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Six Shorts - The finalists for the 2013 Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award
The Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award is the world's richest and most prestigious prize for a short story, with £30,000 going to the winner.This special ebook contains, exclusively and in full, all six shortlisted stories competing for the 2013 award, written by some of the best names in modern fiction - American Pulitzer prize-winner Junot Díaz, Man Booker shortlisted novelists Sarah Hall and Ali Smith, Betty Trask-winner Cynan Jones, Granta Best of Young British novelist Toby Litt, and Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.Containing some strong language and graphic imagery, these challenging, varied and powerful stories show just how compelling short-form fiction can be.
- GenresShort Stories
85 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 13, 2013
11 people are currently reading
136 people want to read
About the author
Mark Haddon
81 books4,001 followersMark Haddon is an English novelist, best known for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). He won the Whitbread Award, the Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award, the Guardian Prize, and a Commonwealth Writers Prize for his work.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 21, 2013
I love the idea of The Times' short story competition. Essentially, the greatest short story writers submit their best works, which are then long listed, short listed and a winner selected much in the same manner as the Booker Prize by a panel of judges. However, what makes this idea so much better is that:
a) the stories are far more accessible and easy to read, which means that the public can read them before the winner is announced and vote themselves
b) the prize money (some £30,000 for the winner) is the largest award for a short story in the world and as such, this competition has real prestige and attracts top flight writers and novelists
c) it is a means of giving the public access to writers who they may not normally encounter and potentially inspire them to go on and read other works by these individuals.
This year they also published an etext of the six short-listed stories at the pretty reasonable price of £1.98. The result for me was a mixed bag.:
1. 'The Gun' by Mark Haddon: In terms of narrative, this was an interesting story concerning two boys who take a gun out to the wasteland in the blistering summer of 1972. However, what begins as childish fun soon metamorphoses into something more sinister and they both find themselves with blood on their hands. However, I didn't really feel it was saying anything; it rather felt too grotesque and detached to be enjoyable. Instead, it seemed to be a scathing portrayal of 70s England as a moral and literal wasteland where violence was simply accepted as de rigueur.
2. 'Evie' by Sarah Hall: On the one hand, this was fascinating and on the other hand odd and disturbing. Evie and her husband no longer have a good sex life until she is suddenly overwhelmed with passion and can no longer contain herself; she sees sex everywhere and her husband uses this to his own advantage indulging her until the truth about her condition is revealed. This was unsettling. However, Hall seems to address the sexual tension and difference in sexual perception between men and women really effectively here. Moreover, the ending had an element of pathos that I found moving despite the rather graphic means of addressing the subject. This was definitely one of my favourite stories.
3. 'Call it the Bug' by Toby Litt: This is a brilliantly innovate idea. Essentially, some time in the future, a bug has been invented that stops you dying. However, it is furiously expensive and of course everyone wants one and will do anything to get hold of it even if it means cutting it out of living tissue or waiting in the final death throes of a relative. The idea in this story was superb. However, it was just too short (I know that is the purpose of a short story), but it felt like the germ of an idea; a few jottings that had been cobbled together by the author into a short story for the purpose of the competition. I can see how this could actually make an amazing novel as there is so much that could occur here. Sadly, Litt just left the vapour of the start of a story drift in the air and didn't take me far enough into his world.
4. 'The Beholder' by Ali Smith: OK...I know I like to give fair, even intellectual critiques, but this was just STUPID. I'm sorry I have no other word for it. I am sure that the tree was meant to be some kind of grand symbol, but it wasn't...it was stupid. I am sure that we are meant to see the tree as reflecting the narrator's growth (just as it literally grows out of her chest), but I didn't...it was stupid. I am sure that we are meant to recognise some grand natural process at work, but I didn't...it was JUST STUPID!
5. 'The Dig' by Cynan Jones: During this dirty little snippet of a story, two boys are forced to go badger baiting as their father's attempt to parade their machismo and prove their son's masculinity. This was a gratuitous portrayal of the sport seemingly for its own sake. I know as a vegetarian with an aversion to blood sports I an probably bias, but I found it disappointing, pointless and unpleasant. I almost wanted to go back to Smith's tree!
6. 'Miss Lora' by Junot Diaz: This won and there is no surprise as to why. I was torn between voting for this and 'Evie' but Miss Lora was ultimately more compelling and more emotively engaging. The narrative voice was sustained, strong and established very quickly so that we felt as we were taking a journey with the protagonist. The story had a Lolita quality about it, but was deeply moving and engaging. Perhaps because the youth involved is male and the older individual female, there are less of the paedophilic associations. This is an unflinching portrayal of a very personal world that is at once dark and uplifting. A tremendous story that thoroughly deserved the first prize.
So giving an overall opinion is really hard here. Some of these stories were brilliant and others were disappointing (I'm not quite sure how they made it to the shortlist apart from the fact their authors already had a certain cache connected to their names). I will certainly read next year's short list when it comes out and I enjoyed reading them before the winner was announced so I felt like I was making my own judgments simultaneously. However, I hope that this does not become another Booker Prize fiasco. In my opinion, the Booker is poorly chosen every year. It seems that the committee have a penchant for certain authors and there is an absolute determination to select certain books that are considered 'weighty or worthy' and this does not always equate to good writing. Moreover, far too often the same names emerge on the list for no other reason than it makes it seem as if the Booker has literary weight because a recognisable name is on the list. It no longer feels as if it is about awarding a prize to the best published novel, but the publishing industry patting a few old hands on the back and boosting their sales in the process. Sorry...a little rant there, but I really hope that this competition maintains its caliber and does not begin to pick stories by Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood simply because they have a few other prizes under their belt.
