Marti Leimbach, Short Memoir Judge 2018
The Fish Anthology 2018 will be launched as part of the West Cork Literary Festival (16th July 2018).
All of the writers published in the Anthology are invited to read at the launch.
First prize is €1,000.
Second prize is a week at Casa Ana Writers’ Retreat
in Andalusia, Spain, and €300 travel expenses.
The comments on the memoirs are from Marti Leimbach.
FIRST
What Was Once A City
by Marion Molteno (S. Africa/London, UK)
“The terrific energy of the writing conveys the chaos of the Mogadishu, and the writer is willing to not only show us the realities of the city’s war time demise, but her own naïve notions, her frank ignorance, her earnestness and budding bravery in the face of it all. The heroes in such circumstances are never the outsiders, as the author points out, but those who take measures to help others within the small circle of their own reach. An honest glimpse into the efforts of someone who wishes to help in a situation too great for anyone to fully succeed. Wonderful transformation and insights in this short, impressive piece.” M.L.
SECOND
Where the Track Forks Left and Where the Track Forks Right
by Jane Fraser (Wales)
“A quiet, beautiful piece that charts the unclear path of a woman in love with a man, not her husband. The balance of desire and regret, the tremendous price of mid-life love, the understandable need to escape from a loveless marriage even at the expense of her own children, are all captured in a few thousand words. And every page oozes with a sense of place and time. The author achieves all this while making it appear effortless. What a lovely read.” M.L.
THIRD
Glue by Ruth O’Shea (Aran Islands, Ireland)
“I particularly like the first few sections of this inventive piece. There is a kind of urgency right away as the family crosses a border with a richness of language and detail make it feel incredibly real. Wonderful portrayal of a particular domestic life, brought alive in a set of small scenes that make it feel as though the reader is flipping through an album of memories.” M.L.
HONORARY MENTIONS
Banbridge Lass by Wendy Breckon (Devon, UK)
“This is an atmospheric piece with a lot of immediacy to it. In the early pages, the author often divides up her sentences, creating phrases that are punctuated as though they are sentences. While I recognized this was a stylistic choice, I found it distracting and kept wanting to reorganize the words so that they conformed to a more conventional grammar. As the narrative continues, the spliced up sentences seem less frequent and the flow is far better. The characters are well developed in only a short space and the writing is full of wonderful details that give the work lots of authority. I love the haircut and its aftermath, Aunt May, the slightly creepy uncle and the very stern, rather awful, father. We only get a small smattering of his character early on. I think the author might have him utter something disapproving of Wendy earlier on so that when he is even worse later we see a deepening of that character development.” M.L.
Midwife’s Daughter by Saffron Marchant (Hong Kong)
SONY DSC
“An engaging piece that combines grisly facts with a sense of humour and the day-to-day realities of motherhood. I was somewhat confused by the colostomy bag attached to her mother after James’s birth as I thought they were as a result of fistulas and not bladders that had been perforated by a surgeon during a caesarean, but I am not an expert on these things. The piece gets stronger when specific scenes are presented and acted out, rather than the more generally related. Consistent tone, a strong narrator and the midwife, herself (the writer’s mother) is especially well-drawn.” M.L.
Documented by Pauline Cronin (San Francisco, USA)
“I love the misguided application of love from the father, the dutiful daughter who does her best to please him and to hold onto her own sense of self at the same time. The details about the need for money and better shoes through the winter are great. Lovely ending that opens out onto more questions.” M.L.
Shell by Deborah Martin (Glasgow, Scotland)
“The familiar office politics and the narrator’s sense of marginalisation deepen through out the narrative. Anyone with experience of depression will recognize the truth of this writing and the manner in which all of us imagine the lives of others’ differently to their real lives. It was ambitious to try to span so much time in so few pages and the sense of scene is a little thin at time. However, it was a pleasure to read such a thoughtful piece about a difficult subject.” M.L.
The Logic Of Blue Pyjamas by Fiona Montgomery (Glasgow, Scotland)
“The memoir is usually a genre in which the author recalls and dramatizes past events, but what if the specifics of those events eludes its author? This is the dilemma of the author of The Logic of Blue Pyjamas, whose memory of what is sometimes called “historic sex abuse” is patchy or absent. This lack of conscious memory makes it a unique kind of memoir, one fashioned on external information from experts on the subject, yet it manages to also be personal. The reader can’t help but want more details and shares the narrators yearning for distinct, vivid recollection.” M.L.
