Exeter Writers
May 28, 2023
My story ‘Dying Teddy Bears’ was longlisted in the Exeter Writers competition (but did not progress any further). It is already in a couple of other competitions, so we’ll see how it does there.
Category: Writing
Stuff I wrote.
Ann Pattison Memorial Prize
February 21, 2023
Sutton Writers has renamed its annual competition after Ann Pattison, a stalwart of the group who passed away recently. This year there had to be a link with St Mary’s church in Beddington, and they introduced separate categories for poetry and prose. I won the poetry (but not the overall trophy)! Maybe I should give poetry more of a try…
Sutton Anthologies
February 18, 2023
At Sutton Central Library where Sutton Writers launched not one, but two anthologies: House of Stories (fiction) and Without Boundaries (poems). Among many excellent readings, I did the beginning of my story ‘Stairway to Heaven’, which is in the former.
Fiction Factory
January 31, 2023
My story ’Seven Locations from Which I am Absent’ got second place in the Fiction Factory competition! https://fiction-factory.biz/results-short-story-competition-2022-2023/
Crazy Cats Christmas
December 19, 2022
The Crazy Cats Theatre gave my story ‘Twelve Days of Massachras’ a special mention in their competition for a ‘violent or chaotic’ Christmas story!
Read it here.
Eyelands
November 28, 2022
My collection of short stories ‘A Book of Goodbyes’ has reached the finals of the Eyelands Awards!
Update: I did not win. But they put my picture and bio up (if you scroll down far enough)
Dillydoun 2022
November 15, 2022
My story ‘A Voice Across the Coughing Brine’ has reached the Dillydoun Review long list!
The title is a quote from a Mervyn Peake poem…
A voice across the coughing brine
Has sewn your spirit into mine!
O love it is for me to die
Upon your bosom noisily,
Ah pity me, ah pity me,
What is it all about?
What is it all about?
Reading Castrapitheca
September 28, 2022
Here’s an experiment – me reading one of my stories on YouTube…
Cranked Anvil
August 19, 2022
I’m longlisted in the latest Cranked Anvil competition! (Update: I was eventually shortlisted but not placed)
I’ve also had a slightly puzzling email from the Moth, telling me my entry has not been successful. The only thing about that is, I entered twice, on different dates. Does that mean the other one is still in the running (and which was it?). Probably not, but it’s hard not to over-interpret. (Update: of course neither had progressed). There’s a certain competition that keeps sending me messages that look like rejections at first sight, but turn out to be about some other trivial thing. Ah well.
Poetry shock
May 23, 2022
My poem ’Under and After All’ was longlisted for the Fish poetry prize! This is gratifying and surprising, because I hardly ever write poems. In this case I had a short story that was clearly a bit too strange and avant garde – so I thought, I’ll pare it down, chop up the lines, and call it a poem. If I were to write a poem, it would normally rhyme and stuff. There’s now a terrible temptation to get my old, failed stories out and make them into weird blank verse.
It’s here if you’re interested.
Seen and Done 