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WINNERS Fish Flash Fiction Prize 2015

FIRST
Trashfish by Chloe Wilson
SECOND
Transformation  by Nicholas Ruddock
THIRD
Forwards, Backwards, Sideways  by Jackie Burgoyne

 

HONORARY MENTIONS:
Land of Stones   by Mark Smith
Boy  by Robert Barrett
Comrades by Charlie Weaver Rolfe
The Ride   by Rucha Modak
Tiffy   by Nancy Ludmerer
Wreck   by Mark Sutz
TV VS Walking by Katerina Protopsaltis

SHORTLIST Fish Flash Fiction Prize 2015

93 flash stories shortlisted
(1285 flash stories submitted in total)

Miracle Adam Tamashasky
Third Course Alan Cole
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR Alex Reece Abbott
A FREE LUNCH Alex Reece Abbott
SOMETHING SWEET TO FINISH Alex Reece Abbott
The Gentleman Alistair Daniel
Shooting Season Allison Browning
#Teaching Moment Ann-Marie Jerman
Penelope Anna McGrail
Shadows and Dreams Annette Bower
The Little Girl Inside Me Beata Anna Fijalkowska
Ivy Bernadette Gallagher
GOTCHA Breda Nathan
THE RIDE Brynn Carroll
You Should Have Known Calysta Sylvester
I might go to Spain Carol Jones
Not so Flash Carrie Beckwith
The Final Celine West
The soul is symphonic
(Little Red Riding Hood in midlife)
Ceridwen Buckmaster
Comrades Charlie Weaver Rolfe
Trash Fish chloe wilson
Making a Man christina Sanders
Horny Toad Colin Houghton
Winter Crystal Huynh
She Nose Dave Joy
The Comedy David Armstrong
A Small Price David Steward
Life in Lost Canyon Dawn Lowe
Why Dawn Lowe
A Small Inconvenience Denise Drespling
When Lorca Broke My Heart Devon Ronner
Too Close for Comfort E.L Norry
The Muse Emily Devane
A Taste for Rednecks Ericka Olsen Stefano
The Flute Evelyn Walsh
Family Holidays Gillian Walker
Only you’re not Gina Headden
Dmitri my friend Iain Napier
Jackpot Iain Napier
Forwards, backwards, sideways Jackie Burgoyne
There you go Jane Fraser
Paper Chain Dolls Jennifer Cairns
The Professor Jerome McFaden
The marriage of Lennie and Mike John Mulligan
Exclusive Control Jon Nixon
THE POWER OF FRIGHT JONATHAN FRANK
The Switch Jude Higgins
Upstairs Downstairs Jude Higgins
Camp B Katerina protopsaltis
The World of Modern Ballet Katerina protopsaltis
TV VS WALKING Katerina protopsaltis
Lana’s Day as a Poet Katherine West
The Dog Will Be Fine Katherine West
The Golden Toilet Kenneth Francis
Jill Kyle Macdowell
Beyond Inside Laurence Davies
The Life and Times of
Mary Margaret McBride
Linda Rathburn
SERIAL DATER Loraine Felce
Land Of Stones Mark Smith
Wreck Mark Sutz
Com Marked
DARKROOM Michelle Allford
Nephew Michelle Coyne
Twig Michelle Wright
Earth Excavation Summary Monica Hileman
Regret Nancy Ludmerer
Tiffy Nancy Ludmerer
Transformation Nicholas Ruddock
Animals Pamela Banayoti
Candy patria hatami
A Full House Patricia Demery
Thank You For Holding Paul Bassett Davies
An equal opportunities employer PJ Stephenson
A Fine Goodbye Ren Watson
Edacious Riona Judge McCormack
BOY Robert Barrett
Soul-Surfing Ron Jones
Maud Yearns to Conform Rose Servitova
The Ride Rucha Modak
Road Kill Russell Reader
Happy Birthday Victor seamus scanlon
The Parking Angel seamus scanlon
The Wardrobe Sharon Bennett
Erika Dent has the Last Word Sheila Mannix
Dark Eyes Stephanie Shields
Trade-Off Sultana Banulescu
Bullet Points Susan Zatland
Ivy Bernadette Gallagher
Missing Tony O’Prey
When Philippa Met Ava Tony Tysoe
Buy One Get One Free Wallace Barnes
Some Enchanted Evening Will Ingrams
A gap in the curtains William Konarzewski
Explanations Xanthi Barker

LONGLIST Flash Fiction Prize 2015

200 flash stories longlisted
(1285 flash stories submitted in total)

Jeffery Abbie Tingstad
Miracle Adam Tamashasky
Third Course Alan Cole
WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR Alex Reece Abbott
A FREE LUNCH Alex Reece Abbott
SOMETHING SWEET TO FINISH Alex Reece Abbott
The Gentleman Alistair Daniel
Shooting Season Allison Browning
Escape Angela Hickey
The Hungry Goddess Anita Lehmann
#Teaching Moment Ann-Marie Jerman
Late-Night Takeaway Anna McGrail
Penelope Anna McGrail
The Man in her Bed Anne Crosse
Shadows and Dreams Annette Bower
through slipstreams AYDIN MEHMET ALI
The Little Girl Inside Me Beata Anna Fijalkowska
Ivy Bernadette Gallagher
Tipping Point Bernie McQuillan
The loves of Efraim Cotter Beth Evans
Daughter Beth Grosart
GOTCHA Breda Nathan
The Button at the End of the World Brian Quat
Fruit Vines Bridget Helwig
Doubling Down Bruce Christiansen
THE RIDE Brynn Carroll
The Bird Kitchen bryony doran
Why? C Pringle
You Should Have Known Calysta Sylvester
I might go to Spain Carol Jones
The Transformation Caroline McCartney
First Time Carrie Beckwith
Not so Flash Carrie Beckwith
New Years Eve Celine Mescall
The Final Celine West
The soul is symphonic
(Little Red Riding Hood in midlife)
Ceridwen Buckmaster
Too good to be true Charles Knightley
Comrades Charlie Weaver Rolfe
Trash Fish chloe wilson
Gravity Christian Cook
Full Circle Christina Eagles
Pierrot Christina Eagles
How to Survive christina Sanders
Making a Man christina Sanders
My Hewo CJ Hribal
Witness clare proctor
Banana Squash clare proctor
Promises clare proctor
Men in Elk Country Coleman Pape
Horny Toad Colin Houghton
Winter Crystal Huynh
Suburban Spy Cynthia Buck
HOLIDAY CONVERSATIONS IN
MARRIED LIFE
damien donnelly
She Nose Dave Joy
The Comedy David Armstrong
A Small Price David Steward
Life in Lost Canyon Dawn Lowe
Why Dawn Lowe
Falling Short of a Lou Reed Song Deirdre Daly
Rapunzel Deirdre Daly
A Small Inconvenience Denise Drespling
50 Years Derek Keane
When Lorca Broke My Heart Devon Ronner
Too Close for Comfort E.L Norry
Noise Eamon Mc Guinness
The Muse Emily Devane
Life Sentence Emma Rea
A Taste for Rednecks Ericka Olsen Stefano
The Flute Evelyn Walsh
Billy Filipa (aka ‘Kaori’) Komuro (aka ‘Crawford’)
Family Holidays Gillian Walker
Only you’re not Gina Headden
The Proposal Hannah Shepard
Wasted Iain Napier
Dmitri my friend Iain Napier
Jackpot Iain Napier
Flash Ian Duckworth
A Prodigal Prays For
Harlem in Winter
Isabella David McCaffrey
Forwards, backwards, sideways Jackie Burgoyne
Wait Jackie Davis
Love Post GFC James Balian
Misconception James Murtha
Her First Steps Jamie Stacey
The Love I Don’t Tell Jamie Stacey
The Plastic Banana Jane Avery
The wish list Jane Fraser
When the power goes off Jane Fraser
There you go Jane Fraser
Burying the Truth Jane Rogers
Tea time Janet Duignan
The games people play Janet Duignan
Butterfly Buns Jason Akehurst
Song Jason Jackson
Girl, Bridge Jason Jackson
Paper Chain Dolls Jennifer Cairns
The Professor Jerome McFaden
The marriage of Lennie and Mike John Mulligan
Shadow or Shade John O’Connor
Our Billy John Stockdill
Cheesecloth John Wheway
Exclusive Control Jon Nixon
THE POWER OF FRIGHT JONATHAN FRANK
The Switch Jude Higgins
Upstairs Downstairs Jude Higgins
White Matter Julianna Holland
The Age of Progress Karen Baker
Regrets Kate Mahony
Camp B Katerina protopsaltis
The World of Modern Ballet Katerina protopsaltis
TV VS WALKING Katerina protopsaltis
Lana’s Day as a Poet Katherine West
The Dog Will Be Fine Katherine West
The Golden Toilet Kenneth Francis
The Re-gifting of Sisterly Love Kerrin O’Sullivan
Before the Tsunami Kirsty Seymour-Ure
Jill Kyle Macdowell
68th street Larry Fondation
Beyond Inside Laurence Davies
Lost at sea Lee Farnsworth
Broken Lee Farnsworth
Cafe de Paris
(Geneva, Switzerland)
Linda Nemec Foster
The Life and Times of
Mary Margaret McBride
Linda Rathburn
Shopping List Lisa Derrick
The Presage Lisa Fransson
SERIAL DATER Loraine Felce
CARE (taking) Lynn Blair
The Task List Maire Ryan
Not thirty yet Margaret Callaghan
Falling Margo Barnes
Epilogue to a Cutter’s Handbook Maria Kaplun
Home Marie Boland
Tick-tock Marie Parkins
The Talent Marjorie K. Kennedy
Land Of Stones Mark Smith
Robots Mark Sutz
Wreck Mark Sutz
Com Marked
Macaroon Bar martin shiel
Three little words maureen flynn
The Great Wheel Turns Maureen Gallagher
The Shortest Distance
Between Two Places
Melissa Ostrom
SOMETIME AHEAD Michael Kirby
BLAST FROM THE PAST Michael Kirby
DARKROOM Michelle Allford
Nephew Michelle Coyne
Twig Michelle Wright
Rare Expectations Monica Goldberg
Earth Excavation Summary Monica Hileman
Regret Nancy Ludmerer
Tiffy Nancy Ludmerer
Transformation Nicholas Ruddock
Short back and sides. Noel Wills
Animals Pamela Banayoti
Fifty Knots Pat Murphy
Candy patria hatami
A Full House Patricia Demery
Oranges are not the only fruit Patricia Kyne
Thank You For Holding Paul Bassett Davies
Pigs for Breakfast Paul Rankin
His Journey Paul Stabell
Ice Pauline Murphy
An equal opportunities employer PJ Stephenson
The Other Lucy Jordan Polly Hall
A Fine Goodbye Ren Watson
The Bridge Richard Weems
Edacious Riona Judge McCormack
MACKEREL Robert Barrett
BOY Robert Barrett
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat Roger Vickery
Soul-Surfing Ron Jones
Maud Yearns to Conform Rose Servitova
Fishing With Frank Sinatra Ruby Speechley
The Ride Rucha Modak
Road Kill Russell Reader
When Your Babies are Dried… Ruth Tamiatto
Storm Sara Roberts
Not a Party Girl Sarah Bianchi
Happy Birthday Victor seamus scanlon
The Parking Angel seamus scanlon
The Wardrobe Sharon Bennett
Appropriation Artist Sheila Mannix
Erika Dent has the Last Word Sheila Mannix
Compensation Simon Kensdale
Cancer Siobhan Devoy
Accidents Stella MacAleese
Dark Eyes Stephanie Shields
Trade-Off Sultana Banulescu
Boxing Day Susan McCreery
Bullet Points Susan Zatland
Missing Tony O’Prey
When Philippa Met Ava Tony Tysoe
What You Wish For Tom Scruton
MEET ME IN BELFAST trish leake
Falling Una Mannion
My father’s dog Veronica Bright
Buy One Get One Free Wallace Barnes
Barbs West Foster
Some Enchanted Evening Will Ingrams
A gap in the curtains William Konarzewski
Explanations Xanthi Barker

