Judge’s Report by Gaynor Jones

Overall: As a judge I am always careful to give every story the same consideration. I spend time thinking about voice, language, emotional resonance, pacing and various other technical points. But of course there comes a point where personal decisions have to be made beyond that. That’s when I spend time working out which story spoke to me – was I thinking about it afterwards? Did I have a strong reaction at the time? How does it hold up after repeated readings? Was there something in the imagery that drew me in? These selections then are only my opinion, and I wish the rest of shortlisted writers luck in placing them elsewhere. 

First Place: My Brother, The Alien

I loved this story. It has a wonderful undercurrent to it where the reader knows more than the narrator. The background to the brother isn’t explicitly spelled out, but it’s all there – in the overheard conversations, in the local gossip, in the snippets of history on the radio. I found the relationship between the brothers entirely believable, helped by the great use of dialogue. I loved the phrasing of, “since Luke told her what he was.”  Here in just a few words I know all I need to about the brother’s revelation and his Ma’s reaction to it. Overall, I chose this story as my winner because it didn’t feel like a fictional piece as I read it, it felt believable, almost like a diary, and I had a strong emotional reaction to the ending each time I re-read it. This writer shows great skill in balancing humour, sadness, and love.

Second Place: Princess In a Headspin

Initially I was drawn to the unusual situation of this flash fiction, I haven’t ever read a story that takes place in this setting. Originality is always a treat when reading a shortlist, but this story also deserves a placing for the great handling of tonal shifts. What starts as a funny and potentially silly story ends as a really warm, life-affirming piece. I loved the imagery of the pageant where, “Pre-teen princesses wait to be anointed with tan-in-a-can, their arms spread like Jesus on the cross.” And I was particularly taken with the final image of the upside down world.

Third Place: Where Crimson Bleeds White

This story stood out immediately for its beautiful, almost ethereal writing style. The descriptions are wonderfully poetic while also tying in thematically,

 “the cloth turns the white of bone, of teeth. Her hands are free of wrinkles, yet her garment bears the fracture lines of a hundred generations.” It also makes good use of setting and I liked the interwoven elements of nature threaded through the piece.

I would like to also mention two stories that were in contention for my final placings – Lessons My Mother Taught Me Behind St Luke’s Church which was a really deft handling of the subject matter, and Red which had great pacing and power to it.