"Really good stories like these . . .don't read like they were written. They read like they simply grew on the page." Joseph O'Connor (previous judge of the Fish Short Story Prize)
On this page there is a selection of stories published in the Fish Anthologies. This is a widely acclaimed anthology published annually since 1994 to include the winning stories of the Fish Short Story Prize. In recent years it has included winners from other Fish competitions. From this year (2009) Fish will be including in the anthology winners of three competitions - Fish Short Story Prize, Fish Poetry Prize and Fish One-Page Prize.
For more information on authors who have featured in Fish Anthologies, go to the Alumni page.
The stories in each anthology were short listed by the editorial team at Fish and the final selection was made by prestigious writers such as Roddy Doyle, Joseph O'Connor, Pat McCabe, Frank McCourt, Jennifer Johnston, Frank Delaney, Dave Eggers, Molly McCloskey, Kate O'Riordan, Christopher Hope, William Wall, Mary Morrissy, Germaine Greer, Eamonn Sweeney, Dermot Healy, Deirdre Madden, William Wharton, Alex Keegan, Emma Donoghue, Dermot Bolger, Hugo Hamilton, Gina Ochsner, Victoria Glendinning, Morgan Llywelyn, Julia Neuberger, Antonia Logue & Merric Davidson.
Writers who have entered our Writing Contests online will know that they can read their own short stories online by going to their author pages.
Enjoy the read!
Short Stories - One-Page Stories - 2007 Anthology
You can now read extracts from some of the stories in the Fish Anthology 2007. These include:
A Paper Heart is Beating, A Paper Boat Sets Sail - Kathleen Murray, Dublin
Dancing on Canvey - Lane Ashfeldt, London
Gilt - Orlaith O'Sullivan, Madeira
Honeysuckle and Cat's Piss - Ewan Gault, Tokyo
Words from a Glass Bubble - Vanessa Gebbie, Sussex
Rush Of Water - Merryn Glover, Perth (Scotland)
Luz - Martin H. Bott, Zurich
Waking the Princess - Carys Davies, Lancaster
Rookie of the Year - Paul Byall, Savannah, Georgia
Man in Ultramarine Pajamas Lily Mabura, Nairobi
The Caravan - Janey Runci, Victoria, Australia
Here are some stories from previous Fish Anthologies
From The Bering Strait
by Gina Ochsner
The Bering Strait was the winning story in the 1999 Anthology The Bering Strait and Other Stories.
Biography
Just for the record, I have never actually lived in Alaska, though I have always heard that it is bitterly cold up there. My uncle and aunt lived there for several years, and will swear on a stack of Bibles that if you step outside to relieve yourself during a deep freeze, you can actually create a frozen yellow arc in the air. I don't know if that's really gospel truth, but that story and my incredible fear of freezing gave rise to Bering Strait.
Read online: From the Bering Strait
Mrs Purvis
by Robin Winick
Mrs Purvis is from the 2000 Anthology Five O'Clock Shadow and Other Stories.
Biography
Robin lives in suburban Connecticut, from where she is constantly
trying to escape, sometimes with her husband and children to remote
areas in Maine, Wales, or Ireland, where she has a fear of sinking in
a bog. Her consolation would be that whatever manuscript she had on
her would be preserved. Her other escape is writing, spotting the extraordinary
among the seemingly mundane. Along with her brother she invented 'Politics
as Usual', a satirical game based on US congressional politics. Her
short story 'Cosgrave's Dilemma' was short-listed in the Fish Prize
last year, and went on to win the Glimmer Train Prize.
Read online: Mrs Purvis
The Drop Outs
by Áine Greaney
The Drop Outs is from the 2002 Anthology Franklin's Grace and Other Stories.
Biography
Born and brought up on a remote farm in Co. Mayo, Ireland, Áine moved to the U.S. in 1986. After living in upstate NY, where she completed a Master’s in English, she now lives and writes in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Read online: The Drop Outs
Asylum 1928
by Maureen E. O'Neill
Asylum 1928 was the winning story in the 2001 Anthology Asylum 1928 and Other Stories.
Biography
She was born in Washington, D.C.
She graduated magna cum laude with
a B.A. in English Literature from
Cornell University and earned a
J.D. from the University of Chicago.
She practiced corporate and securities
law in Philadelphia until the birth
of her first child in 1985.
O'Neill's short stories have appeared
in The Literary Review and Web del
Sol and she was a finalist in The
Katherine Anne Porter Prize for
Fiction (2000 Nimrod/Hardman Literary
Awards). She has had fiction residencies
at Bread Loaf and the Vermont Studio
Center.
Read online: Asylum 1928
Feathers and Cigarettes
by Andrew Lloyd-Jones
Feathers & Cigarettes was the winning story in the 2003 Anthology Feathers and Cigarettes & Other Stories
Biography
So there was this bloke on the bus the other day, and he was writing down all this stuff, and me and Sarah were all like, what are you writing, and he said he was writing this story or something. And we said, so are you a writer then, and he said, I've written a few things, and he said he'd like won the Canongate Prize and been in the Bridport Prize collection or whatever. And then he said he was in advertising, and he started talking about how he was writing a novel now, and Sarah looked all serious and said, I think that's really interesting, and then we both pissed ourselves because he thought we actually cared. How sad is that? I think he said his name was like, Andrew or something?
Read online: Feathers and Cigarettes
Aubergine
by Selma Dabbagh
Aubergine is from the 2004 Anthology Spoonface & Other Stories
Biography
Anglo Palestinian. A life spent between Europe and the Middle East. A lawyer in a marble-clad concrete building in a Gulf Kingdom. Lives Plan B. 'This is the first publication of fiction. Plan A is that it won't be the last."
Read online: Aubergine
Countdown to Ecstasy
by Adrian Wistreich
Countdown to Ecstasy is from the 2004 Anthology Spoonface & Other Stories
Biography
A sculptor and potter, living in Kinsale, Co Cork. He moved to Ireland from London in 2000, to set up Kinsale Pottery and Art School, after 23 years as a market research analyst and business publisher. The Art School caters for both adults and children, including courses in a wide range of arts and crafts. This is his first published work of fiction.
Read online: Countdown to Ecstasy
Juice Baby
by Freda Churches
Juice Baby is from the 2004 Anthology Spoonface & Other Stories
Biography
She is from Denny in Scotland. She has three children, a Siamese cat, a whippet and an adopted chicken who lives on a farm in Norfolk. She has published poems and short stories in Cencrastus, Chapman, MsLexia and Nerve Magazine. Her work has been broadcast on BBC radio, and she was a runner-up in the 2002 Fish Short Story Prize.
Read online: Juice Baby
Believe It
by Brian Tiernan
Believe It is from the 2005 Anthology The Mountains of Mars & Other Stories
Biography
Brian was born Dublin 1939
next day Hitler invaded Poland.
Brought up in the Irish midlands geographically, the dead centre
of Ireland was the outside lav in Brian's back yard. Jobs in Dublin
and London included bacon inspector warble fly inspector
insurance salesman shipping clerk local government
building game tip boss hoover salesman bookmaker
tipster professional gambler. Now semi-retired living in Covent
Garden.
Read online: Believe It
Postcard From New York
byTom Murray
Postcard From New Yorkis from the 2005 Anthology The Mountains of Mars & Other Stories
Biography
Lives in the Scottish Borders. He has had a number of plays for both young people and adults performed at various venues including the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and the Arches Theatre, Glasgow. His stories and poems have been widely published in literary magazines in the UK, and in the USA and Canada. He is co-editor of the Eildon Tree Magazine.
Read online: Post Card from New York