Afterdark6 Comments
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New Year news

Barry Lee Thompson

I was thrilled to hear this week that the development of my second collection of fiction, Afterdark, has the backing of the Sustaining Creative Workers program. Sustaining Creative Workers Initiative is supported by the Victorian Government through Creative Victoria and Regional Arts Victoria. The program is being delivered by Regional Arts Victoria and administered by an industry advisory group comprising Creative Victoria, Arts Access Victoria, Multicultural Arts Victoria, Music Victoria, NETS Victoria, Regional Arts Victoria, Theatre Network Australia and Writers Victoria. Creative Victoria website This is great news to end 2021 and see in 2022. I’ll look forward to sharing more … Continue reading New Year news

Elwood Writers, radio2 Comments

All about Adelaide

Barry Lee Thompson

I visited the Vision Australia Radio studios in Kooyong on Tuesday morning to record my story ‘A Standard Night’ for the upcoming Cover to Cover special edition featuring work by Elwood Writers. The theme of the edition is ‘Adelaide’. I wrote ‘A Standard Night’ especially for the program. A friend asked me on Tuesday night what the story’s about. I hadn’t given much thought to describing it, but I told them it’s a fictionalised distillation of some of my Adelaide impressions and experiences. I immediately liked that description – it neatly sums the story up. The Elwood Writers Cover to … Continue reading All about Adelaide

Broken Rules and Other Stories, The story behind the story5 Comments

The story behind ‘The Ministry Man’

Barry Lee Thompson

I grew up in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain, where the government pursued and actively encouraged intolerance and hostility towards same-sex attraction. A culmination of the Tories’ damaging agenda was Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988, which forbade local authorities from promoting homosexuality, or from teaching its acceptability in maintained schools. The clause wasn’t repealed until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales. In such an environment, sexual attraction is so stigmatised that it can feel ‘wrong’ and even dangerous. Imagine something as simple and innocent as a teenage crush being laced with fear. There may be no role … Continue reading The story behind ‘The Ministry Man’

Broken Rules and Other Stories, The story behind the story9 Comments

The story behind ‘Their Cruel Routines’

Barry Lee Thompson

There are two mother-son relationships within ‘Their Cruel Routines’, the opening story in Broken Rules and Other Stories: that between the fictional mother and her adult son, and that between my own mother and myself. The latter was the spark or inspiration for the story. A few years ago, I went to stay with my mother at her house in the north of England to help look after her while she was unwell. I would be there for some months, so I set up a work station at the kitchen table, where I was able to write each day. It … Continue reading The story behind ‘Their Cruel Routines’

Competitions7 Comments

Final days: Fundación César Egido Serrano VI International Flash Fiction Competition

Barry Lee Thompson

Es su última oportunidad https://www.fundacioncesaregidoserrano.com/es/ The deadline has finally been announced. We have until midnight Spanish time on Friday December 31 to enter micro-stories for the sixth edition of the international contest of the César Egido Serrano Foundation. Two stories per author, maximum 100 words each, in Spanish, English, Arabic or Hebrew. Details and participation form here. ‘What are you doing New Year’s Eve?’‘Staying home to write some flash fiction.’‘What a good idea. Safer than going to a party or watching fireworks.’ Continue reading Final days: Fundación César Egido Serrano VI International Flash Fiction Competition