Short Stories Wanted for Refugees Welcome Anthology

Greg McQueen, the wonderful person behind the 100 Stories for Haiti fundraising anthology in 2010, has decided once again that he can't stand by and watch the refugee crisis unfold without acting. He's calling once more for stories for a new anthology to raise money for the Red Cross. Here, let him explain:



Please support Greg - either by sending stories or by getting hold of a copy of the anthology!

Stories For Homes, Edgeways... And More New Writing

Look what came in the post today! My copy of the utterly fantastic Stories for Homes anthology, every copy of which (paperback or ebook) raises vital funds for Shelter, the UK's housing and homelessness charity. I have a short story, For Work, Yes in this wonderful book, alongside a fabulous roster of writers, and it is rare that we all get the chance to help in such a direct and concrete way through our writing. Please do buy a copy, in whatever format you like, I can't wait to get reading. The project is the brainchild of Sally Swingewood and Debi Alper and has already raised over £1000 - Debi explains a little about the background over at Shortstops.

I have had a couple of other new stories published recently, the first of which is Flavours in an e-anthology, Edgeways, published by Flight Press, the brand new short story publishing arm of the wonderful London writer's development agency Spread The Word. The anthology contains the winning stories from STW's short story prize, for which I was one of the judges, along with Bidisha and Courttia Newland. Bidisha and I were then commissioned to write new stories on the competition's theme, Ritual, for inclusion. I haven't got my copy yet but can't wait - I already know how brilliant the winning stories are...!  

It's been so long since I last blogged about any writing of mine, you might have thought there wasn't much happening, and you'd be mostly right, what with setting up ShortStops (which has taken off with a bang, it's been wonderful! Read more about that in my previous blog post), starting a PhD in Creative Writing inspired by particle physics (more on that in due course) and co-writing the Writers & Artists book on short story writing with Courttia N which will be published by Bloomsbury in Dec 2014. Busy busy busy.

But a few new very stories have sneaked in... Biography in the stunning Science & Numbers issue of Synaesthesia magazine (p72), Tunnelling in Timber Journal, and a poem, Meat Market, Smithfield, in Amaryllis. I've just this minute received the proofs of my short short story, Against Joy, which will be published in the excellent Stinging Fly next year, and was overjoyed to hear that one of my flash stories, Heavy Bones, will be included in the forthcoming Flash Fiction International anthology. This is just one in a series of anthologies edited by Robert Shapard and James Thomas over the past 20 years from which I first learned about Sudden Fiction and Flash Fiction 15 years ago -  and which are probably entirely responsible for me being in this mess in the first place ;) These are books I learn from over and over again and use in workshops - they are where I discovered Grace Paley and so many more amazing writers. This is a big big honour.   

Well, that's enough of a round-up for the time being. Seasons greetings and happy reading & writing to you all!

Tania x

Catching up

I haven't blogged for a while because - entirely due to my own stupidity - my repetitive strain injury has flared up again, and my right arm is very sore. So will keep this brief. Nice news: my new flash story, That Small Small Inch, is a finalist in the PANK 1001 Awesome Words contest and will be published in March. My story, Vegetable, Mineral, was a finalist last year, I feel like I'm approaching awesomeness, slowly, slowly!

Also, if you're in Bristol, come to the launch of the ShedFest Anthology tomorrow night, Wed nov 3rd, 8pm, at the Thunderbolt - this is the follow-up to the excellent ShedFest in September, the first ever literary festival in a shed! Organiser Mike Manson has compiled everything we read that night into an anthology, and £3 from every copy sold goes to the Pakistan Flood Appeal. Buy it here.

On that note, Greg McQueen's done it again: the man behind 100 Stories for Haiti has now produced 50 Stories for Pakistan, all of whose proceeds also go to the Pakistan Flood Appeal. The book features stories by Robert J. McCarter, Joanne Fox, Erik Svehaug, Susan Lanigan, Anne Mullane, Lisa Ricard Claro, R.J. Newlyn, Nuala Ní Chonchúir, Martin Webster, Jonathan Pinnock, Trevor Belshaw, Julia Bohanna, Iain Pattison, Laura Eno, Dave Clark, Pam Howes, Alun Williams, Annie Evett, Jennifer Stakes, Rebecca Emin, Marjorie Tolchard, Marit Meredith, Paul Malone, Ewan Lawrie, Jarred McGinnis, Alex Tomlin, Gail Richards, Benjamin Solah, Ruchira Mandal, Alyson Hilbourne, Ramon Collins, Darren Lee, Riaz Ali, Nasim Marie Jafry, Heather Parker, Shazia Bibi, Andrew Parrott, Brigid O’Connor, Rob Innis, Tony Williams, Annemarie Neary, Emma Newman, Robert Long, Beryl Brown, Vanessa Couchman, Joanna Campbell, Sylvia Petter, Rosemary Hayes, Paul Anderson, and Alice Turner. Get yourself a copy now.

I'm off to 2 book launches this week of two great friends: Susannah Rickards' Hot Kitchen Snow and Vanessa Gebbie's 2nd collection, Storm Warning. And greatly enjoyed two launches in the past few weeks, of Sue Guiney's Clash of Innocents and Elizabeth Baines' The Birth Machine. Nothing better than celebrating the birth of friends' books!

