Tag Archives: Story Fridays

December Round-Up II

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Hello short story lovers,
In our final pre-holiday dispatch, here’s what’s been going on on our blog over the past 2 weeks.

Lit Mags
Another new publication’s just joined our list – welcome to Taylz: “a free website for short story writers to test and develop their work”.

There’s loads to read and many places to send your stories: The Manchester Review has just published Issue 13 and is calling for your submissions. Short Story Sunday gives us a round-up and a festive special.

Firewords Three is here, Jotters United has a new issue out and is calling for submissions, and the second issue of Confingo is now on sale. The Emma Press is calling for prose pamphlet submissions.  Issue 4 of Holdfast Magazine is live and they are calling for submissions, as is Bunbury magazine, while giving us a peek at what’s been going on over there. Short Fiction journal also wants your short stories.

Anthologies

Queen’s Ferry Press is calling for submissions – from lit mag editors – for the first Best Small Fictions anthology.  Freight Books wants short story submissons for an anthology inspired by Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. To celebrate National Short Story Week, 32 young writers have been published in an anthology, on sale now.

Competitions & Festivals
The Solstice Shorts Festival is approaching. Felixtstowe Book Festival has launched its 2015 short story competition, deadline May 16th.

Live Lit
White Rabbit has a new family story-telling show at Knole in December. Story Fridays is calling for submissions on the theme of The 1980s for its January event in Bath.

If you are eager for even more short-story-related news, do follow ShortStops on Twitter where, when we should be writing, we spend (far too) much time passing on news from lit mags, live lit events, short story workshops and festivals! If you’d like to review an event or a publication, drop me a line.

Happy reading, writing, listening and performing!
Tania x

Story Fridays Call for Submissions NOIR

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Story Fridays are looking for submissions of short stories for our NOIR night on 7th November. Think Maltese Falcon, Dial M for Murder, The Big Sleep. Think Chandler, Spillane, Hammett. Think, well, Humphrey Bogart. We’re looking for suspense and thrillers, for crimes and passion in our stories this month. So roll up your sleeves, pour yourself a whisky and load up your gun…or your laptop, if you must…

We are teaming up with B&NES Library Services and the Bath Chronicle for this one, and we can offer PRIZES!! Two newcomers to Story Fridays will receive £20 book tokens. The other writers, who might have had their work read at Story Fridays before, will receive £10 book tokens. All stories will be read by Clare Reddaway for A Word In Your Ear, June Wentland for B&NES, Kilter Theatre and a representative of the Bath Chronicle, none of whom will be eligible to submit stories this time.

FREE WORKSHOP!! B&NES Libraries are offering a free workshop to writers who want to get in the mood for Noir. Acclaimed screenwriter Jeff Dowson  and June Wentland will be running the workshop on Saturday October 11th from 1-3pm at Bath Central Library. June says: ‘the workshop will get writers in a ‘noir’ frame of mind. It will inspire them, get them writing an opening paragraph, and develop ideas of setting, mood and characters.’ Places are limited – to sign up please email June at June_Wentland@BATHNES.GOV.UK.

We are screening a classic film noir after the stories in November: The Third Man. Orson Welles in war-devastated Vienna, screenplay by Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed. A wonderful film, with a zither score to die for, the best chase in a sewer ever and a speech on a ferris wheel by Welles about the Borgias and cuckoo clocks which I wish I could memorize and quote. Well worth watching.

SUBMISSION DETAILS:
We are looking for short stories or monologues, fact or fiction (but mainly fiction), maximum 2,000 words. 2,000 is a maximum though – we’ve had some lovely flash fiction in the past. No poetry please.

The event will be held on Friday 7th November at Burdall’s Yard in Bath. Deadline for submissions is Wednesday 22nd October. PLEASE check that you are available to come along on the 7th November before you submit. We like the writers to be in the audience for these events.

Two wonderful professional actors, Olly Langdon and Caroline Garland of Kilter Theatre, are very happy to read your story if performance gives you the jitters. Let me know in your email when you submit if you’d like someone else to read your piece.

Submit your stories via the website here:

http://www.awordinyourear.org.uk/contact/

Story Fridays Call for Submissions

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Story Fridays next event will be on 4th July so we’ve plumped on the theme of – wait for it! – INDEPENDENCE!  We’re looking for stories and monologues, 2100 words maximum, on the theme of Independence.  We’re really looking forward to a tasty selection of tales this month!  You can choose to read your piece to the audience, or opt for one of our actors to read it for you – but please check that you are able to come to the event before submitting.  Deadline for submissions is 23rd June, so get your quills out now.

