And the winner is ....

Everything Is Seen At It's Best In The Dark

 by Neil Campbell 

What  Charlotte Delaney said about all of the short-listed entries:

"There was such a terrific array of characters, settings, styles and tales.  It wasn't easy and I tip my hat to anybody who manages to convey so much in so few words, which is what all of the submissions achieved."

An about the winning entry: 

"Why I chose Everything Is Seen At It's Best In The Dark:

I particularly liked the way a brief moment in time is coupled with enough information about the past to tell the tale of a tragedy and its effects on those concerned.  Particularly Sue.  The description of her regular walk and her regular route, through very ordinary surroundings, is vivid in its simplicity and heartbreaking against the backdrop of grief and loss.  The language is uncluttered and used to great effect.  I am always interested in the aftermath of an event, how people cope, how they don't cope.  This particular story flicked that switch beautifully.

Charlotte Delaney"

Pre-order the Shelagh Delaney Short Story Collection

Would you like to know more about these stories? Would you like to read the book? You may pre-order your copy  here. 

We're not sure of the title yet, nor the cover, but they're going to be good!

Order your copy now!

But, if you're one of our authors, hold you horses. You'll be offered a generous author discount.  

 

Pip, pip, Shelagh Delaney Day Competition Short List Out

In alphabetical order:

A hui hou kakou 

Buried Voices 

Donut 

Everything is Seen at its Best in the Dark 

Fresh out of the Pond  

The Salford Manifesto

The Rain of Salford  

Three in Four Out 

Woot! Woot! 

In one hour's time, we'll announce the winner. 

Shortly after that, we'll reveal the authors.   

 

All in a Day’s Work

We’re putting the final touches to the Snowflakes anthology.

End tasks

Sign off tasks include final proof reads, designing the cover, designing the layout of the book, registering it with Nielsens and uploading it to the printer. There’s always a few anxious moments as we wait for the physical proof. Will we have overlooked something obvious? Once we had no page numbers and another time we had the right cover with somebody else’s book inside. Fortunately the latter was only in one copy of the book but a little nerve-wracking as it was the first one we sold at the launch. Will it be ready in time?

Marketing tasks

Then there’s first marketing steps. We’ve organised the launch / celebration party. Will enough people come? Or will more people want to come than we’ve got space for? It’s always a delicate balance. It’s currently only open to Snowflakes and  CafeLit 4 authors. I’ll be opening it later to the long-listed writers in the Shelagh Delaney competition and then other Bridge House / CafeLit authors. Thereafter, other interested parties.        

Later today I’ll be sending out the front cover so that the authors can use it in their own marketing efforts. Will they like it? It’s probably impossible to satisfy everyone. See the preview here.     

  

I’m also working on the book trailer. It’s almost ready. What have I forgotten? Will they like it?

Then I’ll be lining up authors for the blog and setting up a Facebook page. It’s all go.  

Getting ready for the next one

Yes, very soon the process begins again. No doubt we’ll be discussing next year’s theme in a few weeks’ time.         

The Long List is out Shelagh Delaney Competiton

The following titles will be appearing in the collection. In no particular order:



One More Cup of sugar
The Rains of Salford
Everything’s Best in the dark
Three in Four Out 
Buried Voices
The Salford Manifesto  
The Trajectory of Patrick Brown  
Murray Mints 

Even Dead Fish Swim Down the River
Stones
Fresh out of the Pond
Battenberg
A hui hou kakou’
Kaviri
Shee
Parasomnia 
The Last Storyteller
Donut
Little Red   
Retrospective

We're publishing titles only at the moment, so that the shortlisting judges won't know who the authors are.  

Well done to all!    

The Shelagh Delaney Collection

I feel very privileged at the moment to be included in the first second of judging the entries for this collection. We had 51 entries and we’re selecting the best twenty to go into an anthology. We were looking for strong character-driven stories that show acute observation of human life similar to that found in Delaney’s works. As I’ve been the person collecting the entries I did have a little peek at some of them as they came in. I’ve certainly seen some strong writing and some fantastic characterisation.

Our first round judges tell me they’re almost there – deadline is 22 October.

I’m looking forward to the next round when a colleague and I will reduce the long list to a short list of six from which the final winner will be selected.

It’s all so exciting.