Without Breaking The Air by Christina Sanders (Somerset, England)
“The author has given a nice structure to this piece, which is a reflection on a relationship with a father with alcoholism. The father’s character is particularly well drawn with some great dialogue that is used very well to deepen characterization. A particularly lovely opening as well as a stunning last paragraph.” M.L.
Wilderness by Paul McGranachan (Strabane, Ireland)
“This eery, gruesome little piece carries a lot of authority due to it’s author’s matter-of-fact tone. There is no doubt about it, the piece makes for difficult reading, especially as the suffering and death of the animals is, by the writer’s own admission, entirely pointless. I longed for the writer to take a position against the established practices of the lab, but that never arrived. I appreciated the way in which details were given, as well as the deftness of language that permeates the whole of the piece. The paragraph that begins, “It contains six miniature jam jars…” is a great example of what I mean. I love the corridors being described as having an “aquarian gloom” and I particularly like the character of the professor, who almost seems fictional in his sadistic behaviour toward the student he has singled out for bullying. While there are so many direct addresses that, at times, the piece seems not to be consistently first-person nor second person, I quite like it.” M.L.
(alphabetical order)
There are 52 memoirs in the short-list. The total entry was 780.
Title |
First Name |
Last Name |
Banbridge Lass |
Wendy |
Breckon |
Steel Toe Capped |
David |
Brennan |
Miracle |
Catherine |
Brophy |
To Whom It May Concern |
Carolyn |
Butcher |
Halcyon Days |
Susanna |
Clayson |
In the Winter of ’47 |
Martin |
Cromie |
Documented |
Eanlai |
Cronin |
Pain Scale |
Deborah |
Darling |
Life |
Jack |
Durack |
The Time of Runcorn |
Charles |
Evans |
The Spy Who Might have been |
Charles |
Evans |
Where the Track Forks Left and Where the Track Forks Right |
Jane |
Fraser |
Roadkill: An American Memoir |
Soma Mei Sheng |
Frazier |
Offer It Up |
Jason |
Gillikin |
The Small Brown Suitcase |
Jonathan |
Haylett |
The crack in the wall |
Niall |
Herriott |
March Madness, 1974 |
Richard |
Holeton |
Pee in here |
shelagh |
klein |
Swimming in The World Turned Upside Down |
la |
Jennings |
The Scream |
Kathleen |
Langstroth |
SINGING ALONG |
George |
Mackay |
Midwife’s Daughter |
Saffron |
Marchant |
Shell |
Deborah |
Martin |
The Arsenic Year |
Anna |
McGrail |
The Gods of West Ham |
Paul |
McGranaghan |
Wilderness |
Paul |
McGranaghan |
Tall Table |
Kendra |
McSweeney |
Ashes of Dad |
Kyung |
Meill |
What was once a city |
Marion |
Molteno |
The Logic of Blue Pyjamas – Reading into my life |
Fiona |
Montgomery |
When The Birds Were Swooping |
Stephanie |
Mowry |
ZJ 699 |
Breandan |
O’Broin |
Glue |
Ruth |
O’Shea |
War is not suitable for Children |
Judith |
OConnor |
The Very Word |
lara |
palmer |
Excerpts From A Wedding Journal |
Lynne |
Pearl |
125 |
Elizabeth |
Rakow |
Taint |
David |
Ralph |
Mowsley |
Ellie |
Rees |
Once Yugoslavia |
Jane |
Richardson |
Without Breaking the Air |
Christina |
Sanders |
Good Christian Soldier |
morgan |
schulz |
On Getting Vivian |
Sarah |
Sleeper |
The Junior Cadet |
ian |
tew |
Smile |
Boris |
Thomas |
The Routine Operation |
Christopher |
Thompson |
On Hearing the Voice of God in the Desert |
J.W. |
Vass |
Wall |
John C. |
Weir |
Raw Space |
Bradley |
Wester |
Heading Out |
M.F. |
Whitney |
Night Terror |
Megan |
Williams |
Back with Daisy |
Neil |
Wilson |
(alphabetical order)
There are 179 memoirs in the long-list. The total entry was 780.
