Category Archives: Short stories

The Guardian summarizes The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Posted on December 9, 2008 by Mark

Tales of Beedle the Bard - JK RowlingPublished today in The Guardian:

The Wizard and the Hopping Pot: There was once a kindly old wizard who used his magic generously and wisely for his neighbours. But then he died and he left his lucky cooking pot to his son. His son was a meanie who didn’t like Muggles and refused to help anyone. The pot got very angry about this and grew warts and hopped around the village chasing him, until he changed his mind. The End.

J.K. Rowling’s remaining three stories receive a similar treatment. You can view the full article here.

Posted in Children's books, Reviews, Science fiction/fantasy, Short stories, Young Adult | Tagged ,

Read the Hugo nominees online

Posted on March 30, 2008 by Keren

SF Signal has a page collecting links works from this year’s Hugo nomination list that are online for free. This is a great chance to read some of the year’s best speculative fiction – nearly all the nominated novellas, novelettes and short stories are online, and Harper Collins has even put up a substantial preview (71 pages) of Michael Chabon’s alternate history novel The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.

Out of the stories I’ve read so far, I particularly enjoyed Ted Chiang’s The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate (time travel, Arabian Nights style – also available as a free mp3 podcast episode from Starship Sofa) and Nancy Kress’ The Fountain of Age, a clever and affecting piece of science fiction.

Link

Posted in Awards, E-books, Reading, Science fiction/fantasy, Short stories, Websites |

Interactive short story project

Posted on March 25, 2008 by Keren

Joel Rickett writes:

Some of the UK’s best young novelists are working with computer games designers to create digital short stories, each inspired by a classic work of literature but featuring games, blogs and web tools.

The first of the six stories is Charles Cumming’s The 21 Steps, based on John Buchan’s classic thriller The 39 Steps.

It uses Google Maps and Google Earth to follow the trail of a bewildered young Londoner who witnesses a murder and is forced to smuggle a mysterious liquid on to a plane.

The stories – which can be read online at wetellstories.co.uk – will feature clues that point to a seventh story hidden on the internet, culminating in a competition to win a £13,000 Penguin Classics library.

Link to the Guardian article

Posted in E-books, Events, Short stories, Technology, Websites |

Flash fiction anthology to be published under CC license

Posted on March 14, 2008 by Keren

Paul Graham Raven of Futurismic writes:

Regular readers will be familiar with the Friday Flash Fictioneers from Futurismic’s free fiction round-ups. We’ve teamed up and collected over sixty of our best flash stories from the last nine months, and yours truly has edited them into ILLUMINATIONS, all profits from which will be donated to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children here in the UK.

ILLUMINATIONS is published under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial licence – the stories are already out there in the magical tubes of the internets, so we thought we’d like to set them free formally at the same time as making them available in one convenient and attractive package!

ILLUMINATIONS will be available in book form from Odd Two Out Publishing after 25th March 2008 (or from the authors themselves) for GB£6.99, or as a downloadable PDF for an as yet unannounced price.

Link to full announcement at Futurismic.com

Posted in Book Release, E-books, Reading, Short stories, Upcoming releases |

io9: 8 rules for short story writing

Posted on March 12, 2008 by Keren

SF blog io9 has a list of 8 rules for writing short stories (mostly from a science fiction perspective, but valuable for all short fiction writers).

World-building should be quick and merciless. In a novel, you can spend ten pages explaining how the 29th Galactic Congress established a Peacekeeping Force to regulate the use of interstitial jumpgates, and this Peacekeeping Force evolved over the course of a century to include A.I.s in its command structure, etc. etc. In a short story, you really need to hang your scenery as fast as possible. My friend and mentor d.g.k. goldberg always cited the Heinlein line: “The door dilated,” which tells you a lot about the surroundings in three words. Little oblique references to stuff your characters take for granted can go a long way.

Make us believe there’s a world beyond your characters’ surroundings. Even though you can’t spend tons of time on world-building, you have to include enough little touches to make us believe there’s stuff we’re not seeing. It’s like the difference between the fake house-fronts in a cowboy movie and actual houses. We should glimpse little bits of your universe, that don’t necessarily relate to your characters’ obsessions.

Link

Posted in Articles, Resources, Science fiction/fantasy, Short stories |

Deadlines for Nov. 30

Posted on November 24, 2007 by Keren

Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize
Prize: $1000 and publication
Eligibility: For writers in Mountain or Pacific time zones, Alaska or Hawaii
Website

A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize
Prize: $1500 and publication
Eligibility: US writers 18 years of age or older, who have not yet published a full-length collection of poetry in book form.
Website
Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation grants (short story competition)
Prize: $1000
Eligibility: Open; for pieces that present the gay and lesbian lifestyle in a positive manner and are based on a historic person or event.
Website

Cider Press Review book award (poetry)
Prize: $1000, publication and 25 author copies
Eligibility: Open.
Website

