I have two stories shortlisted in The Leicester Writes Short Story Prize 2017. One of them, “Suicide Vending Machine”, will be included in the collection. You can grab a copy here.
This story did really well for me. I entered it into more than one contest, and I encountered a very unusual problem: too many acceptances. Writing is mostly a bitter struggle against constant unyielding rejection, so “too much success” was a problem I was thoroughly unprepared to face. Still, some meek apologies later, I’ve got over my embarrassment and am now really excited to see another story in print.
As well as The Leicester Writes Competition, Suicide Vending Machine was also in the running for the Aurora Poetry & Short Fiction Competition, and I had a few other acceptances too. This has taught me to be a bit more careful about multiple submissions as I’ve had to withdraw entries. Most excitingly though, I’ve got an audio version of my work coming soon. I can’t say much right now, but I’ll keep you posted about that.
My story read out by an actor – I can’t believe it!
Tom