Title |
First Name |
Last Name |
A Good Day at the Gym |
Steven |
Ashley |
The Minister’s Daughter |
Lizzie |
Bailie |
Beloved Bodies |
Judith |
Barrington |
A Woman Alone |
Sue |
Bevan |
The Flames |
Mary |
Black |
When We Were Very Young |
Oliver |
Black |
Beaver Celtic and the Genative Case |
Martin |
Blayney |
Ms. Gaijin Learns Something |
Elizabeth |
Bodien |
Banbridge Lass |
Wendy |
Breckon |
Ghosts of Bone and Flesh |
David |
Brennan |
Steel Toe Capped |
David |
Brennan |
Miracle |
Catherine |
Brophy |
Myself as a puff of dust: a ghost story. |
Jane |
Bryce |
Gunpowder, Treason and Plot |
Stephanie |
Buckle |
Cloud Forest Diaries |
Miles |
Burrows |
To Whom It May Concern |
Carolyn |
Butcher |
Clay Faces |
Kerry |
Campion |
History of Love and Drugs: A Midterm |
Laura |
Carey |
Wee Scottish Memoir |
Sheila |
Chambers |
Eunice Aphroditois |
Anna |
Chilvers |
Halcyon Days |
Susanna |
Clayson |
Driving lessons |
Jo |
Colley |
In the Winter of ’47 |
Martin |
Cromie |
Documented |
Eanlai |
Cronin |
My Two Uncle Pats. |
Deirdre |
Crowley |
Pain Scale |
Deborah |
Darling |
Non Panicatus |
Janet |
Denny |
Internally Displaced |
Heather |
Derr-Smith |
Leaving |
Beth |
Ditson |
The Chain Gang Suitcase |
Ryan |
Dunne |
Life |
Jack |
Durack |
Never Say Die |
Sharon |
Eckman |
Seapro Summer, 1979 |
Julian |
Edelman |
Casting the Ballot |
Julian |
Edelman |
Learning to Speak about Death |
Simon Peter |
Eggertsen |
Jean, Jeanie |
Helene |
Elysee |
The Girl Who Eloped |
Genevieve |
Essa |
The Time of Runcorn |
Charles |
Evans |
The Spy Who Might have been |
Charles |
Evans |
Les Beatniks – August 1969 |
Andrew |
Fear |
The Endorphin Solution |
Yvonne |
Fein |
What Follows |
Frances |
Fischer |
A good black coat |
Mary |
Fox |
Under the Singer |
TOM |
FOX |
The Day the Generals Take Over |
Jane |
Fraser |
Where the Track Forks Left and Where the Track Forks Right |
Jane |
Fraser |
Roadkill: An American Memoir |
Soma Mei Sheng |
Frazier |
The Gift |
Peter |
Freckleton |
At Times Helpless, never Hopeless: Our Journey with IBD |
JENNIFER |
FREEDMAN |
Lunniagh |
Maureen |
Gallagher |
Verona |
David |
Gehring |
The Trainspotter’s Guide to Virginity |
David |
George |
Offer It Up |
Jason |
Gillikin |
THE DEFAULT PSYCHIATRIST |
R.C. |
Goodwin |
What’s in a Name? |
Ian |
Gouge |
The Girl from New Jersey |
Morgan |
Griffin |
The Rain and the Fog; the Ghost and the Spider |
Linda LeGarde |
Grover |
Racing the Wind |
Jolene |
Gutierrez |
This is a Love Story |
Jane |
Hacking |
The Visits |
Jane |
Harrington |
The Upper Saloon |
John |
Harris |
From A Memoir of an Anthropologist: The Road to Byumba |
Kirstan |
Hawkins |
The Small Brown Suitcase |
Jonathan |
Haylett |
Learning |
Maura |
Hehir |
My Name is Rocky Heller. I am Champion of the World |
Ruth |
Heller |
The crack in the wall |
Niall |
Herriott |
Two Weeks |
Euwan |
Hodgson |
The Little Things |
fergus |
hogan |
March Madness, 1974 |
Richard |
Holeton |
PASSING CLOUDS |
Brian |
Holland |
Our Gang and Other Warfare |
Richard |
Hoskin |
Monuments |
Teresa |
Hudson |
Banjo Heaven |
Cynthia |
Hughes |
Authorised Personnel Only |
Margaret |
Innes |
Someone Else’s Money |
Liz |
Jones |
Shift Change |
Linda |
Jorgenson |
Father Mac |
Lucienne |
Joy |
A Father’s Flowers |
Pat |
Keane |
The System |
Bella |
Kemble |
Only Me |
James Allan |
Kennedy |
Pee in here |
shelagh |
klein |
Swimming in The World Turned Upside Down |
Dawn |
Kozoboli |
My Brief Career in an Irish Asylum |
Christine |
Lacey |
The Scream |
Kathleen |
Langstroth |
Written Twixt My Sheets |
Aida |
Lennon |
Duck pâté and the First Law of Thermodynamics. |
Roger |
Lightfoot |
City of Many Ironies |
Robin |
Lloyd-Jones |
Storybook Wedding |
Nancy |
Ludmerer |
Elymus Repens |
Niamh |
MacCabe |
SINGING ALONG |
George |
Mackay |
Countdown |
Gordon |
Mackenzie |
Farewell Hurricane |
Helen |