Nonetheless, these proved to be an interesting read and the competition itself well worth following in the future.
a) the stories are far more accessible and easy to read, which means that the public can read them before the winner is announced and vote themselves
b) the prize money (some £30,000 for the winner) is the largest award for a short story in the world and as such, this competition has real prestige and attracts top flight writers and novelists
c) it is a means of giving the public access to writers who they may not normally encounter and potentially inspire them to go on and read other works by these individuals.
This year they also published an etext of the six short-listed stories at the pretty reasonable price of £1.98. The result for me was a mixed bag.:
1. 'The Gun' by Mark Haddon: In terms of narrative, this was an interesting story concerning two boys who take a gun out to the wasteland in the blistering summer of 1972. However, what begins as childish fun soon metamorphoses into something more sinister and they both find themselves with blood on their hands. However, I didn't really feel it was saying anything; it rather felt too grotesque and detached to be enjoyable. Instead, it seemed to be a scathing portrayal of 70s England as a moral and literal wasteland where violence was simply accepted as de rigueur.
2. 'Evie' by Sarah Hall: On the one hand, this was fascinating and on the other hand odd and disturbing. Evie and her husband no longer have a good sex life until she is suddenly overwhelmed with passion and can no longer contain herself; she sees sex everywhere and her husband uses this to his own advantage indulging her until the truth about her condition is revealed. This was unsettling. However, Hall seems to address the sexual tension and difference in sexual perception between men and women really effectively here. Moreover, the ending had an element of pathos that I found moving despite the rather graphic means of addressing the subject. This was definitely one of my favourite stories.
3. 'Call it the Bug' by Toby Litt: This is a brilliantly innovate idea. Essentially, some time in the future, a bug has been invented that stops you dying. However, it is furiously expensive and of course everyone wants one and will do anything to get hold of it even if it means cutting it out of living tissue or waiting in the final death throes of a relative. The idea in this story was superb. However, it was just too short (I know that is the purpose of a short story), but it felt like the germ of an idea; a few jottings that had been cobbled together by the author into a short story for the purpose of the competition. I can see how this could actually make an amazing novel as there is so much that could occur here. Sadly, Litt just left the vapour of the start of a story drift in the air and didn't take me far enough into his world.
4. 'The Beholder' by Ali Smith: OK...I know I like to give fair, even intellectual critiques, but this was just STUPID. I'm sorry I have no other word for it. I am sure that the tree was meant to be some kind of grand symbol, but it wasn't...it was stupid. I am sure that we are meant to see the tree as reflecting the narrator's growth (just as it literally grows out of her chest), but I didn't...it was stupid. I am sure that we are meant to recognise some grand natural process at work, but I didn't...it was JUST STUPID!
5. 'The Dig' by Cynan Jones: During this dirty little snippet of a story, two boys are forced to go badger baiting as their father's attempt to parade their machismo and prove their son's masculinity. This was a gratuitous portrayal of the sport seemingly for its own sake. I know as a vegetarian with an aversion to blood sports I an probably bias, but I found it disappointing, pointless and unpleasant. I almost wanted to go back to Smith's tree!
6. 'Miss Lora' by Junot Diaz: This won and there is no surprise as to why. I was torn between voting for this and 'Evie' but Miss Lora was ultimately more compelling and more emotively engaging. The narrative voice was sustained, strong and established very quickly so that we felt as we were taking a journey with the protagonist. The story had a Lolita quality about it, but was deeply moving and engaging. Perhaps because the youth involved is male and the older individual female, there are less of the paedophilic associations. This is an unflinching portrayal of a very personal world that is at once dark and uplifting. A tremendous story that thoroughly deserved the first prize.
So giving an overall opinion is really hard here. Some of these stories were brilliant and others were disappointing (I'm not quite sure how they made it to the shortlist apart from the fact their authors already had a certain cache connected to their names). I will certainly read next year's short list when it comes out and I enjoyed reading them before the winner was announced so I felt like I was making my own judgments simultaneously. However, I hope that this does not become another Booker Prize fiasco. In my opinion, the Booker is poorly chosen every year. It seems that the committee have a penchant for certain authors and there is an absolute determination to select certain books that are considered 'weighty or worthy' and this does not always equate to good writing. Moreover, far too often the same names emerge on the list for no other reason than it makes it seem as if the Booker has literary weight because a recognisable name is on the list. It no longer feels as if it is about awarding a prize to the best published novel, but the publishing industry patting a few old hands on the back and boosting their sales in the process. Sorry...a little rant there, but I really hope that this competition maintains its caliber and does not begin to pick stories by Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood simply because they have a few other prizes under their belt.
Nonetheless, these proved to be an interesting read and the competition itself well worth following in the future.
March 19, 2013
Enjoyed the diverse range but I loved the Gun story! Worth the 2 euro you will pay to download it!
May 4, 2014
Fascinating reading what were considered the best short stories written in 2013. All were edgy and leaning towards the experimental. One I found frankly unintelligible, another distasteful - but all were interesting. A great sampler of contemporary short story writing and well worth reading particularly for those who write short stories themselves.
January 11, 2016
I only really enjoyed the Mark Haddon, Toby Litt and Sarah Hall stories. None really stood out. The Beholder was well written but just bizarre, Miss Lora was impenetrable to me, The Dig was pretty horrible and not at all enjoyable to read.
October 26, 2014
A varied and interesting collection of short stories, well worth reading.
May 9, 2024
Lovely little collection!
Love novellas/ shorts so this is up there for me. Wonderful way to meet new authors/ people and some amazing ability here as portraying so much in so few pages is not easy to do. Loved it!
Love novellas/ shorts so this is up there for me. Wonderful way to meet new authors/ people and some amazing ability here as portraying so much in so few pages is not easy to do. Loved it!
January 27, 2021
The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long or impractical to post here.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews