Yr Adda Olaf

Issue #5 of bilingual magazine Gwyllion is out now, with a reprint of the Welsh translation of my very short story The Last Adam. This story has also been published in English and Spanish.

The Last Adam in Wales Again

A reprint of the Welsh translation of my very short story The Last Adam has been accepted by Gwyllion magazine. This will be my second story in this magazine, and my fourth appearance in Welsh. The Last Adam has also been published in English and Spanish.

Return of The Last Adam

I make my second appearance on daily flash fiction zine Flashshots today with the return of The Last Adam.

This is my shortest story at 78 words and was my very first Friday Flash Fiction entry. It was originaly published in the now defunct Static Movement ezine where it was accompanied by this fabulous illustration by John D Stanton. Both were later reprinted in the Static Movement print anthology.

The Spanish translation appeared in Efimeras in March 2007 and was reprinted in Quimicamente Impuro in December 2008. Earlier this year the English and Welsh versions both appeared on E-Bych.

Friday Flash Fiction: Yn Adam S'jerree

This is the Manx translation of The Last Adam, following in the footsteps of the Spanish and Welsh versions.

Yn Adam S'jerree
Liorish Gareth D Jones


Dobbree y fer s'jerree 'sy teihll ny host chree brisht. V'eh grainney
ennym er tablad fuyghagh, dy kiarailagh, dy mynchooishagh. Tra v'eh
jeant echey, hoie eh eh er-mullagh oaye, fer s'jerree ayns straih by gyn
jerrey lesh, as adsyn er nyn reuyrey ny s'doillee as ny s'doillee ec ny
sloo as ny sloo sleih.

Hoie eh dy trome, as vlakee eh er yn obbyr va jeant echey. Cha nee
ynrican fer s'jerree 'sy teihll v'ayn nish. She peiagh s'jerree v'ayn
foast.

Er y tablad va grainnit: 'Eve'.


Yn Jerrey

Translated by John Shimmin

The Last Adam Again

Sneaking in just before the end of the year, my shortest story The Last Adam has been reprinted in Spanish in Quimicamente Impuro, this time with artwork by Salvador Dali.

Friday Flash Fiction: The Last Adam

A few weeks ago, Jetse De Vries wrote this comment on the Velcro City Tourist Board:

Problem with flash fiction is that it ultimately is so forgettable: it’s *extremely* difficult to write a deep and resounding story at such lengths.

I think generaly that's true, but I'd like to offer the following as a contender. It was first published last June on Static Movement so as a reprint doesn't strictly keep to the spirt of FFF. Let me know what you think.

The Last Adam
By Gareth D Jones

The last man on earth worked in heart-broken silence, carving a name onto a wooden plaque with meticulous care. Once complete he placed it atop the last of a seemingly endless series of graves that had been harder and harder to dig with fewer and fewer people.

He sat down heavily and stared at his handiwork. He was no longer just the last man on earth. He was now the last human too.

The plaque simply read: ‘Eve’.

The End

Attempted Drabble

One of the unusual features of Farthing magazine, that I omitted to mention in my review of issue 5, is that they include a selection of drabbles between the stories. That's a story of exactly 100 words, for the uninitiated.

I've written a couple of stories of roughly that length, The Last Adam and Ten Years at the Bar, so I thought it would be interesting to aim for 100 words exactly.

I'd been thinking of another idea for avery short story for a while, so I set about writing Gap Years, about a teenager who ends up being away from Earth for rather longer than expected. It ended up at 528 words.

That doesn't count as a drabble!

A Million Writers

My almost award-winning story The Last Adam has been nominated for another award. The Million Writers award is for the best story on the internet. I'm very pleased to have been nominated, but I can't encourage you to vote for me as I noticed in the rules that the story has to be over 1000 words. As The Last Adam is only 78 words it won't qualify I'm afraid.

It's the thought that counts though!

Efimeras

The spanish translation of The Last Adam appears today in edition 106 of Efimeras. Unlike my two previous translated stories that were in Greek and Hebrew I actually have half a chance of reading this one!

More Poll Results

I discovered today that Last Man Standing, the picture by John D Stanton that accompanied The Last Adam finished 8th in the P&E readers poll.

It's a pretty good combination.

Poll Results

The results of the Preditors & Editors Readers' Poll have been anounced and The Last Adam finished in 11th place. I just missed out on a top ten award, but when you consider that just 90 stories were nominated out of the countless hundreds that are published each year, and that my story was voted 11th out of them, I'm pretty pleased.

I don't know who nominated The Last Adam in the first place, but a special thankyou to that person, and to all of the other people who voted for me.

Another Delivery

My copy of Static Movement has arrived. It looks great, and is packed with stories. The photo accompanying The Last Adam is very effective. Another prize to ad to my collection.

Static Movement Print Edition

The Static Movement print edition, containing The Last Adam is now available from Lulu.

Go and buy a copy!

Award Nomination

The Last Adam has been nominated for the Preditors & Editors annual Reader's Poll in the Best Short Story catagory. You can vote for me at the above link. The results are to be anounced in February.

Meanwhile the Spanish translation of The Last Adam will be appearing in February, and the print version of Static Movement, also containing The Last Adam is nearing completion and should appear soon.

Two in a Row

My very short flash fiction The Last Adam has been accepted by Spanish ezine Efimeres, and is due to appear in issue 106 in February. This is a very quick acceptance and translation time, probably because they only accept stories <200 words for translation.

That's two stories accepted two days in a row!

Magazine Progress

I'm currently reading Scheherazade #28, a magazine that I've somehow overlooked previously. The review for this and for Jupiter #14 should be posted on UK SF Review at some point, though at the moment it's all quiet over there.

Meanwhile the latest news from Static Movement is that the print issue with my story The Last Adam will be out by the end of the year.

New Illustration

While putting all the lost links back together I discovered that my story The Last Adam now has an excellent illustration to go with it. It's a great picture and really adds to the emotional impact of the story.

Second Chance for Last Adam

The print issue of Static Movement, which is to contain my story The Last Adam, has been rescheduled to be printed by a different publisher. Not sure when yet, but at least there's movement again.

No Movement on Static Movement

The print edition of Static Movement, which was to contain my story The Last Adam, has been cancelled due to problems with the publishers. The editor of static movement still plans to publish, but is now looking for another publisher.

Static Preview

There's now a preview of the print edition of Static Movement available at the Steel Moon website. My story isn't in the preview as it's the last story in the magazine. I presume they've saved the best 'til last!