Madden |
It’s Only a Day |
Kirsty |
Malesev |
Midwife’s Daughter |
Saffron |
Marchant |
Shell |
Deborah |
Martin |
January in Harlem |
Margaret |
McCaffrey |
Corn Souffle |
Maureen |
McCoy |
Dungeons, Church and Beach: Memories of Past Summers |
Veronica |
McGivney |
Tyburn Street |
Anna |
McGrail |
The Arsenic Year |
Anna |
McGrail |
The Gods of West Ham |
Paul |
McGranaghan |
Wilderness |
Paul |
McGranaghan |
Grandma’s Eyes |
Wayne |
Mconie |
Tall Table |
Kendra |
McSweeney |
Ashes of Dad |
Kyung |
Meill |
The Bastard Species |
Laura |
Merritt |
Tears In Rain |
Erinna |
Mettler |
My Father, The Man in the Moon |
Tamara |
Miles |
What was once a city |
Marion |
Molteno |
The Logic of Blue Pyjamas – Reading into my life |
Fiona |
Montgomery |
Goodbye Robert |
Caron |
Moran |
When The Birds Were Swooping |
Stephanie |
Mowry |
My father walking |
Janette |
Munneke |
Last chance |
Jane |
Murrell |
Found: In Pieces |
Melissa |
Neff |
‘Crow, crow’ |
Kerri |
ní Dochartaigh |
ZJ 699 |
Breandan |
O’Broin |
My First Confession |
Anthony |
O’Farrell |
The Pig |
Alice |
O’Keeffe |
The First Durex Machine in Cork |
Eamon |
O’Leary |
St Bernard Spoiled the Party |
Eamon |
O’Leary |
Glue |
Ruth |
O’Shea |
The Family Flaw |
Alexandra |
O’Sullivan |
War is not suitable for Children |
Judith |
O’Connor |
Lost: a Memoir of My Sister Pamela |
Paula Spurlin |
Paige |
The Very Word |
lara |
palmer |
Coming In Off The Ledge |
Elizabeth |
Palombo |
Special |
Sarah |
Passingham |
Excerpts From A Wedding Journal |
Lynne |
Pearl |
Farmboy Goes To War |
Doug |
Pender |
I, Blind Alien |
Petra |
Perkins |
Gnocchi |
Amalia |
Pistilli |
THE YOUNG ARCHAEOLOGIST |
catryn |
power |
White Girl in a Strange Land |
Candida |
Pugh |
I’ve Never Been to Spain |
Janice Nabors |
Raiteri |
125 |
Elizabeth |
Rakow |
Taint |
David |
Ralph |
THIS IS HOW WE SAY GOODBYE |
ALEX |
REECE |
Mowsley |
Ellie |
Rees |
Once Yugoslavia |
Jane |
Richardson |
Sacred Landing |
Silvia |
Rose |
Without Breaking the Air |
Christina |
Sanders |
A hundred tides |
Jacqui |
Scholes-Rhodes |
Good Christian Soldier |
morgan |
schulz |
Little Dog of my Youth |
Dorothy |
Schwarz |
Changing Places |
Elizabeth |
Simpson |
On Getting Vivian |
Sarah |
Sleeper |
Plight |
Clorinda |
Smith |
Lost and Found in La Triana |
Tasha |
Smith |
Biscuits and Squash |
Kerriann |
speers |
Who Knows |
Neill |
Speers |
Write What You Know |
Kathleen |
Spivack |
Safe in the Arms of Jesus |
sally |
st clair |
One Does Not Simply Love |
Tonya |
Streeter |
Muddy Path. Incidents in a childhood, 1954 – 1965 |
Myna |
T |
The Junior Cadet |
ian |
tew |
At Least We Tried |
George |
Thomas |
Smile |
Boris |
Thomas |
More Than This |
Mary |
Thompson |
The Routine Operation |
Christopher |
Thompson |
Running on Empty |
Fran |
Tomlin |
Making it Fit |
Jenny |
Toune |
Failed Disney Love Story |
Jennifer |
Twomey |
On Hearing the Voice of God in the Desert |
J.W. |
Vass |
Gritty is the Nature of the Sun |
Matthew |
Villarreal |
The House by The River |
Catherine |
Watkins |
Wall |
John C. |
Weir |
Raw Space |
Bradley |
Wester |
Look Straight Ahead |
Clare |
Weze |
Heading Out |
M.F. |
Whitney |
Gilt, Guilt and Acorns |
Barbara |
Whittle |
Magical Guilt 2 |
elizabeth |
Wilde McCormick |
Magical Guilt |
Elizabeth |
Wilde McCormick |
Achha |
Carl |
Williams |
Night Terror |
Megan |
Williams |
Seasons in the Sun |
Anne |
Wilson |
Back with Daisy |
Neil |
Wilson |
She of the Sea |
Morna |
Young |
‘… delightful, lively send-up … A vivid imagination is at play here, and a fine frenzy is the result.’ – Billy Collins
‘… laying frames of scenic detail to compose a lyric collage … enticing … resonates compellingly. … explosive off-screen drama arises through subtly-selected detail. Sharp, clever, economical, tongue-in-cheek.’ – Tracey Slaughter
Brave stories of danger and heart and sincerity.
