Category: Books

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

It’s our own trumpet, we can blow it if we want.

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

Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 11

Contents

nss11_cover22.10.19
Front cover of New Short Stories 11 – first look
  • “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

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

Patience

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).

Out Now: “The False River” by Nick Holdstock

Nick Holdstock is a three-time contributor to the New Short Stories series and won the Willesden Herald international short story prize in 2014.

Cork International Festival: Short Fiction Chapbooks Launch Event

As we previously reported, past contributors to WH New Short Stories, Brian Kirk and Jill Widner, enjoyed a double win at the Cork International Short Story Festival 2019. The garlanded stories are set to be launched in chapbook form at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 26th at Cork City Library.

Danielle McLaughlin takes The Times/ Audible Short Story Award 2019

“The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award is the richest prize for a single short story in the English language, worth £30,000 to the winner.”

ShortStoryAward.co.uk
Danielle McLaughlin
Danielle McLaughlin

London, September 12: Congratulations to Danielle McLaughlin, whose short story collection Dinosaurs on Other Planets is the calling card of a world-class young writer.

We’re well chuffed here because Danielle won the Willesden Herald prize in 2013, as chosen that year by David Means, for “Holidaying with the Megarrys” (New Short Stories 7.)

Earlier this year, we reported on Danielle McLaughlin receiving a Windham-Campbell award for 2019. On a roll!

The BBC National Short Story Award 2019 – Finalists

The shortlist is:

  • ‘The Children’ by Lucy Caldwell
  • ‘Ghillie’s Mum’ by Lynda Clark
  • ‘Silver Fish in the Midnight Sea’ by Jacqueline Crooks
  • ‘My Beautiful Millennial’ by Tamsin Grey
  • ‘The Invisible’ by Jo Lloyd

The result will be announced on Radio 4 “Front Row” on October 1st.

Ref: Radio 4 British National Short Story Award