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'A Lesson in Artistry'

12/30/2012

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Picture
Caricature
An odd little story of mine was published a couple of weeks ago in That's Life! Fast Fiction, a quarterly Australian magazine.

A Lesson in Artistry started life as a 200-word piece of flash fiction concerning a successful young businessman who gets cursed and has to learn a bit of humility.

What's most interesting about this story is that I've never lost faith in it, even though it's been rejected several times in the past. Ironically, one of those rejections was because the magazine I submitted it to had recently published a story of mine that also involved an artist. However, I was sure that since the idea behind the story was (as far as I know) unique, it would eventually find a home.

Anyhow, once again this goes to show that you shouldn't give up on a piece of writing just because it has accrued more than its fair share of rejection slips.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/octwinners2012.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

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Orwellian Winner - Global Short Story Competition (October)

12/17/2012

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Picture
George Orwell
I got word last week that I jointly won October's Global Short Story Competition.

As Judge Fiona Cooper explained, 
“There are two winners this month since the qualities of both stories are so different and excellent in their own way. Beautiful writing and reflection and a style begging to develop a novel on one hand; on the other a story so stark it reads like an apocalyptic vision.”

For those who know my writing, it's not hard to guess that mine's the latter story. This is what Fiona had to say about Passing Away:

“The concept of this story has an echo of both George Orwell and Auberon Waugh at their bleak incisive best. In our current political climate where even the doom laden Cassandra would appear quite jolly, this story takes materialist policy to an inevitable and hideous conclusion. The last line is a spine chilling stroke of genius.”

Fiona's spot on as far as the George Orwell influence goes. Having just finished re-reading 1984, I got to wondering about the more negative consequences of problems that have reared their heads since Orwell's time, such as an ageing population, mass unemployment and a scarcity of resources.

And so Passing Away was born. However, not wishing to spoil the story, I'll post the link once it's posted on the GSSC site.

Oh, and the biggest buzz was being compared to such a visionary.

Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!



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Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale Commended

12/5/2012

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Picture
Tapestry-making
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I submitted the abridged version of The Tapestry-Maker's Second Tale to Writers' Forum magazine's monthly poetry competition.

Well, although it wasn't one of the four winning entries for December, it did make the list of the five commended poems.

That's the second time one of my 'Lost' Canterbury Tales has made the commended list - the earlier one was The Knight's Second Tale, an Arthurian spoof.

I'm now hoping that third time will be lucky for me, since The Dyer's Second Tale (a more balanced and complete Tale than The Tapestry-Maker  and The Knight is currently with Writers' Forum's poetry judge.

Finger's crossed.


Below are links to my two Global Short Story Competition winners, my short-listed story for the National newspaper, Abu Dhabi, and my Canterbury Tale published by Coscom Entertainment:

http://coscomentertainment.com/?p=159

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesjuly09.pdf

http://www.globalshortstories.net/winningstoriesdec09.pdf

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/short-story-a-day-for-decisiveness

Happy writing!

1 Comment

    Paul A. Freeman

    Paul A. Freeman lives and works in Mauritania, in the Arab World, where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean.

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