WINNERS Fish Short Memoir Prize 2015

FIRST
Throat of Morning  by Wendell Hawken
SECOND
The Torso and the Lotus  by David Horovitch
THIRD
Porn  by Saffron Marchant

 

HONORARY MENTIONS:
Van Men   by John Harris
Dutch Scene Before Divorce  by Nicola Waldron
Kibun by Elizabeth Browne
The Beach Umbrella   by Eva Faber
No More Encores   by Aida Lennon
Symphony Date   by Cathy Beres
Christmas is Coming by Alan Coley

SHORTLIST Fish Short Memoir Prize 2015

90 memoirs shortlisted
(780 memoirs submitted in total)

MEMOIR TITLE AUTHOR
A Life in Dogs Adrianne Aron
A Caseful of Ostrich Feathers Aida Lennon
CHRISTMAS IS COMING Alan Coley
We All Know Mr Jones Alice Jolly
Kingsley Amanda Bell
Black Ice Amy Vander Els
Christmas Day in Dewsbury Andrea Burn
The Precipice Anna Bogdanova
Homeward Bound Anna McGrail
‘Cause I knew I was loved Anni Webster
Peter Barbara Unkovic
A Boy is a Half-Assed Thing Barry Troy
A Life Well Lived Beryl Trebble
Where the Sun Comes up Like Thunder Blair Bourassa
Just a Little Finger Bridgett Kendall
Mother’s Bad Leg Carol Kellar
Practicing doctors Caroline Mawer
What if the Pastor’s Wife Wants to Quit? Carrie Stephens
LEARNING TO LIE Catherine Brophy
Symphony Date Cathy Beres
From the Mockingbird’s Throat Chris Carson
March Chris RB Fay
Make You a Woman Cynthia Stuart
The Torso and the Lotus David Horovitch
The Bedrock of My Soul Deborah Cameron
GOING UP CAMDEN DICK JONES
´I can´t write about him´ –
Writing in the Silences:
Beckett, Grief and Art
Eamon Mc Guinness
Kibun elizabeth browne
Getting Saved Elizabeth Brunazzi
The Trail of Tears Ewing Baldwin
The Hooded Man Frances Kenny
FAMIGLIA G.L. Sheridan
Motherland Geraldine Anslow
Damage Gerry Dorrian
Hanoi Jane Jane Fraser
Love in a Camper Van Jane Fraser
He Drove As Far As He Needed To Jane Hacking
Burning Bridges Janet Duignan
Riding Shotgun Jeanne Martin
L’appartement de Mon Amie
(My Girlfriend’s Apartment)
Jeffrey Koterba
Van Men John Harris
DROWNING John Wagner
Scatter Your Ashes with a Frisbee Jordan Felker
The House Julian Bentley Edelman
The Day Before Easter, 2013 Julian Bentley Edelman
The Girl Who Stayed Kathleen Chaplin
The Girl Who Stayed Kathleen Chaplin
The American Dream Kathryn Shaver
Double Helix Kirstan Hawkins
Weird Dirt Lisa Grube
Up there Lorna Thorpe
A Suitable Family Louise Kennedy
Chapatis, Hunger, Tigers, and Liberation:
a Pilgrim’s Tale
Madiha Bataineh
A Few Small Stones marilyn ogus katz
Learning to walk in a man’s shoes Marlene LEE
THE SOCKS Marsha Mittman
The Schoolyard Martine Fournier
The Dought Season Mary Bilan
Unutterable Mary Roberts
Who We Become mary shannon
soul crows–a memory michael casey
I am Made of This Miriam Moeller
Rite of Passage Natalie Ryan
Boys will be boys. Nicholas Bowlby
On Seagull Street Nicholas McLachlan
Dutch Scene Before Divorce Nicola Waldron
Bittersweet Thursday Ninette Hartley
No More pauline rooney
Always With Us Pavlina Morgan
Bloke to Bloke Peter Tonkin
The One With the Personality Phyllida Scrivens
An Immigrant’s tale RASHMI PAUN
Sunday Dinner Rhoda Wolfe
September Spam Richard Holeton
Slivers and Fragments Robert Little
Elysium Robert Maxwell
Petty Crimes Roberta George
Exposure Ruth Heller
JOURNEYING SOUTH Ruth Oliver
Porn Saffron Marchant
Suitcase of Memories Sandi Parsons
Dream Homes Sandra Burdett
Saturdays Sarala Estruch
Big Blonde With A Beehive Sharon MaHarry
Yahoo Stewart Ross Carry
Memories are Made of These Sue Roff
The Christmas Story Terese Brasen
Dear My Father Una Mannion
The Onion Church Una Mannion
Throat of Morning Wendell Hawken

LONGLIST Short Memoir Prize 2015

197 memoirs longlisted
(780 memoirs submitted in total)

