Deathmatch semi-finals

So I made it into the Deathmatch semi-finals. Voting is now underway here.

The story I’m up against, Ryan Power’s Jean-Claude Van Damsel in Distress, has a lot of support but has also appeared quite divisive on the message boards. I should therefore stand a chance, even if a small one, of making it into the final. In any case, being one of the four finalists guarantees publication for my story in a future issue and a cash prize – both of which will be highly appreciated.

If you can spare five minutes, please go vote for me!

 

 

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Highly commendable

My short story, The Black Hole of Westminster, was one of five ‘highly commended’ stories in the 2015 London Magazine short story contest.

Had I sneaked into the top three,  I would have been attending a prize-giving at the House of Commons next week. Still, to be picked out by the judges for highly commended status is deeply gratifying. It should also make it easier to get this story into print somewhere.

You can read the announcement here

Fight to the Deathmatch!

My story, Now I am become Ken Burns, the Destroyer of Worlds, is currently locked in an intense battle in the quarter-finals of Broken Pencil’s Indie Writers’ Deathmatch, having slipped through the Lightning Round about a week ago.

For the uninitiated, the Deathmatch is an annual writing competition held by Canadian magazine Broken Pencil, in which sixteen (though in previous years, eight) stories are pitted against each other in a ‘no-holds barred contest’ in which the story with the most votes win. Voting is open to anyone, though in practice the competing authors must mobilise the support of their friends and family, and critical comments are encouraged on the associated message boards.

There’s already been one fatality. Or pretty much.

The eight stories with the most votes from the Lightning Round made it into the quarter-finals, where my story now sits in a match against Kris Bone’s mighty Incisor. If I can squeeze through into the semis, the story is guaranteed publication, so I’m hoping my vote holds up. I’m fully overdrawn on my goodwill account, but I keep writing the cheques anyway. So far so good. Some great stories have already exited, and I’d encourage you to read all the sixteen original entries – especially this one, which was my favourite.

If I win this round my next opponent will be a story about a female ninja Jean-Claude Van Damme. Picture that, if you will.

To get there, I need people to vote for me. So please, if you have a spare five minutes, create an account at Broken Pencil and vote for Ken Burns here.

 

Rain of Ashes

Just had a story accepted by Tincture Journal. This will be my second story for them and I’m really pleased they’ve taken some more of my work. They’ve just published their fifth issue and it’s great to see a relatively new publication going so strong. The above-titled story will be appearing in their sixth issue.

The Reason

I had a new piece of flash fiction up at Every Day Fiction a few weeks ago. Some really positive comments from users of the EDF site and, as always, some immensely in-depth and constructive feedback from EDF’s editors on the original draft. The published version is much, much improved and I’m grateful to all those at EDF for their efforts.

The story is also reviewed generously at Write or Else!