Nicholas Hogg’s short story Paradise was included in the first Willesden Herald New Short Stories anthology. He has gone on to great things. Visit NicholasHogg.com.
Category: Books
Johnny Boy – a novel by John Califano
JOHNNY CARUSO IS BORN into the urban turmoil of 1950s and ’60s working-class Brooklyn. Wedged between the limited worldview of his parents—alcoholic and abusive Bellisario and browbeaten, unstable Maria—and his liberal-minded older brother and sister, young Johnny struggles to navigate his childhood and adolescence.
Verve House Books
Thank you to John Califano for including Willesden Herald New Short Stories in the Acknowledgments for Johnny Boy. His story Independence Day was our Story of the Month, August 2018.
The Coward, a novel by Jarred McGinnis
July 2021: Spectacular debut novel by Jarred McGinnis, whose short story “Learning Stick” in New Short Stories 4 showed the brilliance that would eventually lead to Canongate publishing his novel The Coward.
You won’t find a more uplifting read in these dark times.
Irvine Welsh
Want to buy from proper bookshops?
Short Stories: Listings of Willesden Herald books from websites that support local bookshops
- Willesden Herald books from Bookshop.co.uk
- Willesden Herald books from Hive.co.uk
- Willesden Herald books from Waterstones
Poetry: Last Night’s Dream Corrected (2006)
- Last Night’s Dream Corrected from Bookshop.co.uk
- Last Night’s Dream Corrected from Hive.co.uk
- Last Night’s Dream Corrected from Waterstones
Poetry: Southernmost Point Guest House (2014)
- Southernmost Point Guest House from Bookshop.co.uk
- Southernmost Point Guest House from Hive.co.uk
- Southernmost Point Guest House from Waterstones
Books by Yours Truly
- The London Silence by Stephen Moran from Bookshop.co.uk
- The London Silence by Stephen Moran from Hive.co.uk
- Day of the Flying Leaves by Stephen Moran is seeking a distributor.
To browse all our back issues, click Anthologies. Maybe buy one or two? Go wild.
* All Covers by Stratos Fountoulis
Successes in 2019 for New Short Stories contributors
2019 Highlights
November 11: V.S. Pritchett Short Story Prize 2019 goes to Ursula Brunetti for “Beetleboy”.
October 2: BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University 2019: “The Invisible” by Jo Lloyd
September 27: Out Now: “The False River” short story collection by Nick Holdstock
September 20: Double chapbook launch. “Past contributors to WH New Short Stories, Brian Kirk and Jill Widner, enjoyed a double win at the Cork International Short Story Festival 2019.” (See also Feb. 15)
September 12: Danielle McLaughlin takes The Times/ Audible Short Story Award 2019
August 24: Book launch: “Like Water and Other Stories” by Olga Zilberbourg
July 3: Book launch: “Chalk Tracks” by Gina Challen, twice contributor to New Short Stories
March 13: Danielle McLaughlin receives Windham-Campbell award
Feb 15: Friends of Willesden Herald take both Southword fiction chapbook awards 2019
Latest
Willesden Herald New Short Stories 11 is available from Book Depository, Amazon (UK), Amazon.com and other booksellers. Link: More details including author pictures and profiles.
Still time to order a book for Christmas – just!
Okay, you know I’m promoting our own book but really, send someone any book of your choice. There’s still time and Amazon will gift wrap it for you if you click “contains a gift” in the checkout process. You can also customise the message. How about this for a message, “Dear … I’m sending you this copy of New Short Stories 11 for your Christmas present. It’s fabulous and so are you.”
Ahem! So, yes, you can order the book we’re trying to hypnotise you into ordering by clicking this link (Book Depository, a subdivision of Amazon, free delivery worldwide) or this link (Amazon .com) or this link (Amazon UK).
Here’s the start of one of the stories, hopefully to intrigue and fascinate you*. When you finish reading this you will awake, go and order the book and remember nothing about what you read here. 1. 2. 3. Awake!
“I could hear my father singing in the lower field. In between the lines of the poorly-sung Joe Dolan number he would call for me, each time more demanding, though he did not bother to draw near to where I actually was, which was at the back of the house, pegging his newly-washed clothes to the line. I knew I’d give in eventually to his calls, but I wanted him to hurt his voice as much as possible with the screeching.”
* From: “The Emperor of Russia” by Jaki McCarrick
Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 11
New Short Stories 11 – First Look – Unboxing (video)
Update 1 December: Now available from Book Depository, Amazon UK and Amazon.com.
Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 11
Contents
- “Miss Maughan” by JL Bogenschneider
- “Satellites” by Ursula Brunetti
- “Forgiveness” by Carol Dines
- “Dark in Here” by Derek Dirckx
- “Only Human” by Sarah Evans
- “Fireball Outfit” by Jeff Ewing
- “Meadowlands” by David Frankel
- “Voyager” by Ray French
- “To Have a Ghost Baby” by N. Jane Kalu
- “Caboose” by Marylee MacDonald
- “The Emperor of Russia” by Jaki McCarrick
- “Rabbit Season” by Gerard McKeown
- “Vole or Mole” by Jay Merill
- “The Watcher” by Diana Powell
- “The garden designer” by John Saul
“Contemporary fiction from Britain, Ireland, America and Nigeria, from huge cities to very small towns and on several journeys. We’re at work, at school, in homes, gardens, cities, in the countryside and on the road. There are crises, violence, tragedy, vengeance, reflection and reconciliation. Here are vividly evoked times and places, characters of every kind, and insights into their circumstances and relationships.”
The 15 best international short stories, as submitted to the Willesden Herald in the past year. Editor: Stephen Moran. With an introduction by Gina Challen.
Available from
- Bookshop (supporting local bookshops)
- Hive (supporting local bookshops)
- Waterstones (bookshops)
- Powells
- Book Depository
- Amazon.co.uk
- Amazon.com
isbn: 978-0-9995277-6-4
Contributors
Continue reading “Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 11”Valley Press: “Chalk Tracks” by Gina Challen
“A debut collection; brooding short stories of haunted lives and fragile hopes.”
“Lillian helps people to die. Ruth encounters an unsettling stranger on the towpath. Kathy obsesses over a painting. Robyn puts her trust in a fox. Mags is a forager; he takes the things he wants.
“Rooted in the landscape of the South Downs, where the chalk hills roll out to the sea, this incisive debut collection of short stories by Gina Challen explores the places where the familiar can become threatening.”
‘Mesmerised and amazed me in equal measure. How does the author cram such a richly textured narrative into such a small space? How does she manage to say so much with so few words?’ Katy Darby
Twice contributor to New Short Stories Gina Challen’s debut collection of short stories can be purchased direct from Valley Press. Also available on Amazon.co.uk etc.
Novel Called Patience Published 4,581 Days After It Was Begun
via Novel Called Patience Published 4,581 Days After It Was Begun
And yes, believe it or not, Toby Litt is a previous contributor to New Short Stories. We have an embarrassment of riches, in that sense, though still seeking adverts (zero so far) for our latest edition, the eleventh in the series.
You can read “Veronika and Roger-Roger” by Toby Litt in Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 4 (2010).