For more info on the event click here  or go to the website to submit a story here.

And if you happen to be in the Bath area on the 4th July, come along and help us celebrate Independence Day!

 

May Fortnightly Round-Up I

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May is National Short Story Month in the US, but it’s always short story month round here… Check out our round-up of what’s been happening on ShortStops’ blog over the past fortnight:

Lit Mags and Competitions
The flurry of new lit mags continues: welcome to The Short Anthology: “each issue uses the work of one photographer as the stimulus for a collection of short stories”, and Storyboard magazine: “every month we have a new theme to base your writing around”. The Short Anthology got straight to it on the blog and introduced its first issue.

The Grind are now open for submissions for Issue 3, and HeadStuff also wants you.  The Cro Magnon wants your writing too, for their website and perhaps for their travelling show. Check out Confingo’s first issue, now on sale, and Structo’s brand new website.

Kingston University have launched two new exciting short story competitions – one judged by Hilary Mantel and one, for stories to be read aloud, judged by Bonnie Greer. Writing Maps has launched a new monthly contest and lit mag and Writeidea announced a new national short story contest, The Writeidea Prize, deadline 31 July. More contests: the 3rd annual A Spot of Hysteria Writing Competition run by the UK Hysterectomy Association is now open for entries (deadline Aug 31), and the Historic House Short Story Comp (26 Sep) wants stories inspired by or set in a historic house. 

Holdfast magazine is still open for submissions for their first print anthology, deadline June 15th, with submissions open til May 31st for their online issue #3. The Moth International Short Story Prize closes June 30th.

Live Lit & Short Story Events
White Rabbit unveiled its new Wonderlands White Rabbit Walks: From Pleasure Gardens to Power Station. Fictions of Every Kind has produced its first podcast with stories and music. 

Last Minutes & Gentle Reminders
Today is the deadline to send Story Fridays your stories on the theme ‘In Focus’ for their May event. The Manchester Review is open to submissions for Issue 12 until mid May, and Myths of the Near Future is calling for submissions from under-25s for the Money issue by May 30th. You have until May 31 to submit to Jotters United’s new short story comp on the theme of ‘Spirit’. 

If you are eager for even more short-story-related news, do follow ShortStops on Twitter where, when we should be writing, we spend (far too) much time passing on news from lit mags, live lit events, short story workshops and festivals! Happy reading, writing, listening and performing!
Tania x

April Round-Up II

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Dear short story fans,
Another month almost over! Here’s our roundup of what’s been happening on ShortStops’ blog over the past fortnight:

Lit Mags and Competitions
We welcome two new lit mags to our list: Don’t Do It, “taking in fiction, poetry, critical writing and reviews from around the globe”, and HeadStuff “a collaborative website interested in a wide range of topics”. HeadStuff introduced themselves on the blog and would love you to submit something.

Talking of new and exciting: Writing Maps has launched a new monthly contest and lit mag and Writeidea announced a new national short story contest, The Writeidea Prize, deadline 31 July. More contests: the 3rd annual A Spot of Hysteria Writing Competition run by the UK Hysterectomy Association is now open for entries (deadline Aug 31), and the Historic House Short Story Comp (26 Sep) wants stories inspired by or set in a historic house. Jotters United announced Issue 2 and a new short story comp (deadline 31 May) on the theme of ‘Spirit’. (You can find all competition announcements by clicking the Competitions link in our top menu.)

Long Story, Short is calling for submissions of longer stories and the editor tells us what she’s looking for. The Cro Magnon wants your writing too, for their website and perhaps for their travelling show, and the Manchester Review is open to submissions for Issue 12 until mid May. Check out Confingo’s first issue, now on sale, and Structo’s brand new website.

Holdfast magazine is still open for submissions for their first print anthology, deadline June 15th, with submissions open til May 31st for their online issue #3. Myths of the Near Future is calling for submissions from under-25s for the Money issue, and The Moth International Short Story Prize closes June 30th.

Live Lit & Short Story Events
Fictions of Every Kind has produced its first podcast with stories and music. Story Fridays wants your stories on the theme ‘In Focus’ by 12 May for their May event. You missed Flashtag Manchester’s Short Short Story Slam and the Word Factory’s April event, make sure to keep an eye out for the next ones.


Workshops
Arvon’s Totleigh Barton centre assistant Eliza Squire talks about Arvon and short stories – there’s still space on upcoming residential short story courses. 