MEMOIR TITLE AUTHOR
My Life, The Movie A.B. Chesler
Middle School Life Abbie Tingstad
30-Dec Abbie Tingstad
How to Save Comic in Times of War Adnan Mahmutovic
A Life in Dogs Adrianne Aron
A Caseful of Ostrich Feathers Aida Lennon
CHRISTMAS IS COMING Alan Coley
Saragh’s Diary Alexandra D’Arcy
We All Know Mr Jones Alice Jolly
The Fairy Child Alison Walker
What Happened in Jamaica Alyssa Kilzer
Kingsley Amanda Bell
Black Ice Amy Vander Els
Cows and Lies Andre Hess
Christmas Day in Dewsbury Andrea Burn
From the Head’s Office Angus Walker
View Near the Borderline Ann Thompson
The Precipice Anna Bogdanova
Now gone home Anna Hansell
Homeward Bound Anna McGrail
A Gas Woman Anne Griffin
A Ghost Itches Anne Griffin
Culture Shock Anne Stoddart
‘Cause I knew I was loved Anni Webster
Nuns & Dinosaurs Annie Lowney
The Outer Hebrides Anthony Costello
The Dividing Line April Darcy
Peter Barbara Unkovic
A Boy is a Half-Assed Thing Barry Troy
A Life Well Lived Beryl Trebble
Red Brick Betty Weiner
Rules to Survive Childhood Billie Travalini
Where the Sun Comes up Like Thunder Blair Bourassa
Just a Little Finger Bridgett Kendall
The Skiles Junior High Blues bruce wexler
Where Are the People? Caitlin McGill
Dear Diary Cal Bartley
Mother’s Bad Leg Carol Kellar
Dorie Adams Caroline Hume
Practicing doctors Caroline Mawer
What if the Pastor’s Wife Wants to Quit? Carrie Stephens
LEARNING TO LIE Catherine Brophy
Non-Toxic Catherine Coldstream
Mary Catherine Conroy
Symphony Date Cathy Beres
From the Mockingbird’s Throat Chris Carson
CROSSING OVER Chris Livingstone
March Chris RB Fay
Beautiful Gardens Christina Greeves
In Wales with Larry Christopher North
Five Things That Terrified Me Abou
Visiting My Grandparents
Ciara McVeigh
YOU’RE NEVER TOO YOUNG TO BE SCARED Cindy Small
The Way We Were Clarrie Pringle
Make You a Woman Cynthia Stuart
Womb Dances Dairena Ní Chinnéide
CYCLING IN ISRAEL David Forest Hitchcock
The Torso and the Lotus David Horovitch
The Bedrock of My Soul Deborah Cameron
My mate came to see me Debra Phillips
Pleasure Deepak Singh
Mum in Memory Denise Blake
GOING UP CAMDEN DICK JONES
´I can´t write about him´ –
Writing in the Silences: Beckett, Grief and Art
Eamon Mc Guinness
Kibun elizabeth browne
Walter and Tatsy Elizabeth Brunazzi
Getting Saved Elizabeth Brunazzi
Bridge of Sighs Elsbeth Collins
Funeral Eugene McCarthy
The Trail of Tears Ewing Baldwin
Blood Suckers Frances Kenny
Hold Your Collar Frances Kenny
The Hooded Man Frances Kenny
FAMIGLIA G.L. Sheridan
Where Things Are Kept No More gabi burman
You in N’awlins Now Baby Geraldine Anslow
Once upon a time there was a tavern Geraldine Anslow
Motherland Geraldine Anslow
Damage Gerry Dorrian
Not the Journey We Were Expecting Gordon Darroch
Where Black Rivers Meet Gulara Vincent
Sage and Wisdom Helen Hansen
Growing up in wrtime Jackie Hinden
Death at Midnight Jaimee Joroff
There Were Red Roses At The Gas Station Jaimee Joroff
Fine Dining in Bartlesville James Murtha
Kinsale Fishermen James Murtha
My Road to Je Suis Charlie James Yao
It Seems Like Yesterday Jane Ashworth
The Jackalberry Tree Jane Borges
Diamonds Jane Borges
Hanoi Jane Jane Fraser
Love in a Camper Van Jane Fraser
He Drove As Far As He Needed To Jane Hacking
Burning Bridges Janet Duignan
The Duck Javi Reddy
Riding Shotgun Jeanne Martin
L’appartement de Mon Amie
(My Girlfriend’s Apartment)
Jeffrey Koterba
THE CHRISTMAS CHICKENS Jenifer Granger
Did You Pee Jim McDonald
On the Run Jo Fitzsimons
Van Men John Harris
MY BROTHER’S CLOSET John McCabe
DROWNING John Wagner
Scatter Your Ashes with a Frisbee Jordan Felker
The House Julian Bentley Edelman
The Day Before Easter, 2013 Julian Bentley Edelman
Quietus Julianna Holland
Core of My Heart Julie Davies
The Baron kate Biddle
The Miracle of Braile Street Katherine Palmer
The Girl Who Stayed Kathleen Chaplin
The Girl Who Stayed Kathleen Chaplin
The American Dream Kathryn Shaver
Double Helix Kirstan Hawkins
Riding in Cars Laura Lohnes
Salad Dressing Lauren Foley
Kates Melodeon Liam Cahalan
The Currency of the Ganges Linda judge
Weird Dirt Lisa Grube
I Am The Anti-Proust Liz Gray
Up there Lorna Thorpe
Mrs. Morrison Louisa Byrne
A Suitable Family Louise Kennedy
A Stitch in Time Lydia Kann
Rocks M McCutcheon
Chapatis, Hunger, Tigers, and Liberation:
a Pilgrim’s Tale
Madiha Bataineh
Mabel’s chickens Maeve Kolitz
A Few Small Stones marilyn ogus katz
Me and Airports: AGP Malaga Mark Blackburn
Com Marked
Learning to walk in a man’s shoes Marlene LEE
THE SOCKS Marsha Mittman
The Schoolyard Martine Fournier
The Dought Season Mary Bilan
Children of Light Mary Lou Shields
My Dad, Bull McCabe Mary Mullen
Accidental Damage Mary Roberts
Unutterable Mary Roberts
Who We Become mary shannon
soul crows–a memory michael casey
The Brass City Michael Dwyer
The last salmon fisherman on the Tamar Michael Hooton
Dabbling Free michelle brock
I am Made of This Miriam Moeller
The Beginning Mischa van den Brandhof
Rite of Passage Natalie Ryan
Flame Niamh MacCabe
The Lark Ascending Niamh MacCabe
Boys will be boys. Nicholas Bowlby
On Seagull Street Nicholas McLachlan
Solent Ward Nicki Heinen
Dutch Scene Before Divorce Nicola Waldron
Bittersweet Thursday Ninette Hartley
The Leaving Nora McGillen
what’s your Angel name patricia bradley
The Recipe Book patricia Denny
No More pauline rooney
GRANDMA and GRANDDAD CROPP Pauline Steele
Always With Us Pavlina Morgan
Bloke to Bloke Peter Tonkin
The One With the Personality Phyllida Scrivens
An Immigrant’s tale RASHMI PAUN
America is for Lovers Rebecca Ewan
Sunday Dinner Rhoda Wolfe
September Spam Richard Holeton
Slivers and Fragments Robert Little
Elysium Robert Maxwell
Petty Crimes Roberta George
The Jewel Beach Ruko Kitamaru
Exposure Ruth Heller
JOURNEYING SOUTH Ruth Oliver
If music be the food of love ruth Skrine
Wings in a Life ruth Skrine
The Workshop Ryan Kramer
Porn Saffron Marchant
Suitcase of Memories Sandi Parsons
Dream Homes Sandra Burdett
The Lifesaver Sara Ballard
On Dad, Death, Denial, and Duty Sarah Cunningham
Saturdays Sarala Estruch
THE NASWAR BOX Savi Fitch
Broken Roses Seth Polley
Paradise Mislaid Sharon Eckman
Big Blonde With A Beehive Sharon MaHarry
Zambian Music Sheila Crawford
The Call of the Peacock Sherri Matthews
Aden Simon Kensdale
Fifty Words for Love, in Swedish Stephen Keeler
Yahoo Stewart Ross Carry
Memories are Made of These Sue Roff
Places Susan Anmuth
Journey to Everywhere Sylvia McGlynn
The Christmas Story Terese Brasen
Found Soul Tom Husband
Searching for Ruru Tracy Brighten
Caught tracy duvangel
Landscaping Una Mannion
Dear My Father Una Mannion
The Onion Church Una Mannion
Throat of Morning Wendell Hawken

Fish Anthology 2015

Fish Anthology 2015 –

SELECTED BY:
Jennifer JohnstonShort Story
Carmen BuganShort Memoir
Bret Anthony JohnstonFlash Fiction
Nick LairdPoetry

How 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? What is the role of language—lyrical, descriptive or confessional in portraying these strong experiences? What exactly is the language of memory? The pieces selected here seem to prompt all these questions and the best of them offer some great answers.
Carmen Bugan  

Read an excerpt from winning short story – The Pace of Change by Chris Weldon.

