Today, I read a short story – written by a writer called Kathleen McNamara – which truly blew me away. Only one other contemporary short story has really blown me away this year, and that’s ‘Doggerland’ (man, I encourage you to read that story, too).
This one won the Tom Howard/ John H. Reid Fiction & Essay contest 2024, a competition I didn’t enter, but I have no doubt wouldn’t have won either, given how spectacular every aspect of McNamara’s universe is.
As writers, it’s just as important to champion other writers (perhaps even more important than focusing on ourselves in our blogs and social media!) and I love that I have a platform to do just that.
So, without further adieu, I link you below to the story within stories, the allegorical, almost too ‘on the nose’ at times, but often poetic and beautiful, story ‘Cryptozoology’:
Cryptozoology – Winning Writers
Fun fact: cryptozoology is the study of beasts which no longer exist, for example, the study of Bigfoot. I love that the author perhaps wrote the title first, before thinking of a world within what that title could mean, and the many underlying meanings. When I was young, my father used to give me titles (such as ‘Cornflakes’) and I would have to write a short story or poem to fit, which is the opposite of how I work these days (always writing the piece first and then assigning a title). Perhaps I’ll revert back.
Vieve Flint 
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