Winners Overall Winner – Missing by Jeanette SheppardSecond Place – Other Uses for a Woman’s Body by Rosaleen LynchThird Place – Everything Is About to Go Wrong but so Far Has Not by Patricia Bidar Highly Commended Pizza’s Last Stand by Lenore WeissReality Raw by Mary Thompson Mentorship from judge Sophie van Llewlyn, has been …
You’ve always wanted it, haven’t you? To move with vacancy. A smile like you’re just about to bite an apple. That girl-next-door quality. You’ve always wanted it. The day she moves in, you see her through the gap in your curtain and you exhale slowly; she has it. It’s there in all the ways …
The end comes on a hot day, trees and cars throwing long shadows, lawns browning, tarmac oozing. Dark then light: Finn moves the ball from shade to sun, barely aware of the crisping grass under his running feet. Barely aware of the house to the north, his mother inside, the street to the south, out …
She knew by the look on his face that he had returned from wherever he’d travelled to this time. Finally found his way home. He pulled the saline drip from his hand and smiled up at her, ‘Hi. How long have I been gone?’ She shrugged. Hated that these returns always made her behave like …
When my loom band hobby becomes obsession Mum renames me. Take it as a compliment, she says, it’s a cool tune. Don’t say cool, Mother, I say, resolving never to listen to said tune. But someday I will. Although only ten, I know this. Generation Zedders are pathologically inquisitive, you see. Ignorance makes us twitch. …
A man I once knew used to take me to Madame Jo Jo’s in Soho. His place wasn’t far away, just behind that telecom tower in Tottenham Court Road. After our Friday night frolics, he’d pinch my cheeks till they were rosy as a rag doll’s, then untie me from the bed. I’d jiggle my …
On dates, he likes to trot out the guessing game about his job to spice things up; it never fails to grease the wheels of conversation on the occasions that they’ve ground to a halt. He makes suggestive eye contact over his steak, whispers ‘it involves being naked’ to scandalised eyes and screamy giggles. When …
An email chimed into my inbox – an invitation to a charity garden party in aid of abandoned dogs. ‘Teas, cakes, mystery guest and raffle. RSVP,’ the email read. The invitation came from an old friend, Neil, who I’d known since before I was married. We met once or twice a year for an after-work …
Granny dropped dead in our kitchen when I was thirteen and Mother buried her in the back garden. In the sunny spot where they both liked to sit, Mother always with her back firmly turned to the dank corner where nothing ever grew. The house was sold a few years later as Mother said we …
Really, what were the chances? He was on his way to a meeting with a recruitment agency in the area; she was there to catch a Gatwick Express to the airport, whence she would be flying back to Brazil after a week visiting friends in London he never knew she had. The idea that the …
The Paths of the Great Lovers Cross at Victoria Station by Dan Brotzel Read More »