Category: Writing

Stuff I wrote.

Secret Attic (short)

January 16, 2021

My story The Present has been selected in the Secret Attic (short) short story competition! (They also have a (long) short story competition.) No prize, but it appears in their Booklet #8 (already available from Lulu). Another one for my sparse shelf of publications.

Calvino Prize

January 10, 2021

I was shortlisted for the Calvino Prize! Very gratifying (but dammit, when am I actually going to win something?). This is the competition for pieces that are in the ‘fabulist experimentalist style’ of Italo Calvino – but not merely imitative. I love Calvino, but this seems to me quite a tricky brief, and I was lucky to have some stuff that was not written for the competition but met the terms pretty well. I must admit that my fellow competitors and previous winners seem to have done a pretty good job, with pieces that are recognisably Calvinoesque without verging on pastiche.

Cranked

November 28, 2020

I’ve been longlisted in the Cranked Anvil competition! It’s an interesting list because many of the people on it are shown with two, three, or even four entries. I thought I submitted a lot of stuff, but I only put one in for this. I’m not clear about whether the people shown with four entries actually have all four on the longlist (!) or submitted four but may only be listed for one.
I see the competition offered a ‘four entries for the price of three’ deal – perhaps that had something to do with it?

Short Édition

November 20, 2020
Short edition vending machineMy story Castrapitheca has been bought by Short Édition to publish in their unique vending machines! (A big hat-tip to Susan O’Neal for tipping me off about this company.) These innovative machines are sited on stations, in libraries and elsewhere; at the touch of a button you can print off a story or poem of a selected length. Though new sites are arriving, there are currently only three of them in the UK (Canary Wharf is the closest to me), but there are lots in the USA and in the company’s original home, France. The stories are also accessible online and mine will also feature in their online quarterly review Short Circuit.

Literary Taxidermy

October 19, 2020

I got an honourable mention for my story ‘New Troy’ in the Literary Taxidermy competition! This is an unusual competition where you have to take the first and last sentences of a novel (Brave New World in this case) and fill in the gap with a new story.