The Fiction Shelf

A rookie rock and roll journalist senses his big break when he gets granted a rare audience with a reclusive rock legend. A classy short story that is as much about getting old as it is about rock and roll.

A short image with an inconsequential end that reflects the futility of the situation. The honest talk reads like an open‐ended discussion on violence and sex. The untempered language tells effectively of an unremarkable happening in an average setting. Effective and brutal.

Childish absent‐mindedness and the lack of a reason, incomprehensible to adult ears, form the basis of this oddly‐touching and humorous short story. A quirky tale whose peculiar subject is matched with an out‐the‐ordinary narrative that remains engaging and entertaining.

A poem that revels in its disorder. A memory written as furiously as the time lived. Brief and sharp, this work is beautiful in its honesty.

A wonderfully‐paced, funny and insightful story about a mother getting to grips with her son’s impending marriage. Family Stone is warm and engaging and deals with familiar issues without ever seeming trite.

A short piece which is whimsical, comic and tragic. The mundane notions of vanity are presented before an impending horror of conflict with prose that are simple and wholly enjoyable to read.

Ostensibly a comedy that finds humour in the brief moments of light in a working day, but, like all good comedy, there is a twinge of tragedy in this sensitively‐crafted and wholly‐enjoyable work about a regular visitor to a coffee shop.

Here, the author has embraced the theme of our ‘One Day’ competition in a unique way and created an engaging and surprisingly uplifting piece. It’s humorous and very real.

A short tale that captures the giddiness and excitement of the ‘chase’, the elation of getting that first laugh and the fall towards love – but also cautions against the blurred perceptions offered by alcohol.