Short Stories (books)

Forthcoming: A new collection of short fiction

plums picUpdated June 2023: I am presently working on a new collection of short storiesIt is relatively early days -- possibly months or so from completion, as I would like to have a good range to select from. I may even have enough completed material for two separate collections. 

Also see the Latest Posts & Publications and Short Stories sections of this website.

Plums pic plucked from internet. Thanks.

*Already short-listed, published and prize winners:

Of my most recent finished stories, nine have already been shortlisted in leading Australian short story competitions and/or published in associated online or prize anthologies; one has won a major first prize, and another a 2nd prize. 

My short story  Shadow Dancing  is the latest to be published – in P76 Magazine, Number 8, the Sonic Poetry Festival Edition, Spring 2023. And  Shadow Dancing  is a humorous fantasy love story set in Newcastle, NSW, about a dancer smitten with his partner Luna, and eagerly awaiting her return. P76 is full of much interesting material, available from Rochford Press, see: https://rochford-pressbookshop.square.site/product/p76-issue-8-sonic-poetry-festival-special-issue/164?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

* 2020/2021: I am delighted that my short story, The Stars Shine for Bach, has recently been published in the Oz Music Trust's E-Zine, Loud Mouth. See: https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/the-stars-shine-for-bach-a-short-story-by-john-jenkins/ Also in the Oz Music Trust E-zine is my story Under His Hat: https://musictrust.com.au/loudmouth/under-his-hat/

Here is another recently published short story, The Flower in the Buttonhole:

https://thehumanwriters.com/2022/01/08/the-flower-in-the-buttonhole/

** I am also currently hard at work (circa JAN 2022) completing a 'Quadrella of Novellas'.

Watch this space!

* FIRST PRIZE, 2018 Elyne Mitchell Short Story Competition

Mitchell writing awardsMy story, The Girl Who Wasn't There won the Open Section of the 2018 Elyne Mitchell Award, for a story up to 2,500 words. Just click on link and scroll down a little. And if you'd like to read all shortlisted entries; a well-produced booklet is available for $15 + $3 postage. (Contact the Corryong Neighbourhood Centre on 02 6076 2176).

**

2nd Prize, C. J. Dennis Society Short Story Competition

My story, Rosemary's Summer Harvest won second prize in the 2018 C. J. Dennis Society Short Story Competition. 

**

My completed stories include quite a variety of themes, styles and approaches: character studies, speculative fiction, tales of the uncanny, hard-nosed realism, naturalistic tales of everyday life, very dramatic stories and evocative/atmospheric ones. I find all these possibilities equally intriguing, and have literally scores more of ideas and notes for same. I have also very recently completed a novella (of 15,000-plus words) with another three on the way.

Background: I have been a keen reader of short stories, and generally fascinated by short fiction, ever since the mid 1970s. Since I began writing short stories, around 25 have been published, in various magazines, journals, newspapers, anthologies or online. I have also co-edited two anthologies of Australian short fiction: Soft Lounges, co-edited with Antonia Bruns and published by Fringe Network/Champion Books in 1984, and The Outback Reader, co-edited with Michael Dugan, published by Outback Press in 1975. This new book, however, will be a first full collection of my own work. I am now very excited by the prospect of having it finished!

2017 and earlier:

Alan Marshall Short Story Award, shortlisted stories: I was shortlisted for the  Alan Marshall Short Story Award in 20222018 and 2017. See: http://www.nillumbik.vic.gov.au/Living-in/Arts-and-Cultural-Development/Alan-Marshall-Short-Story-Award

The following is a brief sampler of recently published, performed (or short-listed) pieces, going back to around 2016. For news of larger-scale projects, go to main menu categories, above.

coffee image2017: My short story, Through a Latte Darkly, was published by Margaret River Press in the prize anthology, Joiner Bay & Other Stories, edited by Ellen van Neerven, 2017(A previous short story, That Summer at Manly, was published in the MRP 2013 prize anthology, Knitting and Other Stories. 

  

RAF OMNI VOL142012 - 2017.  My short story, Her Ladyship's Pleasure, which was shortlisted in the 2015 Griffith University Josephine Ulrick Literature Prize, was included in Volume 14 of the online-only magazine, Review of Australian Fiction (RAF). (Unfortunatey, RAF is no longer being published.)

 

 

 

Again, for more news, watch this space.

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