Read winning poem – Saint John’s Primary School Nativity. Nineteen Years On. By Tessa Maude.

 

 

Fish Anthology 2015

Short Story Prize 2022 Results

Winners

Short-list

Long-list

 

On behalf of all of us at Fish, congratulations to the 10 winners, and to those who made the short and long lists. 

I was delighted to find so many skilled pieces in the entries this year, stories that
were gem-like, compressed and glinting . . . Sarah Hall


 

 

 

 

The Ten Winners:

Sarah Hall

Sarah Hall

Selected by Sarah Hall

The 10 winners will be published in the Fish Anthology 2023.

(There were 1,392 entries to the competition.)

     

First:
Vietnam  

Letty Butler (Sheffield, UK)

     

Second:
The Longhouse

Nicholas Petty (UK / Amsterdam)
     
Third:
Autophile
Dylan Garity (New York)
     
Endangered

Roger Vickery (Australia)

     
Fur  Allegra A Mullan  (London)
     
Hitch Emma Neale (New Zealand)
     
Readmission Josephine Rowe (Australia)  
     
The Parts He Missed Joshua Wagner. (USA / West Cork)
     
The Thing Adored Hanako Senzoku (Japan)
     
The Watch Case Hanako Senzoku  (Japan)
     
     

Comments from Judge, Sarah Hall:

Reading short stories is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences. You never know
what you are going to get as a reader, and as a critic. This is not just because they
showcase disquiet, tension, subversion and surprise, but because the form itself is so
difficult, so exacting, even punishing to attempt, and it remains, very often, an un-
mastered discipline.

But I was delighted to find so many skilled pieces in the entries this year, stories that
were gem-like, compressed and glinting, little worlds in entirety that refracted life and
ideas, and created a hinterland around their borders. Pieces that were written by
authors who really understood short story metrics – economy, traction, mood,
schematics, potency, negative space, and irresolution.

I was also heartened to experience a variety of themes and styles, because the form,
for all its limits, is oddly flexible, open to innovation, experimentation and originality,
a staging ground for a host of topics and landscapes and human goings-on. It is hard
to summarize these entries, other than to say, as always, existentialist DNA was deep
there, from which a myriad of ideas, tales and explorations branched out.

What a joy! What a joy to experience in these stories the many versions of us, told in
so many different ways, small episodes pushing up against big themes, propositions
and provocations that expand any restrictions we might make for ourselves, socially,
politically, or textually. What a joy to be transported to so many different places
around the globe, and into speculative futures, and back into the disputable past.
Yes, the reading was truly nerve-wracking, but for all the right reasons.

 

A little about the winners:

Letty Butler is a writer, actress, comedienne, creative coach and chronically indecisive. She’s based in a tiny flat in Sheffield, writes across multiple genres and has just finished her debut novel, Escape Artists. Letty’s always got multiple projects on the bubble due to a low boredom threshold. She’s currently working on her debut collection of short fiction and is developing a 12-part comedy series for screen, alongside award-winning director, Juliet May (Motherland, Miranda). 

Nicholas Petty is a British writer living in Utrecht, the Netherlands. His short fiction has previously been listed for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award and the Galley Beggar Press Short Story Prize, and has appeared in The Moth, The London Magazine, Short Fiction Journal, and elsewhere. When he’s not at his desk, he can be found on a sunny terrace with a plate of bitterballen and a tiny Dutch beer.

Dylan Garity is a writer and editor originally from Oregon, currently living in Brooklyn, New York. As a spoken word poet, he has toured around the United States, performing at a wide variety of venues and winning the college national poetry slam with Macalester College. He cofounded and served as vice president of Button Poetry for many years, and now works as a freelance fiction editor. “Autophile” is his first published short story.

Roger Vickery rescued this story from a shelter. From the jump, it whined, barked, scratched, and shat out demands to be re-located to a sunny home. Drawing on his multi-vocational (ADHD?) background Roger employed marketing wiles, legal arguments, military tactics, teaching aids and sailing tacks to up-sell the ingrate. Failure. Then he remembered The Fish. They’re a soft touch… accepted his poetry pup in 2015… maybe they’re open to a new stray?   

Allegra Mullan is twenty-two years old and lives in North London. She has had work published in the Keats Shelley review, the Penguin First Story anthology, the 2016 Foyles Young Poets anthology, and Rotters Magazine. When she is not on her phone, Allegra enjoys watching film trailers and walking. She is currently studying Creative Writing at Goldsmiths and working as a chef.

Emma Neale lives and works in Dunedin, New Zealand, as a freelance editor and occasional creative writing tutor. The published author of novels, poetry and short fiction, she is also the mother of two sons. Her husband works as a theoretical physicist; her sons like to say this family background of  ‘physics and poetry’ has clearly led directly to their own divergent passions: jazz percussion and basketball. 

Josephine Rowe is the author of three story collections and a novel, A Loving, Faithful Animal, published in the UK by Tuskar Rock Press. She was a 2021-2022 fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Centre for Scholars and Writers, and a 2022 Writer in Residence at Literaturhaus Zürich. She has recently returned to Australia and is living in coastal Victoria, working on a new novel and sleep. Her latest collection of stories is Here Until August. 

Josh Wagner spent his early years in California before his folks dragged him off to Montana, where he learned to love a bit of solitude. He has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh, and is currently living in West Cork working on a baffling PhD concerning forests, grief, embodiment and spectrality. He dabbles in music, filmmaking and theatre, but the art of fiction will always be his first and most abiding love.

Hanako Senzoku has spent half her life in Melbourne, Australia and half as a returnee in Tokyo, Japan – her sense of what constitutes a barbeque is a present source of consternation, and writing an ever-guiding star. She is perpetually filled with wonder and confusion, and an appetite for delicious things. 

 

 


 

Short-list:

(alphabetical order) There are 45 stories on the short-list. (There were  1,392 entries in total).

Title

First Name

Last Name

Hanna. With Two Ns.

Peter-Adrian

Altini

Borrowed Bones

Rita 

Ariyoshi

Binoculars

Alex

Baines

How to rescue a cat

Liz

Barnard

The Martyr’s Brother

Paul

Bassett Davies

The Jewelled Sea

Paul

Bassett Davies

Mobile

Maryanne

Berry

The Approximate Distance in Light Years Between Us

Mike

Carson

Pomegranate

RAND RICHARDS

COOPER

Mending Wall

Mark

Edwards

Karma

Mark

Edwards

500 Internal Server Error

Nikki

England

The End of Pi

Andrew

Gardiner

Autophile

Dylan

Garity

What Lies Within

M

Gethins

Buddies

Emily

Grabham

Christmas Magic?

Peter

Greenwood

Deliverance

Lauren

Guastella

To Brighten a Dull Wing

Ruth

Guthrie

Hello Hell

Maurice

Haeems

The Making of Him

Alice

Jolly

Foxholes

Seán 

Kenny

Everything Else Is Afterwards

Seán 

Kenny

Hi-Ho The Derry-O

Suzanne

McCourt

Hitch

Emma

Neale

Baby Heart

Giles

Newington

The Outsiders

Treasa

O’Brien

Standard Model

Fergal

O’Byrne

Coccinella magnifica

A F

Packer

ALL IT TAKES

Pat

Pickavance

Release

Stephanie

Pollock

Banana Taffy

Chad

Poovey

Helter Skelter

Julie

Rea

Readmission

Josephine

Rowe

Last Act

Natalie

Southworth

They Come to Me Now and Then in The Dying

David

Strickland

Burgundy Ridges

Matt

Surface

Yoyo

Carsten

ten Brink

Endangered

Roger

Vickery

Roofers

Roger

Vickery

Stay and Hold

Joshua

Wagner

The Parts He Missed

Joshua

Wagner

Last Year’s Fires

Andrea

Watts

Dog

James

Wilson

DELOREAN

Judith

Wilson

 

 


 

Long-list:

(alphabetical order)

There are 135 stories in the long-list. (There were 1,392 entries in total.)

 

Title

First Name

Last Name

Fur

Allegra

A Mullan

Hanna. With Two Ns.