Some risk everything outright, some are desperately quiet, but their intensity lies in what is unsaid and off the page.
These are brilliant pieces from bright, new voices.
A thrill to read.
~ Emily Ruskovich
I could see great stretches of imagination. I saw experimentation. I saw novelty with voice and style. I saw sentences that embraced both meaning and music. ~ Colum McCann
MoreThese glorious pieces have spun across the globe – pit-stopping in Japan, the Aussie outback, Vancouver, Paris, Amsterdam and our own Hibernian shores – traversing times past, present and imagined future as deftly as they mine the secret tunnels of the human heart. Enjoy the cavalcade. – Mia Gallagher
MoreThe standard is high, in terms of the emotional impact these writers managed to wring from just a few pages. – Billy O’Callaghan
Loop-de-loopy, fizz, and dazzle … unique and compelling—compressed, expansive, and surprising. – Sherrie Flick
Every page oozes with a sense of place and time. – Marti Leimbach
Energetic, dense with detail … engages us in the act of seeing, reminds us that attention is itself a form of praise. – Ellen Bass
MoreDead Souls has the magic surplus of meaning that characterises fine examples of the form – Neel Mukherjee
I was looking for terrific writing of course – something Fish attracts in spades, and I was richly rewarded right across the spectrum – Vanessa Gebbie
Really excellent – skilfully woven – Chris Stewart
Remarkable – Jo Shapcott
The practitioners of the art of brevity and super-brevity whose work is in this book have mastered the skills and distilled and double-distilled their work like the finest whiskey.
More€12 (incl. p&p) Sunrise Sunset by Tina Pisco Read Irish Times review by Claire Looby Surreal, sad, zany, funny, Tina Pisco’s stories are drawn from gritty experience as much as the swirling clouds of the imagination. An astute, empathetic, sometimes savage observer, she brings her characters to life. They dance themselves onto the pages, […]
MoreHow do we transform personal experience of pain into literature? How do we create and then chisel away at those images of others, of loss, of suffering, of unspeakable helplessness so that they become works of art that aim for a shared humanity? The pieces selected here seem to prompt all these questions and the best of them offer some great answers.
– Carmen Bugan.
What a high standard all round – of craft, imagination and originality: and what a wide range of feeling and vision.
Ruth Padel
I was struck by how funny many of the stories are, several of them joyously so – they are madcap and eccentric and great fun. Others – despite restrained and elegant prose – managed to be devastating. All of them are the work of writers with talent.
Claire Kilroy
The writing comes first, the bottom line comes last. And sandwiched between is an eye for the innovative, the inventive and the extraordinary.
MoreA new collection from around the globe: innovative, exciting, invigorating work from the writers and poets who will be making waves for some time to come. David Mitchell, Michael Collins, David Shields and Billy Collins selected the stories, flash fiction, memoirs and poems in this anthology.
MoreReading the one page stories I was a little dazzled, and disappointed that I couldn’t give the prize to everybody. It’s such a tight format, every word must count, every punctuation mark. ‘The Long Wet Grass’ is a masterly bit of story telling … I still can’t get it out of my mind.
