Our collaboration on a charity anthology for fuel poverty organisations

We’re delighted to be collaborating with Manchester-based writer and editor of the Shortstops UK website and twitter, Tania Hershman.

Tania contacted us recently, with a proposal for a charity project she had in mind.

“I was listening to the news the other day,” she said, “about BP’s record profits and how dire the situation is going to be in this country with fuel bills, and I was thinking what I might be able to do to help.” Something that no doubt we’re all feeling at this present time.

Tania’s idea is to put together a charity flash fiction anthology, to raise money for fuel poverty organisations in the UK like National Energy Action and Fuel Poverty Action. The anthology will consist of first-prize-winning flash stories from a whole host of competitions, including Smokelong, Mslexia, Flash500, Bath Flash Award, Reflex Press, Retreat West, New Flash Fiction Review, Bridport, and many others. Of course, we were very happy to add our name to that illustrious list!

Tania said, “Writers would find it interesting, I think, to see a range of winning flash stories, some of which they would never get to read unless they bought all the print competition anthologies.”

The project is in its early stages at the moment, as competitions and writers are still being approached, a website is being built, and social media platforms are being set up. But Tania says she is hoping for an October publication date.

We think it’s a fantastic idea, and certainly a very worthy cause. “I really want to make this anthology about raising funds in the face of this terrible situation that’s only getting worse,” Tania concluded.

We’ll be adding further news and updates on our website when we hear more from Tania, and wish her all the very best with the project. We can’t wait to see the finished product.

Oh – and the stories from our competition featuring in the anthology?…

THE WALL by Mandy Wheeler

THE MOST FASCINATING WOMAN IN THE WORLD by Andrew Boulton