Scratches - but no claws

This in response to a flash fiction piece where a cat gets drowned in a sack at the end of a relationship. Thought 'The Delinquent' might be less squeamish than most... still this is one of those really nice rejections:

Dear Douglas,

What can I say? We’re cat-lovers. So our instincts ran a little contra to the story, although it was clearly well written. And being cat-lovers we couldn’t decide whether the story wasn’t simply gratuitous, albeit poetically so. Factor in 127,000 words of submissions and a bit of procrastination on the decision making and… you can see where this is heading… we didn’t choose to include 'Scratches' in Issue 6 of the delinquent.

But we would like to see some more of your work for the next issue.

All the best,

Jason & Jeremy

www.thedelinquent.co.uk

SPARKS - sometimes

I used to worry about the why of writing. Worried, too, about whether I had something to say and looked for truths to share with others that would make their reading of my writing worth something. Now I see it differently and trust that what I say will be worth listening to, not for the messages so much as for the telling... of stories. And where they come from is always a mystery, handed to me it seems sometimes, sparking off things seen or dreamed, words heard or lines read.

At the moment I am embarked on a truly exciting project with another writer. She wrote a flash fiction piece, posted it on a writers' forum, a letter from someone who calls herself Kafka's Aunt. The letter begged for a response, or so I felt, and so I replied, in character. Almost fifty letters later an intriguing surreal relationship has developed between a lower government official and an elderly woman complaining about the state of road crossings where she walks, and stories spinning off of what she writes and what he writes, like magic, like sparks and the sparks bright and sharp.

Kafka's Aunt is Vanessa Gebbie.

Watch this space for news.

CINNAMON AND SALT - SWEET

Two more good 'hits' for this week. 'SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD AND MORE' was a finalist in the Cinnamon Short Story Award and will be published in an anthology.

AND 'An Iquitos Story' gained an honourable mention in The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. Success on the other side of the pond counts double.

A Hit and a Miss

Today in my mail box:

Dear Douglas,

Thank you for your submission to Transmission #12.

I am happy to inform you that we will be publishing your story "A Carnival Heart" in this issue.

Your story will be sent out and illustrated by one of our artists. The finished issue will be published on 26th September 2008. We will keep in touch with any further developments.

Best wishes,
Graham
Transmission


AND

Thanks for sending this story, 'Most Of Us Is Half Dead Already, And Maybe We LIkes It That Way'. We have decided not to publish it in Fictitious Force. Best success selling it elsewhere.
Take care,
Jonathan


Some you win and some you lose... but sometimes... such a sweet win, and a carnival heart beating.
Both of these are flash fiction pieces.

To Be An Angel

The Fish Anthology 2008 went on sale this week. I have a story included: 'To Be An Angel' which was inspired by 'The Angel Project', an art installation that began life in the tower of London, was later expanded and moved to Perth in Australia, and post 9/11 it opened in Manhattan, New York. 'The Angel Project' presented those viewers who persevered with a 'real' experience of confronting angels. The angels were actors employed to be totally silent, and still, with strict instructions not to commune with the earthly customers. This was such an intriguing proposition that this story just begged to be written.

Because someone said I should

It's what you do, someone told me. In today's world. Don't get left behind, they said. Just do it. You'll see. It's easy. So here I am and not really sure of what I am doing. Doing it because someone said I should. I write, you see. Fiction mostly. And want to be read. And this is a way to get seen, I am led to believe. So Here I am.

I am a teacher at a high school near Edinburgh in Scotland. I graduated from the University of Aberdeen with honours in English and Philosophy. But it was later, studying Graphics and Ilustration at Edinburgh College of Art, that I discovered I could write. I have been writing ever since.

I began by writing children’s stories and books, have a whole bottom drawer full of yellowing manuscripts. ‘The Chesspiece Magician’ is just one of them, written after a visit to The National Museum of Scotland in 1996 where I saw an exhibition on The Lewis Chessmen and got the idea for the book. I threw it in to The Kelpies Prize 2008 and now find that I am shortlisted, one of three. Will know more on the evening of August 25th when I attend the awards ceremony at the Edinburgh Book Festival.

In recent years I have gained a great deal of recognition with my short story writing. I have been placed in over forty UK based writing competitions over the past two years and have been published in many competition anthologies as well as in The Eildon Tree Literary Magazine. I have also been published by Leaf Books, Cinnamon Press, Fish Publishing and Scottish Borders Council. And, having been highly commended in the recent Cadenza Magazine Story competition, will soon appear in its pages, too.

Oh, and in 2005 I was voted Forth One’s Teacher of The Year – probably because I tell my pupils such great stories.

Watch this space... if for no other reason to see a technophobe fumbling his way through this blogging game.

More will follow.