And the winners are ...

 

    There has been a tremendous response to our favourite short story/author competition, and following all the marvellous, wide-ranging recommendations could lead us down many distinct reading trails as those comments amount to a fabulous guide to short fiction. Needless to say, judging has been difficult, but with the help of the team at Bloomsbury, we have our three winners:

     First prize, that is a signed copy of This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens to Someone Like You by Jon McGregor (the paperback is published today, by the way), Ballistics by D.W. Wilson, and one of the following: Tenth of December by George Saunders, Homesick by Roshi Fernando, Diving Belles by Lucy Wood, Once You Break a Knuckle by D.W. Wilson) goes to Bethan Roberts whose favourite is Claire Keegan's collection Walk the Blue Fields - "So much emotion contained in the parting of a bride's shining hair."

    Second prize, This Isn't The Sort of Thing ... and one of the four above, goes to Kat (@hikatnelson) who nominated F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - "Short suits sharp social satire!"

    Third prize, a copy of This Isn't the Sort of Thing ... (reviewed here), goes to Aki Schilz who said of A.L. Kennedy's Indelible Acts, "each story is like a fingerprint on my skin".

    Thankyou to everyone who entered, who shared their knowledge of the form, who retweeted our many #shortandtweet tweets, and special thanks to Bloomsbury for all the prizes! I hope the winners will enjoy them thoroughly.