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First: Runnin’ the River by Trish Nicholson Second: How the Garden Grows by Rhoda Thompson Third: We Are Stardust by Douglas Bruton Click on the titles to read the three winning stories
Highly Commended: Perfect Day by Alison Packer
Judge’s Report for the first quarter’s competition 2011 from Douglas Jackson Life - how we live it - and death are subjects which preoccupy every writer, so it wasn’t altogether surprising that the shortlist for the latest Flash 500 competition was predominated by both, with a rather worrying tilt towards the latter. Darkness was the prevailing theme, but fortunately the quality on offer served to drive away any tendency towards gloom. The one thing that surprised, and, if I’m honest, slightly frustrated me was the way that almost every story stuck rigidly to a very conventional short story structure. We enter a character’s mind, either in the first or the third person, we are led along a certain path, and at the last moment we are treated to an unexpected, possibly disturbing twist. I believe a competition like this is a wonderful opportunity to experiment with radical ideas in structure or voice and I’d like to think that in future Flash 500 lists we might see a more experimental approach in some of the stories offered. That said, every story which made it to the list had something special to offer, whether in subject, the quality of the writing or in the dramatic sting in the tail, and it was a pleasure to read them. Only a few, however, managed to combine all three and I didn’t find the task of whittling them down to the top six or seven too difficult. That was when my problems started. These are the stories that made it to my shortened short list. We Are Stardust Runnin’ The River This Moment In Time Bye, Bye Blackbird Lucy Counts The Walls How The Garden Grows Perfect Day They were all strong contenders, with consistently excellent writing, strong voices and interesting story lines which came to either a surprising or satisfactory conclusion, and one of them made it for the additional reason that it bucked the trend of wall to wall misery. In the end, however I had to choose four. 1st: Runnin’ The River I was immediately drawn to Runnin’ The River because of the uniqueness of the voice and the simplicity of the writing. Here is a man enjoying a meal in a restaurant where he’s obviously a well known regular and musing over his life’s choices, good and bad. Halfway through we realize he has an appointment to keep, but there’s no hurry. The atmosphere is relaxed, even though he admits he’s a little nervous. Three short lines of dialogue later the reality dawns like a kick in the stomach. Brilliantly executed, if you’ll pardon the pun. 2nd: How The Garden Grows Wonderful writing that gets right to the heart of what it is to be different, or ‘special’ as the author of the piece puts it. Each little vignette from Fiona’s life takes us further into her world and allows us to feel her hopes and frustrations. She knows she’s different, but that doesn’t make her any less human, and in the final shocking revelation she’s determined to prove it. 3rd: We Are Stardust Some beautiful writing, excellent description and an interesting voice in this poignant short story with an uplifting ending. Highly Commended: Perfect Day During my various readings I always had Perfect Day in my mind because it was so much brighter than most of the other stories. First class storytelling, a wonderful sense of place and perfectly captures that desperate need creative people have to be told how good they are.
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We received an incredibly high number of submissions for the first quarter of this year. Thank you to everyone who entered. Our readers chose the stories below to go forward to the final stage of judging.
Shortlisted Entries for the First Quarter 2011 — in alphabetical order
A Clear Shot Back-Seat Driver Baking Day Bye Bye Blackbird Caught between a stick and a hard place Henry's Wives How the Garden Grows Lucy Counts the Walls Mother's Hats Mother's Pride Mrs Hooper Not So Sweet Sorrel Now or Never Now's the Day Perfect Day Runnin' the River Screen Wash Shooting Vultures Tasty Dish The Most Beautiful Sight in Las Vegas The Vase The Will Think Positive This Moment in Time We Are Stardust
Long Listed Entries — in alphabetical order
A Clear Shot A Moveable Feast Back-Seat Driver Baking Day Best Friends By Popular Demand Bye Bye Blackbird Catch of the Day Caught between a stick and a hard place Elephant Grass Farm Feed For the Love of Adam Heirloom Henry's Wives How the Garden Grows Ladies Man Losing Things Lucy Counts the Walls Mother's Hats Mother's Pride Mrs Hooper Not So Sweet Sorrel Now or Never Now's the Day Perfect Day Pilgrimage Rainy Sunday Red like My Shoes Runnin' the River Screen Wash Shooting Vultures Take One Tablet Twice a Day Tasty Dish The End The House The Hunger Game The Last Laugh The Most Beautiful Sight in Las Vegas The Vase The Will Think Positive This Moment in Time Tosca Tweet Net We Are Stardust |