Hello short story fans!
Here’s what’s been going on at ShortStops recently:

First, Happy National Short Story Day! It was this Saturday, Dec 21st, read more about it…  celebrations continue! And if you’re stuck for last-minute festive gifts, here is a way to solve that problem and help the homeless at the same time, with the Stories For Homes anthology in aid of Shelter.

Live 
Off the Shelf presents ‘Short Story And The Image’, London, Jan 13th, readings and discussion about the interplay between stories and pictures. If you do that kind of thing, check out the On The Same Page app and let its creators know what you think of the idea. And if you didn’t make it to The Story Sessions’ Solstice Tales, you can read – and watch – all about it.

Lit Mags
There’s plenty of new writing to read: the Yellow Room congratulates the winners of its Flash Fiction competition, The Manchester Review provides us with some tasters from Issue 11, which has just gone live, and we welcome the debut issue of Spontaneity. Check out the newest ShortStops member: speculative fiction magHoldfast.

As for places to send your stories, Holdfast is open for submissions for Issue #2, ‘Animals, Beasts and Creatures’, and if you are an Irish citizen or resident, the Davy Byrnes short story competition wants your stories, with a prize of 15,000 euro!

Don’t forget: you still have time to enter What the Dickens? Magazine’s Spooky Tales competition, closing date  Dec 31st; Number Eleven mag welcomes submissions for Issue 4; Breadless Crust is seeking stories for its inaugural issue, launching Spring 2014; Story Fridays in Bath is calling for blue-themed stories for its next live lit night, deadline Jan 6th, and Riptide Journal is calling for submissions for Volume 10, on the theme of ‘Imaging the Suburbs’ (deadline March 1 2014).

That’s it for us for 2013 – we’ve had a great first month or so here at ShortStops, there’s so much going on. We hope you’ve been enjoying what we’re doing and finding it useful – here’s to an even bigger short story party in 2014!
Tania x