March Round-Up III

Hello story lovers,
As March draws to a close a little dryer than it opened, here’s our roundup of what’s been happening on ShortStops over the past fortnight:

Lit Mags and Competitions
We welcome 1000Words to our lit mag list – flash fictions written to a picture prompt. Bare Fiction mag are giving away Issue 1 for free as they launch Issue 2, and there’s anew writer and new luggage from The Casket of Fiction Delights. Jotters United launches Issue 2, Myths of the Near Future are offering the brand-new Revolution Issue for free until Apr 3 and calling for submissions from under-25s for the Money issue.

Stinging Fly shares with us 10 Writers on Bad Advice They Chose to Ignore. Holdfast magazine announce a call for submissions for their first print anthology, deadline June 15th, and submissions open til May 31st for their online issue #3.

Read an extract from a story from Neon’s Winter issue and check out their call for proposal for chapbooks and pamphlets. The Moth International Short Story Prize is open until June 30th.

Live Lit & Short Story Events
We welcome London live lit night The Special Relationship to our list – and they are hosting a free event: a night of short fiction from Comma Press and the Croatian Writers’ Society in London on April 8th.

Workshops
Comma Press is holding a short story writing workshop in April in Manchester.

Last Minutes & Gentle Reminders
Today is the deadline for The Brighton Prize, a short story prize with a live lit twist, so get those entries in!

Anthologies
Submit a short story on the theme of Islands and Cities to a new Tasmanian-London anthology by April 30th.

Happy reading, writing, listening and performing!
Tania x

Get Issue 1 of Bare Fiction Magazine for FREE

ImageWith Issue 2 of Bare Fiction Magazine just a couple of weeks away, we are rather understandably excited. We think you should be too.

Issue 2 is packed yet again with excellent poetry, fiction and plays from an array of fantastic writers such as Hannah Silva (shortlisted for this year’s Ted Hughes award), David Pollard, Ira Lightman (a regular contributor to the BBC Radio 3 programme The Verb), Siddhartha Bose, Angela Readman (winner of the Costa Short Story Award 2013), Rachel Trezise, Tania Hershman, and Niki Orfanou.

As if all the great content in Issue 2 was not enough, in Issue 3 out in July we’ll have brand new work from J.S. Vilares, Jane Roberts (shortlisted for the Bridport), Martin Malone, and Rebecca Goss (shortlisted for the Forward Prize) to name but a few.

How do I get Issue 1 for FREE?

Click through to our special offer subscription post on the Bare Fiction Magazine website and follow the simple instructions to share this offer with your friends on Twitter or Facebook. Once you have done that, our limited offer subscription button will magically appear and let you place your order.

See below for full contents listings for Issues 1 & 2 of Bare Fiction Magazine.

Full contents list for Issue 1 of Bare Fiction Magazine

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FULL CONTENTS LIST FOR ISSUE 2 OF BARE FICTION MAGAZINE

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February Round-Up II

Hello story lovers,
As February continues wetter and windier, here are some glimmers of light as we strain towards spring…!

Lit Mags, Competitions and Workshops
We welcome a new lit mag to the list, Valve, an annual journal dedicated to “the very best new experimental literature”.  We have ShortStops’ first lit mag review – Rosalind Minette gives us her impression of The Grind Issue #1! (If you fancy reviewing a lit mag, drop me a line).

Talking of reviews, Bare Fiction is looking for contributors to its Features and Reviews section. It’s last Call for submissions to Tube-Flash – you have until Feb 28th! The Siren journal is calling for submissions for its first short story anthology.

brand new issue of Flash magazine, issue 6.2, has arrived, with new short short stories, reviews and a flash essay. And the February edition of Long Story, Short is ‘Hand Me Downs’ by Kelly Creighton – read an excerpt.

Brittle Star magazine is holding an Open Writing Competition, judged by the excellent David Constantine, deadline March 12th, and The Edge Hill Prize for published short story collections is now accepting entries, until the first week of March. Short Fiction’s 2014 short story prize is still open for entries, deadline March 31st, and you have until June 30th to submit to the Moth International Short Story Prize.

Live Lit & Short Story Events
For small short story fans, White Rabbit is presenting its new storytelling show for children, The Secret Garden, at the South Bank in London Feb 21- 32rd. White Rabbit is back on Feb 28th with Are You Sitting Comfortably? Science Fiction (for grown-ups!) in London.

On March 1st Myths of the Near Future will be holding a launch event for Issue 5: The Revolution Issue in Worcester.  The next Hubbub is on March 10th in London and features Zoe Pilger and Liane Strauss. Telltales wants your submissions by March 17th on the theme of ‘Unhinged’ to be read at their next event in Falmouth on March 25th.

You missed Open Pen’s launch event on Feb 13th – keep an eye out for the next one! But don’t miss In Praise Of Short Stories at the Daunt Books Festival on March 27th in London, where KJ Orr will be talking to AL Kennedy, David Constantine and Helen Simpson.

Last Minutes & Gentle Reminders
The National Flash Fiction Youth competition is open for entries til Feb 21st.  Smoke, the London Peculiar, is calling for submissions until end February for their London water-themed short story anthology, Smoke on the Water. Riptide Journal is open for submissions for Volume 10, on the theme of ‘Imaging the Suburbs’, deadline March 1. Also open til March 1st are submissions to Neon Magazine of tiny fictions for a new project, Battery Pack.

Writing, Publishing & Workshops
The creators of On The Same Page have launched a crowdfunding campaign to finish development of the app which will allow you to publish your own creative work as an app. And check out the Writers’ Centre Norwich’s upcoming short story workshops.

Roll on spring!