– Chris Stewart
The perfectly achieved story transcends the limitations of space with profundity and insight. What I look for in fiction, of whatever length, is authenticity and intensity of feeling. I demand to be moved, to be transported, to be introduced into other lives. The stories I have selected for this anthology have managed this. – Ronan Bennett, Short Story Judge.
MoreI sing those who are published here – they have done a very fine job. It is difficult to create from dust, which is what writers do. It is an honour to have read your work. – Colum McCann
MoreThe entries into this year’s Fish Short Story Prize were universally strong. From these the judges have selected winners, we believe, of exceptional virtue. – Carlo Gebler
MoreI was amazed and delighted at the range and quality of these stories. Every one of them was interesting, well-written, beautifully crafted and, as a short-story must, every one of them focused my attention on that very curtailed tableau which a short-story necessarily sets before us. – Michael Collins
MoreThese stories voice all that is vibrant about the form. – Gerard Donovan. Very short stories pack a poetic punch. Each of these holds its own surprise, or two. Dive into these seemingly small worlds. You’ll come up anew. – Angela Jane Fountas
MoreEach of the pieces here has been chosen for its excellence. They are a delightfully varied assortment. More than usual for an anthology, this is a compendium of all the different ways that fiction can succeed. I invite you to turn to ‘All the King’s Horses’. The past is here. Begin.
– Michel Faber
Literary anthologies, especially of new work, act as a kind of indicator to a society’s concerns. This Short Story collection, such a sharp and useful enterprise, goes beyond that. Its internationality demonstrates how our concerns are held in common across the globe. – Frank Delaney
MoreFrom the daily routine of a career in ‘Spoonface’, to the powerful, recurring image of a freezer in ‘Shadow Lives’. It was the remarkable focus on the ordinary that made these Fish short stories such a pleasure to read. – Hugo Hamilton
MoreIn a world where twenty screens of bullshit seem to be revolving without respite … there is nothing that can surpass the ‘explosion of art’ and its obstinate insistence on making sense of things. These dedicated scribes, as though some secret society, heroically, humbly, are espousing a noble cause.
– Pat McCabe
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 invention. They take place in a rich and satisfying mixture of places, countries of the mind and heart. – Christopher Hope
MoreThere are fine stories in this new anthology, some small and intimate, some reaching out through the personal for a wider, more universal perspective, wishing to tell a story – grand, simple, complex or everyday, wishing to engage you the reader. – Kate O’Riodan
MoreI feel like issuing a health warning with this Fish Anthology these stories may seriously damage your outlook – Here the writers view the world in their unique way, and have the imagination, talent, and the courage to refine it into that most surprising of all art forms the short story. – Clem Cairns.
MoreEvery story in this book makes its own original way in the world. knowing which are the telling moments, and showing them to us. And as the narrator of the winning story casually remarks, ‘Sometimes its the small things that amaze me’ – Molly McCloskey
MoreThe stories here possess the difference, the quirkiness and the spark. They follow their own road and their own ideas their own way. It is a valuable quality which makes this collection a varied one. Read it, I hope you say to yourself like I did on many occasions, ‘That’s deadly. How did they think of that?’ – Eamonn Sweeney
MoreReally good short stories like these, don’t read like they were written. They read like they simply grew on the page. – Joseph O’Connor
MoreThe writers in this collection can write short stories . . . their quality is the only thing they have in common. – Roddy Doyle
MoreThis is the first volume of short stories from Ireland’s newest publishing house. We are proud that fish has enabled 15 budding new writers be published in this anthology, and I look forward to seeing many of them in print again.
More12 Miles Out was selected by David Mitchell as the winner of the Fish Unpublished Novel Award.
A love story, thriller and historical novel; funny and sad, uplifting and enlightening.
You only know who you can’t trust. You can’t trust the law, because there’s none in New Ireland. You can’t trust the Church, because they think they’re the law. And you can’t trust the State, because they think they’re the Church And most of all, you can’t trust your friends, because you can’t remember who they were anymore.
MoreA memoir of urban life, chronicled through its central character, Mackey. From momentary reflections to stories about his break with childhood and adolescence, the early introduction to the Big World, the discovery of romance and then love, the powerlessness of ordinary people, the weaknesses that end in disappointment and the strengths that help them seek redemption and belonging.
MoreIan Wild’s stories mix Monty Python with Hammer Horror, and the Beatles with Shakespeare, but his anarchic style and sense of humour remain very much his own in this collection of tall tales from another planet. Where else would you find vengeful organs, the inside story of Eleanor Rigby, mobile moustaches, and Vikings looting a Cork City branch of Abracababra?
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