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Shortbread Short Stories

SHORTBREAD stories is a FREE community website dedicated to revitalising the short story. For writers, it provides a worldwide showcase for their work, and for readers, it offers free access to short stories which can be read as text or, if selected by our members, listened to as an audio file.

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The Last Time

Rolling Stones Competition The last time it was The Beatles Competition, and now it’s The Rolling Stones! So why not give yourself the satisfaction of getting off your cloud, stop sitting on the fence and write a story based on any Rolling Stones song? Use it as the theme but give it a different slant. Provide your own title and don’t reveal the name of the song so that the community has the opportunity to guess which one is the inspiration behind your writing. Try to restrict the length to between 1000-3000 words. And don't forget to tag your entry with the word Stones You will have until Tuesday (Ruby’s day), 27th of April to submit your story, so don’t think that time is on your side. Our members will judge which are the best stories and the top three will go forward for audio production. The winner will receive a £50 (US$75) Amazon gift voucher. If you don’t win, don’t worry. You can’t always get what you want.... Read More

Saved by the Bell... Eventually

Editor's Blog It could have been a bit of a disaster, really. Longforgan Primary School was having a Book Week and so I was asked to go and talk to the children about being a published author. I rarely prepare anything for an event of this type, usually finding it easier to let the kids take the lead, but I did have with me Emily Copland’s brilliant short story, ‘How To Deal With A Ghost’ which I found right here on Shortbread. Anyway, they were suitably enthralled with that, but as soon as I had finished reading out the story, I sensed a rumble and a grumble amongst the assembled company and knew they’d all just about had enough of this baldy old geezer standing in front of them. And there was another thirty five minutes to kill before the bell went. So, with a click of my fingers (which weakly signified the attempted switching-off of the panic light flashing in my brain) I said, right, let’s do our own story. So, I pointed out three kids and asked them to come up with three plots. First one: “A little girl gets lost in the woods and is never found...... Read More | Read Robin's Personal Blog

New Audio Stories

New Audio We're adding new audio stories all the time at Shortbread short stories. Here are the most recent uploads!

Stanley And Mildred        by Bill Kirton
Stanley On Holiday        by Bill Kirton
Stanley's Pet        by Bill Kirton
The Pope's Revenge        by Erica Brooks
Lilo Is A Fat Cow        by Lucy Douglas

February Editors' Picks

Why Did It Die?        by Kris Wallace
In A Suitcase        by Eva Giannetti
To Be Longing For by Mark Patrick
The Bookseller's Dream by K. R. Boyter
The Healing Process by Michael Dhillon
The Dance Of Romance by David Appleby

Short Story Writing Guide by Rosamunde Pilcher

Rosamunde Pilcher I really cut my literary teeth writing short stories at a time when they were a major source of imaginative entertainment, before mass broadcasting on radio and television. They have since, rather sadly, fallen victim to the modern-day strategies of publishing, and I am only too delighted that Shortbread Stories are spearheading their revival in such an innovative... Read More