“Tell all the truth but tell it slant.” Emily Dickinson
It’s not untrue to say writing short fiction changed my life. There I was immersed in truth and journalism when one day I decided to try making things up. It was a transformational moment. Perhaps it’s my background writing for news and in short form for radio but I have so far found my fictional comfort zone well and truly embedded in the concision of micro and short stories mostly under 1000 words. So here you’ll find a series of my fiction in miniature. I love writing them and at this stage have no plans to branch out into anything longer, but we’ll see.
2024 has so far been a good year! I’ve won the London Independent Story Prize, the Welkin Mini, and been shortlisted in the UK Bath award for flash fiction. I also received my copy of the 2023 Best Small Fictions which features my story, In This Tale of a Suburban Tiger, the Part of the Mother is Played by a Bird, originally published by Irish journal, Splonk.
Coming soon: A Medley of Love Songs in the anthology, Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs, published by Night Parrot Press, April 2024, edited by Laura Keenan and Casey Mulder.
Out now: Into My Arms (Five Ways) in the anthology Into Your Arms, Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined. (Fremantle Press) Edited by Kirsten Krauth. Order here or ask at your favourite independent bookshop.)
Read Online
- After too many wines at the student club, your friend shows you a picture of her infant daughter. First place, The Welkin Mini, (UK) Feb. 2024.
- Phoenix, Flash Frontier, Manu|Bird December 2023.
- Into the White, Fractured Lit, August, 2023. (US) This story was a winner in the Fractured Lit 2023 Anthology Prize.
- In This Tale of a Suburban Tiger, the Part of the Mother is Played by a Bird, Splonk, Sept. 2022. (Ireland) Best Small Fictions, 2023. Nominated for the Pushcart prize.
- 1989, Aniko Press, (Aus) runner-up in February Flash Fiction competition, 2023.
- Pumpkin, Flash 500, (UK) second place winner in the UK Flash 500 Competition, February 2023.
- Starfish, Jellyfish Review, December 2022. Longlisted in the Wigleaf Top 50 Best Short Fictions 2023.
- Hunger, Reflex Fiction Oct. 2022. (UK) Long-listed in the Autumn Flash Award. A version of this story was shortlisted for the UK Bridport Prize for Flash Fiction, 2022.
- Apple Girl, MoonPark Review, (USA) Sept. 2022.
- Mouse, Reflex Press, (UK) first place, Autumn 2020 award, nominated for the 2021 US Pushcart prize, long listed in the Wigleaf Top 50 Best Short Fictions, 2021)
- Undercurrents, SmokeLong Quarterly, 2020. (USA) Shortlisted in the Fractured Lit 2022 Reprint Prize.
- Molly, Cordite Poetry Review, (Aus) 2022.
- Jenny doesn’t tell her therapist everything, UK Flash Flood, 2022.
- Salt City Runaway, Fractured Lit, (USA) winner, anthology prize 2021, reprinted in Three Can Keep a Secret, Night Parrot Press 2022.
- The view from apartment 95 on the Wednesday afternoon, Raine Square Short Story Dispenser (AUS) winner, Writing WA 2021 Love to Read Local Flash Fiction comp.
- You want him to stop melting your records, UK Flash Flood, 2021.
- Hagstone, Fudoki Press, (UK) 2021.
- Little Pilgrim, Retreat West (UK) second place, July 2021.
- Crash Landing at Elizabeth Quay, (France & AUS) Short Edition, 2020.
Print editions and Anthology stories
- Let Him Bury His Face in the Dust, First place, London Independent Story Prize. January 2024.
- Into My Arms Five Ways: In Grace, Protection, Blood Ties, She Will Keep Returning, Little Gull, Into Your Arms, Nick Cave’s Songs Reimagined, Fremantle Press, October, 2023.
- In This Tale of a Suburban Tiger, the Part of the Mother is Played by a Bird, reprinted Best Small Fictions, 2023.
- Mouse, reprinted in Fuel Flash an anthology of prize-winning flash fiction raising funds to fight fuel poverty, 2023.
- Gorgo Down Under, May Break Your Bones: An Oxford Flash Fiction Anthology. This story was shortlisted in the UK Oxford Flash Fiction Prize, 2022.
- After the Funeral, Three Can Keep a Secret: Flash fiction by Western Australian Writers. Night Parrot Press, Oct. 2022.
- Salt City Runaway, Three Can Keep a Secret: Flash Fiction by Western Australian Writers. Night Parrot Press, Oct, 2022. ( Originally published by Fractured Lit.)
- How to Light a Coal Fire, Return to Factory Settings, Bath Flash Fiction, Vol. 5. (shortlisted 2021 Bath Flash Award)
- The Long Drop, Once: A selection of short, short stories, Night Parrot Press
- The Offering, Twice Not Shy: 100 short, short stories, Night Parrot Press
- I carry your faces like photographs, Twice Not Shy: 100 short, short stories, Night Parrot Press
- The Disappearing, Twice Not Shy: 100 short, short stories, Night Parrot Press
- Nephila, Palm Sized Press and London Independent Story Prize, (finalist)
- The Locket, Ellipsis Zine: Ten, Everything has a Price
- Perth in Conversation, Perth, a guide for the curious, UWA Press.
Media
- Perth Festival Writer’s Weekend, The West Australian
- Writer’s Weekend, The Starfish
- Perth Festival Writer’s Weekend, Books and Publishing
- The ABC of Flash Fiction, interview for Writers off the Page podcast
- Author interview, smoke and mirrors, SmokeLong Quarterly
- Author interview, London Independent Story Prize
- Fremantle Shipping News
- The books of 2021, ABC Radio Saturday Breakfast.
Gillian O’Shaughnessy 