Cold cold cold

Ok, so England has a lot going for it - every week I am delighted to find an invitation in my Inbox asking me to read here or there, talk about short stories, eat cake. What more can a girl want? But it's COLD and I have my second cold in a month, just after having recovered from 3 weeks of flu. Feeling rotten.

The nice things are: two stories in this month's Climate issue of Litro. I've long wanted to crack this one, the literary mag that's distributed on the London underground, and in Cafe Rouge too, apparently! Let me know if you see it around. Feel free to leave a comment on the online version, if you are so moved.

Also: I'm reading at Short Fuse's Hair-themed event tonight  in Brighton, which I am so excited about. Luckily I'm reading Plaits, which is very short! For a sneak preview (or post-view), here's my reading it at the Frank O'Connor fest in sept 2008:



Instead of me moaning about my cold, which could go on and on, let me get excited about friends' achievements instead. Whoo hoo to Adam Marek, getting onto the shortlist for the £25,000 (yes, that's 000) Sunday Times EFG short story award! Kudos to the Sunday Times for several things:

1. They published a longlist of 20 stories, thus giving 14 writers a chance in the spotlight, not just the 6 who were shortlisted.
2. The longlist was a mix of Booker-Nominated Names and Real People - and the shortlist had no BNN, and almost all Real People so clearly this is a prize that, while not judged anonymously, was not just about using BNNs to publicise the prize.

Congrats to all the shortlist: Will Cohu, Joe Dunthorne, Petina Gappah, CK Stead and David Vann!

A Few Deadlines:

March 20th FISH One Page prize: 300 words.

March 30th Short FICTION's New Writer competition: open to writers who haven't published a collection of fiction. Any length short story is accepted.

***March 31st Bristol Short Story prize: 3000 words max, no min. I am one of the judges for this comp.

March 31st Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition: 600 words, general, or children's story or story about science, tech & society


March 31st Yellow room Short Story Competition: 2500 words, prize for best story under 800 words.

Happy World Book Day! - buy this book! 100 Stories for Haiti

100 Stories for Haiti AVAILABLE NOW!

I am delighted to be included in 100 Stories for Haiti  - a unique collection of stories bound together by paper and glue and massive amounts of hope. This is no ordinary book. One morning a writer woke up and decided, "I must do something." Hundreds of talented authors worldwide sent him their stories and the result is an anthology that anyone can enjoy.

Proceeds go to helping the victims of the Haiti earthquake. 

So open this book and pick a page. There's nowhere to start and nowhere to finish. If you find one story, one page, one line entertaining: buy it. 

Bridge House Publishing:
Paperback: £11.99 + P&P

Preview

Order

Smashwords.com:
eBook: Reader sets the price!

	Preview	Order

100 Stories for Haiti is available in all good bookshops! 

  Amazon Waterstone's WHSmith Foyles Blackwell

http://www.100storiesforhaiti.org/The BUZZ about this book!

"Of course, while giving is, according to a recent scientific study, more pleasurable and healthy than receiving, it can become a bit burdensome after a while -- especially if you can't see the real time effects of your gifts. That's where this book comes in. The writers and publishers will do the actual giving, and you just have to buy a really great book which you would, of course, have rushed to buy anyway because of the sheer weight of unrefined awesome contained within its covers."

-- Nick Harkaway, best-selling author, The Gone Away World.

"HOOORAY!!! I can’t wait to buy this. WELL DONE GREG and everyone involved. Thank you Bridge House Publishing. Great news and definitely for a worthy, worthy cause."
-- Old Kitty, ten-lives-second-chances.blogspot.com

" ... it's a crazy-global roster, from Harkaway to The White Road and Other Stories author Tania Hershman to Botswana writer Lauri Kubuitsile. And unless it’s a totally different Alasdair Stuart, then the host of Pseudopod is on there, too. With so many voices and styles, it should be an interesting read."
-- John Booth / johnbooth.wordpress.com

"... a brilliant idea!"
-- Billy O'Callaghan / writing-for-my-life.blogspot.com

"Really fantastic project! Congratulations to all. Hope it’s a massive success!!"
-- John Peterborough

"Fantastic idea come to fruition. I wish I had known about it earlier – would have loved to contribute"
-- Christine Nedahl

"Sure you can’t make it 101 Stories for Haiti? And include my story? Just want to help, you know :) Good luck with the book."
-- Mala Kumar

"Secondly what a lovely idea this '100 stories for Haiti' is... a great way to raise money and spread a bit of hope."
-- Helen Seymour

"Congratulations on such a massive response. It’s a great thing you’re doing and can’t wait to purchase the end result."
-- Sarah / albiontoarcadia.com

"Congratulations to all involved. A massive undertaking, and a shining example of what people can achieve if they work together."
-- Bob Scotney / writelink.co.uk/community/Bob_Scotney

"That's incredible, to get it all together so quickly! Will definitely buy it."
-- Niamh Griffin

Charity short story anthologies - buy these books!

Just a quickie to direct you all over to The Short Review blog where I've compiled a list of short story anthologies that raise money for charities worldwide. When I started the list I thought it would be quite short... but no! What is it with me and lists? Go buy some books... And read the Feb issue of The Short Review too, of course.