Friday, July 19, 2013

July grateful

A big, big thank you goes out to Michelle Elvy and Sian Williams - editors of Flash Frontier - for awarding me "Flash Frontier’s 2013 Winter Award for excellence in writing".

July has been a great month for me (see my Short FICTION win). Those of you who believe in astrology might say my recent good luck has something to do with my being a Leo. Personally, I put it down to the good advice and nurturing of other writers and editors - thanks all of you - and a LOT of hard work: many, many hours writing, reading, writing, editing, reading, writing, and so on.

I'm particularly grateful to Flash Frontier for hosting so many of my stories - including another in their forthcoming SNOW issue - please, do check them out if you haven't already - the National Flash Fiction Day Competition Winners Special is a great place to get acquainted with some of the talent you'll meet with there.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Back trying

I have a story, "The Bull Calf", up at The Bactrian Room. I'm sincerely grateful to Editor Russell Streur for hosting my work - his support has been instrumental in getting my writing career off the ground - and The Bactrian Room's a great venue for longer works, and a compliment to The Camel Saloon. Thanks again, Russell.

"The Bull Calf" is a satire inspired by Leonard Cohen's song "The Story of Isaac", and takes its title from the Irvine Leighton poem of the same name. I wrote it almost a year before Gareth Morgan's suggestion to cull cats to save New Zealand's birdlife - predictive text, folks!

Friday, July 12, 2013

Rave in winter

I'm utterly overwhelmed to have won short FICTION's 7th Annual Competition with my story "While Women Rage in Winter".

I said a little while ago on Facebook that little beats the excitement of making the shortlist of this prize (I made the shortlist last year, too), but I take it back; winning tops being the shortlist kid - I have a perma-grin and an aching jaw to prove it!

My sincerest thanks go to Tom Vowler - a writer whose own work I admire immensely - and to short FICTION Editor, Anthony Caleshu, and to the University of Plymouth Press.


Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Fall alright

Had a few bits of good fortune befall me this winter. Firstly: connecting with Jamez Chang, hip-hop (hurray) performer, artist and writer, and editor of flash fiction at Counterexample Poetics. Here's a piece of his bio:

"Jamez Chang is a poet, writer, lawyer, and former hip-hop artist living in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. After graduating from Bard College, Jamez went on to become the first Korean-American to release a hip-hop album, Z-Bonics (F.O.B. Productions, 1998), in the United States. He also composed the soundtrack to the documentary The #7 Train: An Immigrant Journey."

I'm delighted to be collaborating with Jamez on a project this month - watch this space.


Second bit of good news: I made the shortlist (second year running) of the University of Plymouth Short Fiction Competiton. I'm completely stoked about this as it's a tough comp from a brilliant journal - the shortlist always contains the very best of contemporary fiction - and I'm proud to have my name on the list again. Fingers crossed - winner announced in August.

Finally: last night I went to the launch of Sarah Laing's latest novel, The Fall of Light. I'm only a couple of chapters in (and enjoying muchly), but I recommend reading her work (she does awesome comics, too), and hopefully I can tempt you to buy her book with a comic scene from her launch.








  All text and images ©RaeJoyce 2013

Update: Sarah Laing gave my comics a lovely mention on her blog - along with some great pics from her launch - here.