{"id":118,"date":"2016-09-04T12:32:47","date_gmt":"2016-09-04T11:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/?page_id=118"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:40:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:40:21","slug":"short-stories","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/?page_id=118","title":{"rendered":"Short Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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My Neighbour has an Electric Winch – Popshot Quarterly, Roots Issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘…a fierce resistance, a hiss of escaped soil, the slip of mud root in my hand…<\/em>‘<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Fluke Prints<\/a> – A Pens of the Earth ‘Life Under the Surface’ story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘… she\u2019s more of a whale. Wanting to keep her distance, to stay where its safe, where she\u2019s got deep water and not too much attention.<\/em>‘<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Walk of Shame<\/strong><\/a> – A Pens of the Earth ‘Streets for People’ story.<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘Even though there\u2019s ice on its leaves, the birds are back in the holly tree. He pauses to listen. It\u2019s January now, and cold; the promise of Christmas long gone. At least the lads have stopped calling him \u2018Santa\u2019, for the bags of rubbish they\u2019d spotted him carrying over his shoulder.’
Also published on Star & Crescent<\/a>.
<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Plot<\/a> –<\/strong> Something a bit different. This performance piece was written for a T’Articulation spoken word event, following which it was published by Star & Crescent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘I went in search of the plot,<\/em>
in the metaphorical forest,<\/em>
where all the trees looked the same.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went with an older, American writer,
<\/em>who\u2019d seen it all before.
\u2018The story,\u2019 he said, \u2018happens in the gaps.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe Margate<\/a> – <\/strong>Shortlisted for the Bedford International Writing Competition, 2017; Longlisted for the InkTears Short Story prize. Published in the \u00a02017 Bedford International Writing Competition Anthology. Republished by Star & Crescent<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘How did she get here \u2013 ticked off on a list and awarded a bed, a rectangle of space, an<\/em>
existence of kinds? How?’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picture credit: original painting by Scott Alexander.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Persephone in Winter<\/strong><\/a> – Commissioned by the Arts Council funded Edward King Literary Project, April 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Persephone in Winter has been performed to audiences at the New Theatre Royal and the City Museum (<\/em>where Edward King’s paintings are displayed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was published on the Edward King Website in May, 2017. Republished by Fairlight Books<\/a>, December 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Diwali Cluster<\/strong> – Published in Octomorphosis, December 2016<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘I stood on the rocky edge where the water slurped and bit and I looked out through the darkness at the tiny lights and it seemed to me they spelt \u2018hope\u2019.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Beautiful rhythms of the sea and a compelling vision of a strange land. I really loved this.<\/span>” Harriet Springbett, author of Tree Magic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imprints in the Air<\/strong> – Published in Dark City<\/a>, November 2016<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘He had a tattoo of a bird in the crook between his thumb and finger, black lines against pale skin. As he held my wrist, the wings of the bird opened. He bent forward and the tip of his nose, cool from the outside air, pushed against the beat of my pulse, which quickened.’<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A Black Mirror-style story which spells out the dangers of modern technology.” Portsmouth News, 3rd Nov 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picture credit: Background vector created by Archjoe \u2013 Freepik.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sapling<\/strong><\/a> – Published in the Portsmouth News, October 2016.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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‘When I yanked the thistle out, the soil around the waving roots spattered back into the ground and the sapling nodded its head.’<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My Neighbour has an Electric Winch – Popshot Quarterly, Roots Issue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

∼ Continue Reading ∼<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732,"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/118\/revisions\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.helensalsbury.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}