The
best Five O'Clock Shadow & Other Stories
It’s
interesting that there are not more
short stories in circulation. In
these fast times when attention
span is allegedly shortening, and
the sound-bite has taken hold, why
is the reading public not queuing
up to buy the latest batch of short
stories? Particularly at airports
and stations, where one would think
a book of short reads would be entirely
preferable to a several hundred
page blockbuster? A well known novelist
said recently on a TV programme
that many who buy her books read
them four miles high and only the
first 60 pages. It’s like
the eyes are bigger than the stomach
– ordering a 16 oz steak and
eating only eight and you haven’t
touched the chips. But at least
you know what you are getting. Like
a trip to MacDonalds. It’s
safe. Anywhere in the world you
can be served the same bland fare.
No matter that you might not eat
all of it, or that however much
you do eat you’ll still be
hungry in an hour. There are no
surprises.
And that’s where the good short story differs. It may shock, surprise, dazzle, leave you high and dry, out on a limb and hanging. It might change the way you look at something, the way you think. You don’t know what you are buying, what you are letting yourself in for. I sometimes feel like issuing a health warning with the Fish Anthology – these stories may seriously damage your outlook - The seventeen stories in this book come from all over the place, but they have in common their originality. Here is the view of writers who see the world in their unique ways, and have the imagination, talent, and the courage to refine it into that most surprising of all art forms – the short story.
Clem Cairns
Durrus
2000
Edited by Clem
Cairns
Contents:
Sorry. This Book is Out of Print
You can view some of the stories from this book in our Short Stories to Read Online page
Kathryn Hughes, "Five
O'Clock Shadow"
Julia Asher, "The
Neighbor"
Kevin Parry, "Drowned
Boy"
Robert Grindy, "Little
Stevie Augers In"
Sami Moukaddem, "Ahmad's
Teeth"
Audrey Thomas, "Volunteers"
Lisa Steppe, "Teller
of Tales"
Melissa Gaskill, "Swift
Water"
Robin Winick, "Mrs
Purvis"
Read
this story in Short
Stories to Read Online
Morag McIntyre Hadley, "Making
History"
Eleanor Flegg, "The
Lobster Shift"
Celia Bryce, "Skate
Blades"
Sylvia Baker, "History
Of A Vagrant"
Ian Baker, "All The
Good Times Too"
Rebecca Lisle, "Toppling
Lorna"
Frank Cossa, "Cloud
Shadows"
Pansy Billingsly, "Headline
News"
The Fish Anthologies
Novels & Other Titles
Short Stories to read online
Read online some of the winning entries from previous Fish Anthologies. These are examples of the calibre that win the Fish Short Story Prize. Short Stories to read online
Writing Short Stories
Our new Writing feature provides some suggestions on the art of story writing. The page is designed to provide writers with on-going, constructive information about how other authors achieved success with writing short fiction. For more information visit our Writing Short Stories page.
Online Book Shop
You can buy Fish Publishing's Anthologies of short stories on-line in our online book shop – The Fish Shop.
Online Entry
Our Fish-On-Line online entry system provides a convenient way to enter our contests on the web. Register as an online Fish author and you can enter current and forthcoming Writing Contests. Writers may also enter any of our competitions by post. See our Writing Contests page for full details
Writing Contests - Assistance
Fish Publishing offers an Editorial Consultancy and Critique Service. designed to provide writers thinking of entering writing competitions with constructive feedback on their work, whether it is a complete novel or just the beginnings. The Service is available to writers prior to entering the Fish writing competitions.