Category: Short Fiction

Aminatta Forna, ‘Haywards Heath’ (2010)

20th December 2010 / / 2 Comments

Years (at least thirty, at a guess) after graduating, Attila is a successful doctor with an international reputation. During a spell in London as a visiting consultant, he hears the name of Rosie, an old flame he hasn’t seen since his university days. Discovering that she has taken early retirement, Attila decides to look Rosie up; but, on arriving at her old hometown of Haywards Heath, he finds that the woman he knew has been taken by early-onset dementia.

Only two stories into the shortlist, and already I disagree with the judges. Forna leaves the events of her plot to speak for themselves, and I find the clean understatement of her telling more affecting than Constantine’s denser treatment of his theme. In addition to the portrait of Attila’s witnessing what has happened to Rosie, there’s the elegance of having Haywards Heath represent both Attila’s success (the town’s name was always difficult for Rosie’s overseas friends to pronounce, but now Attila says it perfectly) and Rosie’s decline (any success she had in her career has gone with the arrival of her illness, and she has returned home). In all, this is a very nicely realised piece.

David Constantine, ‘Tea at the Midland’ (2010)

20th December 2010 / / 1 Comment

The shortest of the Award nominees and not, to be honest, one that says ‘award-winner’ to me on its own terms; it’s good, yes, but it doesn’t knock my socks off. A couple take afternoon tea at a seaside hotel; she has brought him to admire a frieze there; he can’t appreciate it, because he refuses to separate the artwork from the criminal actions of the artist. Simmering beneath this immediate argument is a wider difference in worldview, exemplified in the text by the lengthy, discursive passages associated with the woman (such as the opening, when she admires the graceful movements of surfers out at sea), and the man’s terser dialogue. Constantine’s story is an effective and economical portrait of the central couple’s relationship; but it strikes me as good rather than excellent.

The BBC National Short Story Award 2010

20th December 2010 / / 4 Comments

Tomorrow is National Short Story Day; to mark the occasion, I’m blogging the shortlist of this year’s BBC National Short Story Award – namely, these stories:

David Constantine, ‘Tea at the Midland’
Aminatta  Forna, ‘Haywards Heath’
Sarah Hall, ‘Butcher’s Perfume’
Jon McGregor, ‘If It Keeps On Raining’
Helen Oyeyemi, ‘My Daughter the Racist’

The above titles will turn into links as I make my way down the list.

What I won’t be doing, however, is trying to predict the winner, because that was announced at the end of last month. David Constantine’s story was declared the winner; as it’s first on the list, I’ll be interested to see what standard it sets for the rest.

EDIT, 21st Dec: I’ve now written a concluding post in which I pick my winner.

Further links
Podcasts of the shortlisted stories
The Award at BBC Radio 4
The Award at Theshortstory.org.uk
Booktrust, which administers the Award
Comma Press, publishers of the anthology

Tim Nickels, ‘Supermarine’ (2010)

14th December 2010 / / 1 Comment

The longest and last story in Null Immortalis (and therefore the last story in all of Nemonymous) takes us to wartime Gibraltar, focusing on a number of characters, but most notably Kay Keating, an ex-film starlet who has travelled to the Rock on the orders of — well, that’s for the story to tell, not me. As with ‘The Green Dog’, I feel I haven’t been able truly to get to grips with this piece. I loved the flow and atmosphere of Nickels’ writing, but couldn’t piece together the deeper connections in the story.

Rating: ***½

Bob Lock, ‘Haven’t You Ever Wondered?’ (2010)

9th December 2010 / / 1 Comment

There have been stories in Null Immortalis which draw on their context of being in this particular anthology, but none more so than Lock’s contribution. Anthology editor D.F. Lewis is himself the protagonist, approached by the alien Tullis in a tale that casts the entire project of the Nemonymous series in a rather different light. This story comes across as a big in-joke, but, to be fair, I did find it rather amusing.

Rating: ***

Expanded Horizons, November 2010: The Portal review

8th December 2010 / / 0 Comments

This month at The Portal, I review the November issue of Expanded Horizons, a webzine which seeks to “increase diversity in the field of speculative fiction, both in the authors who contribute and in the perspectives presented”. The authors featured in this issue are Malon Edwards, Zen Cho, Eliza Victoria, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Omar Zakaria, and Csilla Kleinheincz.

My review is here, and the stories are available to read here.

Mark Valentine, ‘The Man Who Made the Yellow God’ (2010)

7th December 2010 / / 2 Comments

Valentine’s subject is J. Milton Hayes, author of the dramatic monologue ‘The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God’, here cursed with immortality and obscurity. What makes this short piece works so well is the narrative voice, which combines old and contemporary in a way that utterly convinces as the voice of a man who has remained physically young for a hundred years. There’s also an effective contrast between the vein of humour running through the narration and the more quietly spoken terror of the events described.

Rating: ***½

Stephen Bacon, ‘The Toymaker of Bremen’ (2010)

7th December 2010 / / 1 Comment

In 1938, young Scot Tullis’s family are on a motoring holiday in Germany when their car breaks down. Scot falls asleep, and wakes to find that his parents have disappeared; going off in search of them, he instead finds a house inhabited by an old man and his seven children, and full of strange toys. The old man offers Scot a place to stay; the days turn into months, with no sign of Scot’s parents. I like the idea of this story, but it doesn’t quite flourish for me in practice, as the prose doesn’t reach the level of texture and atmosphere for which it seems to be aiming.

Rating: ***

Cameron Pierce, ‘Broom People’ (2010)

6th December 2010 / / 1 Comment

The newly-single narrator  opens his dresser-drawer to find a tiny wooden girl who announces herself as ‘a broom…come to clean the cobwebs.’ Oh, but our man doesn’t know the half of it. This story is wonderfully creepy and odd, and leaves one guessing just what’s going to happen up to the very end.

Rating: ***½

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