Peter-Adrian

Altini

Before

Nancy

Antle

Borrowed Bones

Rita 

Ariyoshi

Confinement

Karen

Ashe

Binoculars

Alex

Baines

Tamara Ivanovna Talks to Herself

Jana

Bakunina

THE GLASS EATER

Erika

Banerji

How to rescue a cat

liz

barnard

The Martyr’s Brother

Paul

Bassett Davies

The Jewelled Sea

Paul

Bassett Davies

Eli, 2021

Mona

Becker

The Mourners

Donald

Berk

Mobile

Maryanne

Berry

MIORBHAIL

Alfreda

Black

Lovely Stars

Hayley

Blair

Poetry for the Epilogue

Kevin

Broccoli

Vietnam

Letty

Butler

Chains Like the Sea

Michael

Carragher

The Approximate Distance in
Light Years Between Us

Mike

Carson

Catch a ______ by his Toe

Stuart

Chapman

About the Cat

Ann

Collins

All Life’s Prizes

Jude

Cook

Hot Hex Summer

Laura

Cooper

Pomegranate

RAND RICHARDS

COOPER

The Names of those Lost

Craig

Cormick

Cailleach

Maureen

Cullen

Particles

Nina

Cullinane

Homeless Camping Jump

Annie

Dawid

Touch Pool

Brooke

Dunnell

Mending Wall

Mark

Edwards

Karma

Mark

Edwards

500 Internal Server Error

Nikki

England

Pivot

Jane

Finlayson

Souvenir

Thomasin

Finn

A Shrine for Justin

Mary

Fox

A Category of Kindness

Soma Mei Sheng

Frazier

How Many Feminists Does It Take
To Change A Lightbulb?

Helena

Frith Powell

The End of Pi

Andrew

Gardiner

Autophile

Dylan

Garity

Story of a Book

Paulo

Garnsey

My Sweary Neighbour

CJ

Garrow

Badly Drawn Girl.

Ruth

Geldard

What Lies Within

M

Gethins

Buddies

Emily

Grabham

Christmas Magic?

Peter

Greenwood

Deliverance

Lauren

Guastella

To Brighten a Dull Wing

Ruth

Guthrie

Hello Hell

Maurice

Haeems

The Deer

Andrea

Harper

untitled

Sarah

Harte

King of the Roads

Aaron

Hennessy

Paulina

Pamela

Hensley

Shelley, naked

Brian

Hill

Banana Bread

Rachael

Hill

A Man Who Has Com Through

Sean 

Hooks

The Old Snow Country

Mandy

Huggins

The Chef’s Suggestions

Roger

Jefferies

Someday Soon

Gregory

Jeffers

The Making of Him

Alice

Jolly

The Troop Leader

Brynne

Jones

The Bird Warden

Jupiter

Jones

Diamonds and Toads

Sara

Keating

Pupils

Tyler

Keevil

Foxholes

Seán 

Kenny

Everything Else Is Afterwards

Seán 

Kenny

Silence

Scott

Lambridis

Contrary Motion

Anna

Lawrence

Life in the Caged Jungle

BV

Lawson

Red Sun

Mary

Lewis

KILLING TIME IN ABERYSTWYTH

Emily

Macdonald

Absent Without Leave

Fiona J

Mackintosh

The English Opening

Camilla

Macpherson

Stella

Emma

Mather

The Democracy of Weather

Tracy

Maylath

The Weaver of Tales

Jillean 

McClory

Halley’s Comet

Victor

McConnell

Hi-Ho The Derry-O

Suzanne

McCourt

The Unexpected Challenge

Patrick

McCusker

Epilimnion

Alison

McGuire

Breakfast Like a Pauper

Naci

Mehmet

Breakfast

Naci

Mehmet

The Exorcism

Gillian

Metheringham

Knot Wood

Michael

Miller

The Turn

Philip

Miller

Memento Mori

Pauline

Milner

5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Konrad

Muller

Rats, Stars etc.

David

Murray

Hitch

Emma

Neale

Baby Heart

Giles

Newington

The Outsiders

Treasa

O’Brien

Standard Model

Fergal

O’Byrne

Borneo

Leanne

Ogasawara

“Maroons”

Alexander

Ortega

Coccinella magnifica

A F

Packer

Where the Women Are

Susan

Peet

The Longhouse

Nicholas

Petty

Odds

Nicholas

Petty

ALL IT TAKES

Pat

Pickavance

Release

Stephanie

Pollock

Banana Taffy

Chad

Poovey

Skokie

Janet

Price

The Other Side

Norah

Prida Bay

Helter Skelter

Julie

Rea

She Went There for the Weekend

Hannah

Retallick

The Tender Hand of Faith

John

Rex

Dirty Chicken & Rice

Simon

Roberts

Pipeline

Alex

Rourke

Readmission

Josephine

Rowe

A Parcel of Rogues

Kerry

Ryan

The Thing Adored

Hanako

Senzoku

White Gloss and Sheen

Hanako

Senzoku

The Watch Case

Hanako

Senzoku

Waiting For The Big One

Catherine

Shorr

Buried

emma

Shtanichev

A Weighty Issue

susan

smith

Last Act

Natalie

Southworth

KILL ALL SHAREHOLDERS

Jon

Stapley

They Come to Me Now and Then in The Dying

David

Strickland

Burgundy Ridges

Matt

Surface

Complete strangers

John

Taylor

Yoyo

Carsten

ten Brink

Licked

Rosalind

Thomas

Endangered

Roger

Vickery

Roofers

Roger

Vickery

Stay and Hold

Joshua

Wagner

The Parts He Missed

Joshua

Wagner

Last Year’s Fires

Andrea

Watts

The Flatlands

Tracey

Weddle

The Invisible One

Pamela

Wills

Dog

James

Wilson

DELOREAN

Judith

Wilson

Concerto in F Flat Minor for Oboe and Flute

scott

winkler

The Worst Story

Mat

Woolfenden

The Lonely Daughter of Fabio Penitente

Anna

Zaranko

 

 

Short Memoir Prize: Results ´22

Winners

Short-list

Long-list

On behalf of all of us at Fish, we congratulate the 10 winners who made it to the Anthology, and to those writers who made the long and short-lists, well done too. Thank you to Qian Julie Wang, for the time and enthusiasm that she put into selecting the winners.


 

The 10 Winners:

Qian Julie Wang

Selected by Qian Julie Wang.

 

FIRST

Thirteen Ways of Interrogating An Incident:
by Wally Suphap (USA)

This is masterful in craft, content, exploration, and style.
Qian Julie Wang

 

SECOND

Saddo: by Sheena Wilkinson (N. Ireland)

I felt your words in my bones … exquisitely crafted …
Qian Julie Wang

 

THIRD

Two Bastards: by David Ralph  (Ireland)

… you brought James back to life with your gift … keep writing.
Qian Julie Wang

 

HONORARY MENTIONS

 

For Chantal Akerman: by  Francesca Humphreys (UK)

Beautifully meditative … powerful … 
Qian Julie Wang

 

Blame the Milkman: by Diane Parnell (USA)

You had me from the opening: “We descend like fleas.” … truly magical.
Qian Julie Wang

 

Forgetting: by Elizabeth Whyatt (UK)

… insights into the body, trauma, and childhood …
Qian Julie Wang

 

In the Summer Before Third Grade: by Jaclyn Fowler (USA)

… brought Terri to life … I love the structure and craft of your piece.
Qian Julie Wang

 

A Cold Night in January: by Jupiter Jones (Wales)

(Stephanie Colburn´s memoir ´Milkweed´ was withdrawn and A Cold Night in January by Jupiter Jones takes its place.)

 

The Mole: by Ruth Rosengarten (Israel/UK)

… an exquisite piece.
Qian Julie Wang

 

Ten Stages of Reproduction: by Beverly Orth (USA)

… an intimate, honest portrait of pregnancy and motherhood … deployed perfectly. I can’t wait to see what else you write.
Qian Julie Wang

 

A little about the winners:

Wally Suphap was born to Thai-Chinese parents in Bangkok, moved to Los Angeles for K-12, begrudgingly worked as a corporate lawyer in New York and Hong Kong, and now lives on the border of Manhattan’s Morningside Heights. An award-winning queer rights advocate whose activism work was profiled in The Guardian, Yahoo, and The Financial Times, Wally is a Lenfest Fellow and Teaching Fellow at Columbia’s MFA writing program and founding managing editor of The Plentitudes. 
Twitter: @WSuphap       IG: @WSuphap

 

Sheena Wilkinson has won many awards for her novels and short stories. Described in The Irish Times in 2015 as ‘one of our foremost writers for young people’, She has recently decided to try her hand at writing the truth instead of making stuff up, and this is her first published memoir piece. Sheena lives near Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland and when she’s not writing she’s usually dog-walking or singing, sometimes both at once.  

