The first – the “winner” – is ‘Skyline Flat’ by Jo Cannon, who has reportedly won awards for her writing. This story is essentially about a middle-aged woman facing her fears – both past and future, and having to admit her vulnerability for the first time to herself and to someone else. This story is intriguing in that it tackles a subject that we can all relate to: most of us have had secrets or felt vulnerable at some time or another. Because of this, ‘Skyline Flat’ has the power to evoke real empathy for the character – a quality that is vital, but isn’t present in all of the stories in this magazine. In terms of style, this story stands above the others in its self-restraint: managing to be concise without losing valuable description, and getting the point across without spelling it out to the reader.

The second story worth a mention is ‘I Danced With Charlie Chaplin’ by Penny Feeney. Penny also has impressive writing credentials: she has won prizes for her writing, and has had her stories broadcast on Radio 4, among others. This story has some style similarities to the previous tale, but is written in the first person, which is effective in this case for enabling the reader to engage with the character of the older woman. In this way, we are taken through the woman’s reminiscence of when she met Charlie Chaplin. As you would hope, the real message is not about meeting celebrities, but about aging and the change in power balance between mother and daughter. Although the point is made with less subtlety than the previous story, it makes for a moving and joyful ending as the woman regains the control from her daughter.

Many of the other stories in the magazine were of a moderate standard, but fell down on one or two areas. For example, although ‘Bad Love Radio’ by Mark Wagstaff provides some variety to the style in the magazine and has originality in it’s favour; the use of short sentences and few joining words means that it feels stinted to read. Similarly, ‘The Uncommon Sufferings and Remarkable Deliverance of Lucy Smith’ by Wes Lee, although courageous in it’s attempt to create something unique, possibly went too far - to the point where I felt like I needed to re-read it and make notes in order to make sense of it.

Libbon’s editorial states that submissions have increased from 150 to 200 this issue, and that an increase in the standard of writing is the result. Already they are featuring some very high quality literature. Lets hope that the next issue shows an increase in the number of stories of this standard.

Megan is an Occupational Therapist, originally from rural Shropshire, but now working in Manchester. She enjoys stories about peoples' relationships, and stories with a bit of a dark side. She gets many of her ideas from loitering around the centre of her hometown, where there seems to be a disproportionately high number of three legged aliens and other disturbingly dysfunctional characters. She awaits contact from Tim Burton, asking her to script his latest film. To read 2 short stories by Megan on the Showcase section of this site, click here

© 2006 Laura Hird All rights reserved.