The
best Franklin's Grace & Other Stories
It’s
supposed to be a short form, the good story, but it has about it a largeness
I love. There is something to admire in all these tales, these strange,
insistent inventions… they take place in a rich and satisfying
mixture of places, countries of the mind and heart, ranging from the
deadly streets of Sarajevo to the wilder shores of love. Find one you
like and it could take you to places you never would have thought of
and, maybe, places where you’d rather not be. What would you like
to read about? Chaos Theory, China, sex, the Holocaust, bereavement,
Elvis Costello, dwarfism? All of it is here, in these stories, in revealing
forms.
That is another disturbing thing about the story. What it exposes about the writer, and where it leads the unsuspecting reader. It’s a refinement of the art of living dangerously. You only get one chance at it. There is something of the gambler’s throw in a decent tale: writing them or reading them. Who knows what you lose or win. People say the short story most resembles poetry, but I think it is rather more like music. It is melody. Once you get the tune of it, you simply can’t shake it out of your head.
There is something to admire in all these tales, these strange insistent inventions, and one can never apologise enough to the runners-up because it is a hard business, writing, and I would do nothing to discourage anyone form taking it on. On the other hand, I would never knowingly encourage anyone who didn’t have a touch of madness and a love of risk, to even contemplate something as difficult, or so financially disastrous, as writing short stories. Judging stories, like judging most writing, is a mug’s game. You read, you reach for the tune of the piece, you pick up its beat, you consult your feelings. Finally your choice is going to be pretty arbitrary. And so it was for me, when the reading of the stories stopped and the judging had to begin.
Of course short lists are drawn up be people of very dissimilar tastes, and it always shows. It’s a hunch you have, it’s a little like putting money on a horse, and if anyone else tells you differently, then they’ve never sat on a literary jury. Competitions for writers are a form of horse-racing, and races are best left to jockeys, punters, bookmakers, and people in funny hats. Writing is anther matter. But there it is, you whittle down the field, they run, you pick a winner.
The winner we chose is ‘Franklin’s
Grace’ by Catherine L. Dowd.
It has all the light authority you
want in a fine piece of fiction,
it is compressed – and this
is always hard to do – yet
filled with space. The sense of
it carries and rings naturally on
the ear. It is like something you
overhear. I don’t mean to
suggest that it meets requirements,
because there are none. There are
no rules about what makes a god
short story, any more than there
are rules about what makes a good
love affair. There is just the magic
when it happens at all. - Christopher
Hope
Edited by Clem
Cairns
Contents:
Order
this book in our
Online
Book Shop
You can view some of the stories from this book in our Short Stories to Read Online page
Franklin’s
Grace - Catherine L. Dowd
Letting Go - David Gardiner
Change - Elizabeth Iddon
On the Lost and Broken Shore - Brendan
Glacken
Me, Vermeer and Colin - Ann Jolly
Found Wanting - Mia Gallagher
Life Kit #1 - Jules Horne
Cherokee Ches - David Ballantine
Chaos Theory - Jane Ellis
Miss No-Name - Helen Kitson
The Drop Outs - Áine Greaney
Read
this story in Short
Stories to Read Online
Praying to Tiger - Richard Lewis
the one that got away - Judy
Kravis
Please, Kill Him - Michael Sposito
Gary No Hands - Nick Wright
Rain Flies - Cliff Chen
Wet Dreams of a Dirty War - Andrew
McIntyre
A Long Wait for Gavin - Vicky
Woodcraft
Rose Petal Blues - Joyce Russel
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.