Sunday 10 January 2010

The Rhinoceros in the Room

Let's agree to ignore the elephant? I mean the visual joke that involved pulling out empty trouser pockets and unzipping, yes? Erase it from the New Year's party memories, like you erased that skew-whiff .jpeg… Please tell me that you did.

Anyway, the good news is: there is a rhino in my room – at last.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I took part in a few writing competitions last year. One of these was the excellent annual Whittaker Prize Competition run by the equally excellent The Write Idea website. Bottom line is that the 'Best of' anthology is now available – amusingly entitled The Rhinoceros and His Thoughts – and, tarah!: My copy arrived yesterday.


Call me biased if you like – because by some clerical error two of my stories crept in with the other top-rate material – but the editorial and presentation standard of this book far exceeded my expectations, and I already knew from the previous years anthology it would be good.

The Rhinoceros and His Thoughts, published by The Right Eyed Deer Press, is a thoroughly professional product from cover to cover, indeed, the John F Griffiths-designed cover (Albrecht Durer image care of the British Museum) is a genuine work of art in itself. I'm seriously proud to be a tiny part of this publication.

Following that earlier post mulling over events in my particular writing backwater of 2009, I realise I have sold myself short on the publication stakes. In fact, I had four other stories published online in 2009. The reason I forgot was that all were sold in 2008.

To set the record straight, then, those other publication credits were:

February 2009: Love's Magic (link no longer available) appeared in Flashshot.
March 2009: Grave Concerns appeared in Every Day Fiction and Trumpet Volunteer appeared in Flash Fiction Online.
In April 2009: Pigs Could Fly appeared in Every Day Fiction.

But, as the film starlet at the cocktail party said (allegedly): 'That's enough about me, let's talk about you… What do think about my latest film?'

On that flippant note, I'm off. If you're driving in the UK, watch out for unexpected slippery bits. Seriously, on Saturday I hit a patch of ice in sunny daylight on a busy roundabout feeding the M25, totally unexpected and very, very, nearly wipeout against a forest of street furniture. Take care. Expect the unexpected.

Have a good week. Help yourself to a coffee or tea, and a biscuit, if there are any left. Oh, and don't forget the lights when you leave. Okay?

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