Fence Books: Motherwell Prize (poetry)
Prize: $5000 and publication
Eligibility: For a first or second book of poetry by a woman writing in English.
Website

Fish Short Story Prize
Prize: 2,500 Euros & publication.
Eligibility: Open to authors writing in English. Overall winner must attend the launch of the anthology.
Website

Glimmer Train Press Short Story Award for New Writers
Prize: $1200 and publication
Eligibility: Open only to writers whose fiction has not appeared in any publication with a circulation over 5,000.
Website

New Issues Poetry Prize
Prize: $2000 and publication
Eligibility: Poets writing in English who have not previously published, or self-published a full-length collection (48+ pages) of poems in an edition of 500 or more copies.
Website

White Pine Poetry Prize
Prize: $1000 and publication
Eligibility: US citizens
Website

Posted in Awards, Contests, Poetry, Short stories |

Lewis Shiner's short stories online for free

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Keren

Another author goes Creative Commons. SF author and blogger Cory Doctorow writes:

Lewis Shiner has begun to post all of his short fiction online for free, under a Creative Commons license. Lewis Shiner is one of the great science fiction writers of the last 30 years, author of the World Fantasy Award-winning novel Glimpses (a book I’ve re-read 10 times, which haunts me every time I hear a Beatles, Beach Boys, Doors, or Jimi Hendrix song). Unfortunately, all his novels are out of print (the exception being a new audiobook, which I just ordered). He also edited a seminal anti-war science fiction anthology, When The Music’s Over that I read until it came apart. Shiner was also an early cyberpunk, who had two stories in Bruce Sterling’s ground-breaking anthology Mirrorshades

Shiner posted his fiction along with a manifesto about the collapse of short fiction markets and the importance of short fiction as a way for writers to experiment and for readers to discover new writers. He calls the project the “Fiction Liberation Front.”

Link

Posted in Authors, E-books, Reading, Science fiction/fantasy, Short stories, Websites |

Deadlines: Week of 17/62 – 23/6

Posted on June 13, 2007 by Keren

New Millennium writing awards:

Four prizes of $1,000 each and publication in the 2007 issue of New Millennium Writings and on the journal’s Web site are given for a poem, a short story, a short short story, and a work of creative nonfiction that have not appeared in a publication with a circulation above 5,000. Prizes are given twice yearly, in the spring and the fall. Submit three poems of no more than five pages total or up to 6,000 words of prose (or 1,000 words for a short short story) with a $17 entry fee by June 17.

See contest page for guidelines. (Blurb from P&W contest calendar)

Hidden River arts awards:

An annual prize of $1,000 and publication in The Hidden River Anthology, published by Hidden River Arts, a nonprofit literary arts organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will be given in the following categories: (1) to the best unpublished short story or novel excerpt (2) the best unproduced full-length play.

Guidelines:
The William Van Wert Memorial Fiction Award
Eligible: Any previously unpublished short story or novel excerpt of 25 pages or less.
The Hidden River Arts Playwrighting Award
Eligible: Any previously unpublished and unproduced full-length play.

Submissions should be postmarked no later than June 20, 2007.

See contest page for guidelines.

Posted in Awards, Contests, Plays, Poetry, Short stories |

Deadline: Flannery O'Connor short story award; Thurs. May 31

Posted on May 28, 2007 by Keren

Each year the University of Georgia Press selects two winners of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction. Authors of winning manuscripts receive a cash award of $1,000, and their collections are subsequently published by The Press under a standard book contract. The Press may occasionally select more than two winners.

ELIGIBILITY

  1. The competition is open to writers in English, whether published or unpublished.
  2. Stories that have previously appeared in magazines or in anthologies may be included.
  3. Stories previously published in a book-length collection of the author’s own work may not be included.
  4. Collections that include long stories or novellas are acceptable. Estimated length of a novella is between 50 and 150 pages. Novels or single novellas will not be considered.

Manuscripts must be submitted between April 1 and May 31 (Postmark should be no later than May 31.)

Link to the award page for further information (via the Poets & Writers, inc. contest calendar)

Posted in Contests, Short stories |

Deadline: Elixir Press chapbook award; Thurs. May 31

Posted on May 28, 2007 by Keren

Elixir Press is sponsoring a chapbook contest open to all fiction writers and poets writing in English. There will be one competition for poetry, fiction, and multi-genre works.

The prize is $1000 plus 25 copies of the chapbook to be published by Elixir Press. All finalists will be considered for publication.

Fiction manuscripts should be 18 to 70 pages in length. Fiction manuscripts may be a collection of short or short-short stories, a long short story, a novel excerpt, or any other form or combination of fiction. Pretty much anything goes for a multi-genre manuscript. Any artwork included must be in black and white.

The entry fee is $20.

The postmark deadline is May 31, 2007.

For the complete guidelines, see the Elixir Press contest page (via the Poets & Writers, inc. contest calendar).

Posted in Contests, Poetry, Short stories, Uncategorized |