The Historical Short Fiction Prize 2007

 

Welcome to Short Histories III
the Historical short-fiction competition run by
Fish Publishing, in conjunction with the
Historical Novel Society

Following the success of the Short Histories Prize in 2005 and 2006 and the excellent 2006 Anthology, All the King's Horses
we are happy to introduce Short Histories III. Our intention is to publish the best modern short-form fiction on an historical theme.

Last year we also ran THE HISTORICAL ONE PAGE PRIZE but this year, as a little bit of a variation, we are introducing the

CRIMINALLY-SHORT SHORT HISTORIES AWARD

 

Short Histories III - Competition Summary

Summary - The Rules - Entry Fees - On-Line Entries - Postal Entries - Judges

 

Title: Short Histories III
Opens: 1 May 2007
Closing date: 30 September 2007
Results: 30 November 2007

Judges --Philip Gooden, Richard Lee, Keith Souter

 

Enter Competition Here

 

A First Prize of €1,500 goes to the winner, plus publication in the Fish 2008 Anthology and ten copies of the Anthology.

Five runners up will also be selected to appear in the Fish Anthology and will each receive an award of €100 plus five complimentary copies of the Anthology.

All winning authors will be invited to read their work at the launch of the Fish Anthology 2008.

The Historical Novel Society's definition of historical fiction is:

"To be deemed historical (in our sense), a story must have been written at least fifty years after the events described, or have been written by someone who was not alive at the time of those events (who therefore approaches them only by research).

We also consider the following styles of novel to be historical fiction for our purposes: alternate histories (e.g. Robert Harris' Fatherland ), pseudo-histories (eg. Umberto Eco's Island of the Day Before ), time-slip novels (e.g. Barbara Erskine's Lady of Hay ), historical fantasies (eg. Bernard Cornwell's King Arthur trilogy) and multiple-time novels (e.g. Michael Cunningham's The Hours )".

 

[ Back to Top ]

 

The Rules

•  No entry form is needed. Entry is on-line only

•  The Prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English.

•  There is no restriction on period or style but the theme must be historical.

•  Maximum length 5,000 words. Any stories significantly longer than this will be disqualified

•  Winning stories must be available for the Anthology and, , must not have beenpreviously published .

•  Copyright remains with the author.

•  Notification of receipt of entry will normally be by email.

•  The judges' verdict is final.

•  No correspondence will be entered into once work has been submitted.

•  Stories cannot be altered or changed after they have been entered.

[ Back to Top ]

Entry Fees

The cost of an On-line entry is fixed in Euro and any translation into your local currency will be done automatically by your credit card company according to the current exchange rate.

Payment is by credit card only.

  On-Line Entry
€
Per Entry €20.00
Critique (Optional) €45.00
   

 

[ Back to Top ]

On-Line Entries

ALL ENTRIES MUST BE SUBMITTED ON-LINE THROUGH OUR WEB SITE. PLEASE DO NOT SEND ENTRIES AS E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS.

PLEASE ENSURE THE TITLE OF THE STORY DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE FIRST PAGE, THE TITLE IS AUTOMATICALLY APPENDED BY THE SYSTEM.

PLEASE DO NOT PUT YOUR NAME ON THE STORY. YOUR STORY IS AUTOMATICALLY LINKED TO YOUR NAME.

 

[ Back to Top ]

 

Postal Entries

This is an on-line only competition. Postal entries will not be accepted. However if you have any difficulty with our on-line submission system or with our on-line payment system we will be glad to work with you to sort things out. Simply E- mail us at techsupport@fishpublishing.com


[ Back to Top ]

Judges

Philip Gooden read English at university and taught for many years before becoming a full-time writer in 2001. He writes the Nick Revill series of historical mysteries set in Elizabethan and Jacobean London. His latest title is An Honourable Murderer . Philip also produces reference books on language, most recently Faux Pas and the forthcoming Name Dropping. Philip is the current Chairman of the Crime Writers' Association.

Richard Lee set up the Historical Novel Society in 1997, to promote every aspect of historical Fiction. The society publishes the quarterly Historical Novels Review magazine which aims to review every new work of historical fiction released in the USA and the UK..  The society also publishes the twice yearly magazine Solander . featuring interviews with current authors. Richard lives with his French wife and their family near Exeter in the UK.

Keith Souter was born in St Andrews, Scotland and educated at Dundee University. He is a part time general practitioner, newspaper columnist, medical author and novelist (under two pen-names). He has lived and worked in Wakefield for twenty-seven years, within arrow-shot of Sandal Castle, hence his interest in matters historical. He won the Fish Historical One Page Prize in 2006 and his most recent novel The Pardoner's Crime is published by Hale in January 2008.

 

 

Winners of Short Histories II

Lane Ashfeldt with her story "Dancing on Canvey"

Lane Ashfeldt was born in London to Irish parents, and grew up in Dublin. She has travelled widely and currently lives in Holloway, north London. Her short fiction has appeared in anthologies, in the online fiction magazine Pulp Net, and in the Irish literary journal Southword.

Another story, 'Off the Map', came second in The Guardian Sci-Talk prize. Lane is currently completing a first novel towards which she was awarded an Arts Council England grant. Her next project will be a collection of short fiction.

 

 

The Runners-up were:

Jo Campbell* - A Journey to the Sun
London, England

( *Winner - Short Histories 2005)


Leslie Patterson - The Medical Glance
Colorado, USA

Margaret Mulvihill - A Goose of a Swan
London, England

Carys Davies - Waking the Princess
Lancaster, England

Stuart Tallack - Cerulean
West Sussex, England

 

 

(Back to top)

 

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.