Last Minutes & Gentle Reminders
Wednesday is the deadline for to submit your entry to the Bristol Short Story Prize and to send a short story on the theme of Islands and Cities to a new Tasmanian-London anthology.

Happy reading, writing, listening and performing!

Story Fridays Call for submissions

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Story Fridays are looking for short stories for our May event, In Focus.  We’re doing something different this time, and asking writers to have a look at a selection of photos on our website to find story inspiration…  Here are a few tasters:

There are more images on the website here:

http://www.awordinyourear.org.uk/story-fridays/pictures-may/

May Story Fridays is on Friday 23rd May, deadline for submissions is 12th May.  All the submission details are on the website, but in brief, we’re looking for stories 2,100 words or under that work well when performed out loud to an audience.  We’re hoping for a really wide range of stories from these images, and we’re looking forward to some exciting submissions.  If you don’t want to submit, do come along to the event – stories start at 8pm on Friday 23rd May at Burdall’s Yard in Bath.  See you there!

Please submit your stories via the website here:

http://www.awordinyourear.org.uk/story-fridays/pictures-may/

Read more about Story Fridays on Short Stops here.

 

Story Friday: Blue

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Story Fridays 2

STORY FRIDAY: BLUE

FRIDAY 17TH JANUARY, 8PM

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VENUE:  BURDALL’S YARD, 7A ANGLO TERRACE, BATH BA1 5NH

http://www.burdallsyard.org/

Beat those January Blues with stories to entertain and to delight!

BLUE is for Aegean seas under azure skies and shivery swims in the waves off Cornwall, for the mellow notes of a sax player in New Orleans, for the indigo dye of a faded pair of Levis, for the chips of ice in the eyes of a lover. How will our writers be inspired?  Come along and find out!

Admission £4.00 on the door.  Bar open from 7.30, stories start at 8pm.

Live music from THE MURRAY WATERS DUO

For further information go to www.awordinyourear.org.uk

Story Fridays Call for Submissions

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Story Fridays 2

After a brilliant evening of Brief Encounter stories last month, we are now looking for submissions for our January event, theme BLUE.

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As always, we are looking for short stories or monologues, fact or fiction (but mainly fiction) that would be 15 minutes or under when read, so maximum 2,100 words.  The event will be on FRIDAY 17th JANUARY at Burdall’s Yard in Bath.  Deadline for submissions is MONDAY 6th JANUARY.  Please do check that you are available to come along on the 17th before you submit – we like to welcome all the writers to our events, the audience likes to meet you!  Two wonderful professional actors Olly and Caroline from Kilter Theatre are more than willing to read your piece if performance gives you the jitters.  Let us know in your submission whether you would like to read, or have your piece read.  This is an unpaid opportunity.

Please submit your stories via the A Word In Your Ear website:

http://www.awordinyourear.org.uk/contact/

There is loads more info about Story Fridays on the website, and you can listen to some of the fantastic stories that have been performed at our events.

Story Friday: Brief Encounter: 22nd November

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FRIDAY 22nd NOVEMBER, Doors open 7pm, stories start at 7.30

Venue: Burdall’s Yard, 7A Anglo Terrace, Bath BA1 5NH

http://www.burdallsyard.org/

Six freshly minted stories on the theme Brief Encounter AND a movie!  All for £4.00.  Tickets on the door.

Come and listen to some stories to surprise and delight, read by writer-performers in a warm friendly cabaret atmosphere.  This Story Friday is a bit different from our usual events, just to keep you on your toes!  The vaults of our lovely venue Burdall’s Yard reminded us of railway arches, and from there it was but a hop, skip and a jump to the thwarted lovers in the 1946 black and white classic Brief Encounter.  We asked our writers to come up with stories inspired by the movie – and they’ve done just that!  Expect love, loss and passion as our writers explore their own brief encounters…  And then!  As if that’s not enough!  There’ll be a screening of the film, and we can all watch Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson being perfectly, perfectly in love in what those cynics at Time Out voted ‘The Most Romantic Film of All Time’.

Writer-performers are Elaine Miles, Stephanie Weston, Clare Reddaway and Doc Watson with actors Olly Langdon and Caroline Garland reading stories by Catherine Strong and Geoffrey Heptonstall.

We’ll be dressing up a la 1940s Brief Encounter – if you’d like to dress up to please do – optional of course!

What our audience thinks:

‘Enthralling’ ‘Great stories, great venue’ ‘Quaint and quirky’ ‘Fascinating’ ‘Great way to spend Friday evenings’ ‘I’ll certainly come again!’

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