The brief for entrants asked for stories with ‘a strong sense of “city” as setting – its landscape, its characters, the jostle of old and new, real and imagined.’ The winning and shortlisted stories not only met the theme, they presented stories with good characters, a strong shape, beginnings that grab the readers’ attention, and endings that do not disappoint. The short story is a difficult form to master, so all seven stories did extremely well to find a place in the shortlist.
City settings were varied, international, often with a sense of other worlds impinging on Earth’s cities. This variety is reflected in the shortlist, which I am presenting in reverse order.
The meeting of the sinister ‘Agency’ takes place in Canterbury, and discussion revolves around the removal of the Dane John mound to China, for reasons of world security. In this alternative world, mounds must be ‘fed’ to prevent mayhem, and moved to strategic settings. The story is well made and funny; I will never look at the Dane John mound in the same way.
A tourist couple, Gerry and Helen search the back streets of Hong Kong for a bird market. The claustrophobia of the packed and noisy city is symbolised by a pair of caged canaries, at the bottom of a pile of cages, bought and set free. The ending reveals a couple hoping for a cancer-free future for Gerry; the same chances as the canaries have of surviving in the wild.
This story, set in Edinburgh, has a strong sense of place, and how small moves can change lives. The Gulliver of the title is a sculpture by ex-prisoner Jimmy
Boyle, and its description provides a strong opening, establishing where Callum, the protagonist, has come from, and where he is going. The gentle and subtly rendered scene of Callum helping Anwar assemble a bed has a sense of something larger behind it, of two very different lives moving on.
This is a beautifully written story of an older woman who has travelled all her adult life, her son in tow, now alone, and a tourist. She witnesses a man carrying the body of a baby to the Ganges: ‘One small foot has escaped its shabby wrappings; there is a tiny ring on the big toe.’ Meanwhile, the woman’s son is now living a settled and conventional life, awaiting the birth of his first child. A subtle and poignant rendering of different lives.

This story surprises with its omniscient narrator, not often seen in contemporary writing. It becomes apparent that this is some kind of ancient spirit, or perhaps a creature from another world. The narrative follows the progress of a migrant worker, Lydia; the narrator acts like a guardian angel to her. This is a story where the smells, landscape and history of a city are perfectly evoked, with concrete and specific details and fresh use of imagery. The setting is firmly in our world, yet we are left wondering about the ‘being’ that tells the story.
This story is framed by a railway journey in Mumbai. Wadekar’s character and situation are neatly summarised in an early paragraph: the old ways of India clashing with the ‘Internet Age’; the fact that he wears a safari suit to work, and
‘in the evening, changed into his jeans one size too small and his fake Tommy
Hilfiger T Shirt, and became the other Wadekar.’ The story is mostly told in summary, broken by descriptions of the railway stations and the packed train.
Wadekar has assumed a false online identity for a ‘Matrimonial site’, despite being already married, and engages in ‘phone romance’ with several women at a working women’s hostel, using a false accent modelled on an English BBC reporter. Wadekar’s fantasy life collapses in a real and concrete way as the walls of the shoddily built hostel slip into the monsoon floods. Well-crafted, this is a strong story, which evokes a city with a modern façade, and a man with a false identity, each built on poor foundations.
This story centres on a broken pot and a dying relationship. The pot is a replica of an ancient one, bought in the gift shop of the British Museum, and we quickly get the sense that Den and Ayesha’s relationship is also headed for the history books. There is much symbolism in this story, and parallels are suggested between the ancient city of Alexandria and London, and what is held in their waters and mud. The city is evoked in a few short scenes – a littered walk by the river, where the path ends in benches that are too low to see over the wall; a pub where Den’s mates attempt relationship advice and talk conspiracy theories.
This is an old story well told – the conflict between a man and a woman, communication breakdowns – with the amusing side story of a double bass that goes missing from the pub and ends up floating down the Thames. The writer does not put a foot wrong in this story, so I am pleased to award it first place.