Category: Short Stories

A story set on the Deccan plain, about a rickshaw driver and the laws of karma. This story was a finalist in the Earlyworks Press Short Story Competition 2018, and you can find in the anthology ‘Unsafe Spaces’ published by Circaidy Gregory Press, along with the work of other finalists. Available directly from the publisher.

http://www.circaidygregory.co.uk/Earlyworks_Press_2018_competition_winners.htm

A story about sexual abuse and its effects, set in the North East of England. There’s a strong flavour of the Sixties in this story. Selected by Cathy Galvin, co-founder of the Sunday Times/EFG short story competition for the website of ‘The Word Factory’.

Find it here. This is a free read!!
http://www.thewordfactory.tv/site/story/a-tadge-to-your-left/

Vikram, Julie and their teenage son make their first trip to India together to visit Vikram’s family. Nobody can quite fathom the etiquette of this situation though, and when an old man turns up outside the family home and sits there endlessly, this triggers all kinds of cultural collisions and misunderstandings. Published by the Indian Review. This is a free read!!

The Trouble with Mangoes | Janet H Swinney

The year is 1909, and women in the UK are actively seeking the vote, opposed by a certain Mr. Churchill. One young woman in the the North East of England finds herself caught up in the turmoil. Published in India by Kaani literary journal. This is a free read!

Where is Chandernagore by Janet H. Swinney

In Scotland’s capital city, Lyndsey is at an emotional low, as she struggles to keep her relationship with her dissolute boyfriend, Den, going. The something happens that has the potential to change their lives. Meanwhile, round the corner, events that have significance for the nation are unfolding. What connection might there be between these events? This story appears in the anthology, ‘The Sorcery of Smog’, published by Earlyworks Press.

Buy it direct from publisher here:
http://www.earlyworkspress.co.uk/fiction_index.html

or visit Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Sorcery-Smog-24-unforgettable-stories/dp/1910841471

A look-out sits guarding the beach in a resort on Goa’s extensive and idyllic coastline. The contrast between the affluence of the unruly and self-indulgent tourists and his own impoverished situation begins to make itself felt.  To divert himself, he plays computer games on his cell phone. As the heat rises, events begin to spiral out of control, until he is faced with a difficult moral choice he cannot avoid.

This story appears online in three Indian literary journals: Out of Print literary magazine, the Indian Review and Joao Roque. You can find it here. This is a free read!

https://www.joaoroqueliteraryjournal.com/fiction/2017/4/22/drishti
i

People from all over the world are gathering at an ashram in India to celebrate the birthday of their elderly guru. Each one is seeks some great transformative experience, which they hope the guru can endow. But the guru is having problems of his own. This story was first published in the Bombay Review. This is a free read!

The Wrong Question-Janet H Swinney

It’s the 1980s. Punjab, India. Tensions are running high. Not just because of the impending monsoon, but because of the escalating unrest between Sikhs and Hindus. Meanwhile, teenager Anju, cooped up in her parents’ house and desperate for escape, has her own preoccupations…

Online publication in the ‘Bombay Literary Magazine’. This is a free read!

http://bombayliterarymagazine.com/?p=407

Appears in an Earlyworks Press anthology called ‘The Ball of the Future’. Deals with the desperate struggle of a little lad placed in a children’s home out in the Highlands of Scotland to be reunited in the big city. Available from Earlyworks Press and from Amazon.

http://www.earlyworkspress.co.uk/publications.htm

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ball-Future-Stories-Long-Short/dp/1910841250