parents ... Stop! They're not there, remember? What you're doing is an example of unwanted authorial intrusion; you are revealing your prejudices and your specialist knowledge. I don't want to know, not right now. You had me at "the ice cream van is not outside the park gates". Most likely your narrator would not think that way. He or she would notice the absence and possibly think of something much more obscure, which might be related but probably not a social commentary. No?
(I might have exaggerated this one, but sometimes there are egregious examples. Ed)

Tips for writers: Disperse

If you're entering more than one story in a literary competition: don't enter them all at the same time. You are putting each successive story at a disadvantage because it's quite easy to recognise the same style when reading two stories in a row. If the reader didn't like the first one, it may start him or her on the wrong foot with the next one. On the other hand if the first one found favour, another might not be as strong and might reflect back on the previous one. So leave a few days or preferably weeks between them, so the reader has no idea they're related.

Voila

2014 prize mug
The priceless trophy has arrived from our secret, latter day Fabergé cup maker. The true, the one and only one-off 2014 prize.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Less than a month left to enter

I sent out a mailshot. Okay, it's not as "cool" as some of the mailshots in the past. It really only says "don't miss the deadline" and lists the prizes. Here's a copy of the it. I'm looking forward to being transported by some great stories. I tried, somewhat impossibly, to describe what I look for in this: The Sense of a Short Story. You can read all about the previous years, judges, latest updates etc. here. If you want to see what the previous years' books look like, this is probably the best link. Thanks.

Steve

Saturday, November 16, 2013

The one-off mug awaits a great story

It's the same every year. You keep me waiting for the great stories. I used to have nerves of steel, or anyway of tinfoil. Lately, however, I have nerves of cobweb. Don't tell me there are no more untold stories out there? As long as there's life, there must be stories and vice-versa. There's only about a month left and we need more short stories. As well as the Willesden Herald mug inscribed "Willesden Short Story Prize 2014" there is a prize fund of £600 and a week long writing retreat in rural Wales for the winner. Plus, all ten short-listed stories will be published and receive two copies of the book (New Short Stories 8). Link

Monday, November 04, 2013