My notice board is sporting a crisp new certificate. I was thrilled to receive a Highly Commended award at the recent Cambridge Autumn Festival. My short story, Melt Down, started life as a three hundred word flash fiction, but demanded to be expanded. It's about autistic triplets who decide to take matters in to their own hands when their parents plan to separate them.
I plan to send this story out for publication in the near future.
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Thanks to North and South magazine for placing my story "Swan Song," as the winner in their short, short story competition. What a fabulous way to kick off my writing year. It was lovely seeing my story alongside thier illustration. Congratulations to Nod Gosh and Zoe Meager on their wonderful stories also being placed. Swan Song We were in Cairns for our third wedding anniversary when I heard about the attack on the white swans. “Who’d do such a thing?” I asked Ben. “Kids having a lark,” he replied, spitting toast crumbs across the tablecloth. Later, floating in the hotel pool, I glided across the water and pictured the swans with scarlet stains on their breasts. After lunch Ben stayed in the bar while I browsed the covered market’s gift shops, stopping to watch a glass-blower making miniature animals. I stretched my neck to see him twist a bulb of molten glass into the shape of a bird. On a whim, I bought myself one of his gilt-eyed swans. “Glass,” I confided to the craftsman, “is what you’re given for your third wedding anniversary.” Wondering if Ben would notice, I placed the swan on my bedside cabinet. The following day, sitting on the bus travelling to the rainforest, I checked my phone for an update on the swans’ progress. I saw the bandaged birds, and despite the black hoods over their heads to keep them calm, their condition had deteriorated. “Swans mate for life,” I said to Ben. “What’ll happen if one dies?” He replied with a chuckle, “Guess one lucky bugger gets a second chance.” That night I dreamt a long black hood was descending over me. I fought to be free. I must have thrashed about, for when I woke in the morning my glass swan lay shattered on the floor. |
BioI am an author and artist. I enjoy writing short stories, flash fiction and am currently working on a Biblical Historical Romance series. Categories |