Category: fiction

fiction4 Comments

Best of Cover to Cover 2022 | Vision Australia Radio

Barry Lee Thompson

Originally posted on Elwood Writers:
We’re excited to learn that this year’s special Elwood Writers edition of Cover To Cover on Vision Australia Radio (VAR) has been selected for the Best Of Cover To Cover 2022, which will run on VAR between 26 December and 6 January. Our program’s theme is ‘Adelaide’, and it was first broadcast over the Easter weekend. So if you missed our show the first time round, or if you would just welcome the chance to hear it again, tune in to hear us reading our own stories on-air. We don’t have specific timings yet, but… Continue reading Best of Cover to Cover 2022 | Vision Australia Radio

fiction, writers groups11 Comments

Retreat

Barry Lee Thompson

At the beginning of September I joined a group of writing friends for a week-long retreat at a rented house in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. The five of us originally met on a writing residency at Varuna in 2016, and have stayed in touch since then. The Sunday before leaving Melbourne, I sent off a grant application I’d been working on, and I had no other outstanding deadlines looming. I had a clean slate and a clear head, and decided I’d start a brand new short story in my week away. I wanted it to be an … Continue reading Retreat

Competitions, fiction, microfiction6 Comments

Winning stories of the VI edition of The César Egido Serrano International Short Story Competition

Barry Lee Thompson

The first prize went to ‘Fly’ by José Manuel Dorrego Sáenz, from Madrid, Spain. The winning story was written in Spanish, and its author wins $20,000. There were three second prizes of $2000 awarded to the highest-ranking entries in each of the other languages of the contest:‘Where Do You Think You’re Going?!’ is by Emilia Sheppard, resident in Warsaw, Poland – their story was written in English;‘Woodpecker’ is by Natheer Alzuabi, resident in Vienna, Austria – their story was written in Arabic;‘Pink’ is by Ravit Grossman, resident in Herzeliya Israel – their story was written in Hebrew. In line with … Continue reading Winning stories of the VI edition of The César Egido Serrano International Short Story Competition

Broken Rules and Other Stories, fiction, The story behind the story13 Comments

The story behind ‘Twitch’

Barry Lee Thompson

In December 2013, London’s Dazed magazine launched a competition calling for short stories ‘based on surveillance culture’. I’d long been a fan of the magazine, and was drawn to the theme, so thought I’d give it a whirl. I wanted to look at online surveillance, privacy and metadata, and concerns around the trails and traces we deposit in online spaces. The first few sentences of a story came to me quickly, and I was off. I found it easy and fun to explore on the page the liberating, if at-times anxious, aspects of online experiences, and of adult chat platforms … Continue reading The story behind ‘Twitch’

Broken Rules and Other Stories, Events, fiction4 Comments

Festival reflections

Barry Lee Thompson

When I first began sending work to publications and competitions, I realised that something strange happens once a story is submitted. Despite all the time spent honing, refining, getting it just right, almost immediately after hitting ‘submit’, issues and ideas previously hidden become apparent, opening up new and exciting ways to think about the story. This may be to do with distance from the submission process, stepping outside the piece and experiencing it objectively. With a few years under my belt, I’ve acquired a toolbox of resources for tricking my mind into believing a story’s been sent before it actually … Continue reading Festival reflections