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Sunday Times Short Story winner
Has anyone read the winning story yet? I'm going to read it later - curious to see what a £30,000 short story looks like.
Comments
http://www.esquire.com/fiction/nirvana-adam-johnson
Wont say what else I thought...
The characters were good and I thought their predicament was portrayed realistically - it's poignant and touching but not too mawkish or depressing. I particularly liked the fact there were moments of genuine humour, which is all too rare in the types of stories that win 'serious' competitions. So, overall I thought it was a very good story.
...But not a great one. I've read stories that do all the above and wrap it up into a far more cohesive package. I'm encouraged that the judges picked a story more like the type of thing I (sometimes) try to write, but for the amount of money involved I expected something more. Still, it's way better than the story that won the award in its inaugural year - that was so insipid and dull!
That said, I agree that the ending doesn't feel that cohesive, and the section before seems unnecessary.
And, to echo some of the above, I do like my literary SF, so it's nice to see some speculative elements in there - although the overuse of company names feels a bit cheap. It will also probably date very quickly.
Do feel that to win £30k I should do more than quite enjoy it, but oh well.....