 

David Ralph writes fiction and non-fiction. His stories and essays have appeared in Dublin Review, New Irish Writing, Southword, Litro, and elsewhere. He is the 2021 recipient of the Words Ireland National Mentoring award for Dublin City Libraries. He lives in Dublin. 

 

Francesca Humphreys was born and raised in London and trained as a singer and actor. This year, she is completing a Masters in Creative and Life Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. In her writing, she examines the scope of her appetites, the role that hunger has played in shaping her identity and the effects of what she calls ‘inherited immigrant syndrome’. When not writing, Francesca teaches high-octane indoor cycling classes.

 

Diane Vonglis Parnell grew up on a remote farm in Western New York with nine siblings. She has spent most of her adult life on the Central Coast of California. Diane serves as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer for abused children in her community and lives a minimalist’s life in a 250 square foot cottage. Reading, writing and red wine are her favorite things.

 

Anna Whyatt is a writer, sculptor and dramaturg, her international and national cultural regeneration work has contributed to award -winning projects such as Tate Modern, the UK Film Council and Chelsea Flower Show. Her fiction and non- fiction has been shortlisted several times for international and national literary awards. She is currently working on a political mystery based on true events 1935-45 and a Kurt Weill ballet linked to the experiences of refugees. Her sculpture has been shown in UK, US and Poland. 

 

Jaclyn Maria Fowler is a storyteller at heart, coming from a long line of raconteurs and wanderers who trace their lineage back to the west coast of Ireland. She, too, travels to write and writes to travel, following in the footsteps of her ancestors. To pay for her obsessions, she works as Chair of the English Department at APUS. She is the author of “It is Myself that I Remake” and “No One Radiates Love Alone.”

 

Jupiter Jones lives in Wales and writes short and flash fictions. She is the two-time winner of the Colm Tóibín International Prize, and her stories have been published by Aesthetica, Brittle Star, Fish, Scottish Arts, and Parthian. Her first novella-in-flash, The Death and Life of Mrs Parker was published by Ad Hoc Fiction and her second, Lovelace Flats by Reflex Press.  jupiter-jones@outlook.com  @jupiterjonz 

 

Ruth Rosengarten is a writer and artist who thinks the word collage describes her work in both areas. She is the only urban Jew in a certain village in Cambridgeshire where she does not commune with nature.  She has published extensively in the fields of art history and art criticism, before turning, in lockdown, to memoir writing. Her book Second Chance: My Life in Things will be published by Open Book later this year.

 

Beverly J. Orth is a reformed attorney with two degrees unrelated to the world of creative writing. She attends writing and literature classes at Portland State University, an institution that has twice refused to admit her to its MFA program. Yet, she remains undaunted by its rejection. Her work has appeared in precisely five literary journals. She lives in Portland, Oregon (U.S.), with her four sewing machines, three typewriters, one husband, and no pets.

 

 


 

SHORT-LIST (36, in alphabetical order. There were 859 entries)

Title

FIRST NAME

SURNAME

Teeth

Morgan

Barbour

Nemea

L S

Beveridge

Milkweed

Stephanie

Colburn

Will There Be Enough Love In The Bank?

Tamsin

Cottis

134 Days

Phil

Cummins

Making A Glass Of Water

Eamon

Doggett

Life under water: A hearing loss journey

Rye

Dreyer

Bungalow People

Thea

Elmsley

All the Bright Stars

Sally

Fox

One Year the Pond

James

Friel

Romantic Landscape

Amy

Glynn

Where The Dust Lies (A Memoir)

Melinda

Goodman

A Welly Boot of Vodka

Mat

Greenfield

All That’s Left Behind

Anya

Hastwell

The State I’m In

Phyllis

Hollenbeck

Knifepoint

Anne m

Jones

A Cold Night in January

Jupiter

Jones

Time Present

Simon

Korner

Complete All Forms

Kathleen

Langstroth

Varifocals

Miki

Lentin

More Than Nineteen Thousand Doorways

Steven

Lewis

NOT KNOWING

Peter

Lindley

sic transit gloria mundi

Robert

Maxwell

On the March from Selma to Montgomery

Suzanne

McConnell

The Woods

Kerry

McNamara

Collision

Lindsay

Nicholson

Born Again

Bruce

Powell

Two Bastards

David

Ralph

Two Towels and A Cardboard Box

Cheryl

Reggio

The Mole: A Story in 62 Sestudes

Ruth

Rosengarten

The Ward

Nicole

Scobie

A Short Stay in Paradise

Michelle

Scorziello

Waiting Rooms

Kay

Smith

All American

Kate

Vieira

Blurry Vision 2020

Dorothy

Walton

Miss Brodie’s Girls

Lynnda

Wardle

     

 

 


 

LONG-LIST (115. In Alphabetical Order. There were 859 entries)

 TITLE

FIRST NAME

SURNAME

Harvests

Mara

Adamitz Scrupe

Ghosts

Sara

Atwood

Teeth

Morgan

Barbour

Physio

Paul

Bassett Davies

The Lifting of Abu Simbel

Julian

Beecroft

The Strange Legacy of a Diminutive Ghost

Anneke

Bender

Watching The Boats Come In

Susan

Bennett

Nemea

L S

Beveridge

Quack Quack

Shell

Bird

Sidney and the Primroses

Mary

Black

Rookie Teacher in a Red Dress

Wendy

Breckon

10 Under 70

Jim

Brennan

Milkweed

Stephanie

Colburn

The Veil

Samantha

Colicchio

Will There Be Enough Love In The Bank?

Tamsin

Cottis

Getting to Like the Germans

Jenny

Cozens

134 Days

Phil

Cummins

Man From Atlantis

Phil

Cummins

Icarus

Phil

Cummins

Mrs Alleman.

Isanna

Curwen

Between Two Piers

David

Danbury

Making A Glass Of Water

Eamon

Doggett

Life under water: A hearing loss journey

Rye

Dreyer

Bungalow People

Thea

Elmsley

The Merry Widow´s Club

Sandi

Fikuart

Labor’s Great Reporter

Jean

Fleming

Conduct: Unsatisfactory

Amelia

Fletcher

In the Summer Before Third Grade

Jaclyn

Fowler

All the Bright Stars

Sally

Fox

One Year the Pond

James

Friel

All Thumbs

Jack

Garvey

Romantic Landscape

Amy

Glynn

Last Night With the Light On

Rebecca

Godina

Where The Dust Lies (A Memoir)

Melinda

Goodman

Losing it

Liz

Granirer

Scorpio Versus Leo

Colton

Green

A Welly Boot of Vodka

Mat

Greenfield

Madagascar Memories

Jill

Hadfield

The Unseen

Stephen

Haines

Our Language

Holli

Harms

Do Not Tell a Soul

Catherine

Hartnett

All the Beautiful Houses

Maggie

Harris

All That’s Left Behind

Anya

Hastwell

Chameleon

Sylvia

Hayashi

A Muse at Arm’s Length

Louis

Hemmings

Salvaging Sweetness, a Memoir – an extract.

Esther

Hoad

The State I’m In

Phyllis

Hollenbeck

Knifepoint

Anne M

Jones

A Cold Night in January

Jupiter

Jones

Waking Tommy

Caitriona

Kelly

This Old Caged Bird Can Still Sing

Bridgett

Kendall

Uncommon Threads

Carmen

Kew

Time Present

Simon

Korner

Escape

Laura

Kyle

Complete All Forms

Kathleen

Langstroth

Title

First Name

Last Name

Varifocals

Miki

Lentin

For Chantel Ackerman

Francesca

Leonie

More Than Nineteen Thousand Doorways

Steven

Lewis

NOT KNOWING

Peter

Lindley

A White Plaster Cat

Paul

Marion

When the Band Broke Up

Debra

Marquart

sic transit gloria mundi

Robert

Maxwell

Athalee

Robert

Maxwell

The Dust That is Made Up of Her

Tracy

Maylath

On the March from Selma to Montgomery

Suzanne

McConnell

Psychics!

Alan

McCormick

Perihelion

Paul

McGranaghan

The Woods

Kerry

McNamara

For Every Bear That Ever There Was

Geoffrey

Mead

Purgatory Party

Natalie

Michaels

On anaphylaxis

Barbara

Mogerley

Dear Diary

Molly

Mogren Katt

Tadpole from the Epic Spawning

Marilyn

Moriarty

@3ftinpm

Barbara

Mossberg

Collision

Lindsay

Nicholson

ALP 650

Helen

O’Neill

The Ten Stages of Reproduction

Beverly

Orth

Ambush

James

Page

Why She Cried

Larry

Pankey

Blame the Milkman

Diane

Parnell

Give me a child until he is seven ..

Carl

Parsons

Ask Me How It Works: frequently asked
questions about my open marriage

Deepa

Paul

In the restaurant of the Athenée Palace

Lilian

Pizzichini

Born Again

Bruce

Powell

Two Bastards

David

Ralph

My Mother’s Secrets

Cheryl

Reed

Two Towels and A Cardboard Box

Cheryl

Reggio

The Ghost

Emma

Rennison

Ringing of the Bell

Marc

Revere

The Mole: A Story in 62 Sestudes

Ruth

Rosengarten

The Other Side of the Tracks in 1971

Gerald

Ryan

My August

Peter

Samis

The Ward

Nicole

Scobie

A Short Stay in Paradise

Michelle

Scorziello

My Little Yza-Baby Story

Yza

Shady

Waiting Rooms

Kay

Smith

A Suitable Dress

Maxine

Smitheram

Lost Language

Ann

Spence

The Murder Plot

Charity

Starrett

There are moments which cry out to be fulfilled

Nina

Stochniol

Thirteen Ways of Interrogating an Incident

Wally

Suphap

Heart in Two Worlds

Chris

Thomson

All American

Kate

Vieira

All-American

Kate

Vieira

The Longest Day of the Year

Kate

Vieira

Blurry Vision 2020

Dorothy

Walton

Miss Brodie’s Girls

Lynnda

Wardle

Forgetting

Elizabeth

Whyatt

Saddo

Sheena

Wilkinson

 

 

Flash Fiction Prize 2022: Results

Winners

Short-list

Long-list

 

From all of us at Fish, Congratulations to the writers whose Flash Stories were short or long-listed, and in particular to the 10 winners.

 


 

Winners

Tracey Slaughter

Here are the 10 winning Flash Fiction Stories, as chosen by Tracey Slaughter, to be published in the FISH ANTHOLOGY 2022.

Comments on the flash stories are from Tracey Slaughter, who we sincerely thank for her time and expertise. 

 


 

FIRST PLACE

The Stone Cottage:  by Partridge Boswell

Lyrical pull and enveloping atmosphere distinguished this piece from the first reading, drawing
me into its arresting sensory focus. While understated in terms of narrative action, the dramatic energies of its stonework setting sung, instilling each detail with emotional depth. Its textured, sense-rich approach to sound made its rhythmic sentences and close-range images layered, evocative and rewarding to re-read.

 

SECOND PLACE

On the Other Side of the World: by Linda Nemec Foster

What attracted me to this piece was how it utilized the dynamics of flash to vibrant structural effect, laying frames of scenic detail cleverly alongside each other to compose a lyric collage of glimpses. What struck me was its skill in capturing brief instants of foreign experience, through an enticing but contained series of images which it left to resonate compellingly.

 

THIRD PLACE

Millstone:  by Z Aaron Young

A dense, disturbing narrative-drive set this piece apart, drawing the reader ever deeper into the meshes of its drama, through to its intensely clever twist. It leads us through the turns of this darkly compelling plot through contained use of dialogue and encounter, making striking use of flash’s minimalism to deliver a honed and high-impact story.

 

 

SEVEN HONORABLE MENTIONS (In no particular order)

 

Crabwalk: by John Walshe

What I found compelling about this piece was its rhythmic energies and attention to sentence tempo and tension to evoke character. Its evocative beat and cleverly timed repetitions delivered a vivid impression of the narrator, keeping the reader ‘jumping big steps’ with its child speaker, and were also skillfully linked to the overall story arc and its dynamic core image-pattern.

 

Firelight:  by Kathryn Henion

The strength of this piece is in its lively mobilizing of setting detail in the service of storytelling. It places us in a vivid slice of landscape through crisp and evocative imagery, and involves us atmospherically in the character’s key childhood glimpse of adult life.

 

Beauty Curse:  by Seamus Scanlon

This piece stood out for its dynamic tone, making skilled use of dialogue and voice to grip the reader’s attention in its edgy narrative. It also allowed this strong vocal focus to drive an innovative form and movement, generating original narrative energy.

 

Kabul, August 2021:  by Marie Altzinger

Making use of sliding frames, this piece juxtaposed two points of view on a central crisis, effectively inhabiting different female angles and voices to political ends. It used this form powerfully but with tight control, letting the explosive off-screen drama arise through subtly selected detail.

 

Taking Revenge on Gustav Klimt:  (or The Paintbrush that isn’t a Paintbrush)  by David Lewis

Taking on an effective and tonally-alive point of view, this piece dissects a slice of artist’s model’s life with wry, cutting amusement at the sexual politics of image-making. Sharp, clever, economical and tongue-in-cheek.

 

A Mother Knows:  by Russell Reader

The economy of this piece worked powerfully to control strong emotion and to cover a long history in brief vocalized details. Spoken tension connects us effectively with character, subtly revealing a moving subtext beneath the minimal and controlled narration, approaching a heavy topic through bare contained voice.

 

While the Planet Still Remains:  by Fiona J Mackintosh

Immersive second-person narration and lyric rhythm at the sentence level were at the heart of this piece’s impact. It took on a vast and weighty subject, containing it effectively through sustained focus and a personal approach, building a clever analogy into its ending.

 


 

A LITTLE ABOUT THE WINNERS:

 

Partridge Boswell is a stay-at-home rover, father of seven, and author of the Grolier Award-winning collection Some Far Country. When not hitchhiking or freighthopping, his bindlestiff poems have recently found homes in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Poetry Ireland Review, Southword and The Moth. Co-founder of Bookstock Literary Festival, he teaches at Vallum Society for Education in Arts & Letters in Montreal and troubadours widely with the poetry/music group Los Lorcas, whose debut release Last Night in America is available on Thunder Ridge Records. Please say hello when you see him busking on Grafton Street.

 

Linda Nemec Foster is a poet and writer, currently living in Grand Rapids, Michigan (USA). She is the granddaughter of immigrants from southern Poland who settled in Cleveland, Ohio. Many of her relatives and friends still live in Poland (some of them near the Ukraine border) and she has visited them and that part of the world many times. The author of 12 collections of poetry (e.g. The Blue Divide, 2021 and The Lake Michigan Mermaid, 2018), Foster was the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Grand Rapids from 2003-2005.

 

Z. Aaron Young is an MFA candidate in the NYU Low-Residency program and considers himself a fiction writer and spare-time philosopher. His writing has appeared in various folders across his laptop and has been read by tens of people. His hobbies are extremely easy to list and he very much enjoys music. When he’s not sleeping, he can be found more or less awake.

 

J.P. Walshe lives in Malahide, Co. Dublin and works in libraries.  When not surrounded by books he can be found on the sofa trying to forget about them.  After starting but then writing nothing for eight years he’s taken up where he left off and finds it a much more productive way to spend insomnia.  He once rode a bike cab in San Diego and taught English while pretending to know grammar in Barcelona.”

 

Kathryn Henion’s fiction has appeared in over twenty journals, including Beloit Fiction Journal, Saranac Review, Natural Bridge, and Green Mountains Review. She earned a Ph.D. in English from Binghamton University, where she was editor of the biannual literary magazine Harpur Palate. Currently she serves as fiction editor for the online journal of art and literature, Anomaly, and lives, works, and writes in Ithaca, NY. www.kathrynhenion.com

 

When Seamus Scanlon won the Fish Flash Fiction Prize with The Long Wet Grass (2011) he thought he had arrived (in West Cork). When the story became a one act play (2014) he thought he had arrived (on Broadway).  When the story became a film (2015) he thought he had arrived (in Hollywood). When the play was translated into Japanese and staged in Tokyo (2018) he thought he had arrived (in the East). Will the Beauty Curse (2022) finally lift his arrival curse? Stay tuned www.seamusscanlon.com

 

Marie Altzinger was born in Luxembourg, and moved to Ireland at the age of six. Discouraged by a schoolteacher obsessed with the descriptive style of Gerald Manley Hopkins, Marie gave up creative writing for a quarter of a century. Thankfully she eventually saw the error of her ways, and now has two huge suitcases stuffed with PTCs (Pieces to Consider). Marie lives in Dundrum, Dublin, with her wonderful husband, fabulous daughter, and super dog. 

 

David X. Lewis has written journalism for Reuters, speeches on AIDS for WHO, and documents for a Geneva organisation that sacked him. He now focuses on creative writing from Ferney-Voltaire, France. The opening of his third (unpublished) novel was nominated for a Pushcart in 2021, when he also won the Bangor 40-word competition. In 2022 he will be published by Bath Flash Fiction and (twice) in Sticks and Stones, an Oxford anthology of “flash greats”. 

 

Fiona J. Mackintosh (www.fionajmackintosh.com) is the Scottish-American author of a flash collection, The Yet Unknowing World published by Ad Hoc Fiction. She has won the Fish, Bath, Reflex, and Flash 500 Awards, and her short stories have been listed in several cool competitions in the UK and Ireland. She lives just outside Washington D.C., but she’s thankful that her imagination can carry her across continents and time, both during lockdowns and in happier times.      

 

Russell Reader lives in Keele, England, with his husband and two sons. He won first prize in the New Writer Magazine’s Prose and Poetry Awards and has been published by Litro, InkTears, Flash, Grist, and Bath Flash Fiction. One day he would like to write a story that isn’t sad and grim.

 


 

Short-list:

(alphabetical order)

 

There are 41 flash stories in the short-list. There were 948 entries in total.

Title

First Name

Last Name

 

 

 

Kabul, August 2021

Marie  

Altzinger

The day you chipped a tooth and touched a nerve

Lesley

Bungay

Labels

Letty

Butler

Fishes I Have Known

Ric

Carter

Brez

Ava

Dan-Gur

Karma Chameleon

Anne

Eyries

Echolalia

Elizabeth

Field

On the Other Side of the World

Linda 

Nemec Foster

The Door Opens

Geoffrey

Graves

Firelight

Kathryn

Henion

Lost Treasure

Maria

Jackson

Herring

Sarah

Kartalia

Cleft by the lines of cowards

Nelum

Kaur

Blood Brothers

Jim

King

Koel

Alfie

Lee

Flash Fiction

Alfie

Lee

A Human Jellyfish Goes Missing

David

Lewis

Taking Revenge on August Klimt  
(
or The Paintbrush that isn’t a Paintbrush)

David

Lewis

A Becket Tale: 1972

Finbar

Lillis

Rocket-ship set-up guide

Kik

Lodge

While the Planet Still Remains

Fiona J

Mackintosh

“Going, Going, Gone!”

Michael

Mahoney

The Prodigal’s Brother

Patrick

McCann

A Brush with Circe

Lauren

McNamara

Never Let Me Go

Geoffrey

Mead

GHOSTS

Catherine

Neville

Posted

Brigita

Orel

A Mother Knows

Russell

Reader

Falling Woman

Hannah

Retallick

For a Time, I

Hannah

Retallick

Meltdown

Nicholas

Ruddock

Bed Time

Yvonne

Sampson

The Sister as a Fox

Shannon

Savvas

Deciduous Trees

Adrian

Scanlan

The Twins

Seamus

Scanlon

Beauty Curse

Seamus

Scanlon

The Kiss

Jo

Skinner

Coppélia Doll Variation

Michaela

Tamma

The Proposal, Lyme Regis, 1936

Ken

Wilson

Satellite of love

Alison

Woodhouse

Millstone

Z. Aaron

Young

 

 


 

Long-list 

(alphabetical order)

There are 72 flash stories in the long-list. There were 948 entries in total.

 

Title

First Name

Last Name

 

 

 

Kabul, August 2021

Marie

Altzinger

SISTERS

Carrie

Beckwith

The Stone Cottage

Partridge

Boswell

A Cry Beneath The Leaves

Michael P

Bowles

White is the Color of Decay

Matthew

Brandon

Things I Would Do if I Was a Disgraced Soviet
Scientist, Living in Exile on the Riviera

Kati

Bumbera

The day you chipped a tooth and touched a nerve

Lesley

Bungay

Labels

Letty

Butler

Fishes I Have Known

Ric

Carter

All That Remains

Charlene

Cason

Man Up

Yvonne

Clarke

Brez

Ava

Dan-Gur

Trying to Write a Haiku

Rosamund

Davies

Driving Home

Christina

Eagles

On taking Macy’s Kittens to the Sawmill

Henry

Edwards

Caravan

Susan

Elsley

Subject: Humanity 2022-4022

Stephen

Enciso

Mountain Air Folly

Tanya

Esnault

Karma Chameleon

Anne

Eyries

Warp Factor

Tom

Farrell

Echolalia

Elizabeth

Field

Leaving hospital with a suitcase

Nick

Fordham

On the Other Side of the World

Linda 

Nemec Foster

Burhan Now or Never

Nancy

Freund

Aliens

John

Fullerton

Keys

Laura

Geringer Bass

In the Light

Cicely

Gill

Odette at Tea-Time

Heather Lynne

Goddard

The Door Opens

Geoffrey

Graves

An Imitation

Leonie

Gregson

Last Wave

Michael

Hainsworth

Sticks and Stones

Daniel

Harwood

Turning Back Time

Hannah

Hawthorne

Firelight

Kathryn

Henion

It’s a Living

Tova

Hope-Liel

Lost Treasure

Maria

Jackson

Fishtail or Why I Can’t Recommend a Birthing Pool

Jupiter

Jones

Was this an Act of God

Roger

Jones

Herring

Sarah

Kartalia

Cleft by the lines of cowards

Nelum

Kaur

Blood Brothers

Jim

King

This Isn’t Working Anymore

Keith

Law

1-800-KARS-4-KIDS

jeffrey

lazar

Colour of Night

Roland

Leach

Koel

Alfie

Lee

Flash Fiction

Alfie

Lee

The Dragon’s Inn

Alfie

Lee

Jack

Alfie

Lee

Gilbert

Alfie

Lee

Commonwealth

Alfie

Lee

A Human Jellyfish Goes Missing

David

Lewis

Taking Revenge on August Klimt
(or The Paintbrush that isn’t a Paintbrush)

David

Lewis

A Becket Tale: 1972

Finbar

Lillis

Rocket-ship set-up guide

Kik

Lodge

Broken

Laurie

Mackie

While the Planet Still Remains

Fiona J

Mackintosh

Going, Going, Gone!

Michael

Mahoney

Suspicion

Robert

McBrearty

The Prodigal’s Brother

Patrick

McCann

Mantelpiece

Alan

McCormick

Fearing

Paul

McKeogh

A Brush with Circe

Lauren

McNamara

Never Let Me Go

Geoffrey

Mead

Nouvelle Cuisine

Geoffrey

Mead

Electric Cold

Jane

Messer

Beyond

Hailey

Millhollen

The Baptism

Alison

Milner

Cornered

Katrina

Moinet

GHOSTS

Catherine

Neville

Ed Vedder

Dominic

Nunan

How to take Prizewinning Photos

Tom

O’Brien

The Mummies of Guanajuato

Pamolu

Oldham

Versions of Him

Helen

O’Neill

Posted

Brigita

Orel

Disassociation

Carolyn

Peck

The closest I came to having sex after twelve years
of marriage to a man with anhedonia [cont.]

Kathryn

Phelan

A Mother Knows

Russell

Reader

Turkey Legs

James

Reid

Falling Woman

Hannah

Retallick

For a Time, I

Hannah

Retallick

The Fly Trap by the Window Adjacent to My House

Hannah

Retallick

Meltdown

Nicholas

Ruddock

No Future in Being a Postman

Michael

Salander

Bed Time

Yvonne

Sampson

The Sister as a Fox

Shannon

Savvas

Deciduous Trees

Adrian

Scanlan

The Twins

Seamus

Scanlon

Beauty Curse

Seamus

Scanlon

Man of Letters

Wilma

Scharrer

Cider on Your Lips

Kim

Schroeder

King Cat

Lucy

Shuttleworth

Way Out West

John

Simms

The Kiss

Jo

Skinner

Eventuality

Jonathan

Splittgerber

Underpaid

Jamie

Stacey

The Spirit of Things

Nora

Studholme

Coppélia Doll Variation

Michaela

Tamma

Some creatures trapped in ice

Hilary

Taylor

Dog Nose

Brendan

Thomas

The Movements

Cole

Tucci

Never too late

Melanie

Veenstra

Crabwalk

John

Walshe

Shedding Skin

Nicole

Watt

Savannah Animals Fun For Kids

Susan

Wigmore

The Proposal, Lyme Regis, 1936

Ken

Wilson

The electric is-ness of life

Michele

Wong

Satellite of love

Alison

Woodhouse

Snowfall

Amy

Wright

Millstone

Z. Aaron

Young

You Can Only Jump Forward

Glen

Zehr

 

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