Agnes and True

29/04/2024

Do you write speculative fiction? This might be for you:

Since 2004, the Older Writers Grant has been awarded annually to writers who are at least fifty years of age at the time of application to assist such writers who are just starting to work at a professional level. These funds may be used as each writer determines will best assist their work.

16/04/2024

Agnes and True is happy to present our April story, "The Club," by Lissa Muir:

by Lissa Muir “Is this okay?” I asked. We were going to meet my husband’s boss and his wife for dinner at their private members club. As luck would have it, my body had undergone a transformation recently, and an old designer silk dress—bought when the expense of children and aging past fort...

12/03/2024

Agnes and True is happy to present our March story, "War Story," by Emily Strempler:

by Emily Strempler Light slanted through the bars on the hotel room window, dust swirling in lazy golden rays as they fell across the bed where The Boy dozed, curled up in a nest of blankets. An old computer on the desk in the corner, wedged in next to the hot plate and

22/02/2024

“Reading fictional stories can make you simulate an entire world in your head, and makes you work your memory and imagination. It’s a huge creative exercise that can really maintain brain health.”—Dr. Nathan Spreng, a professor of neurology and neurosurgery at McGill University

12/02/2024

Agnes and True is happy to present our February story, "For Sale: Heritage Home on Lakefront Property," by M.W. Irving:

by M.W. Irving It’s a gravelly ten-minute walk from my parents’ place to the lake, with plenty of weeds, loose rocks, and thorny vines to trip on. A childhood spent walking along that path had resulted in countless scabby knees and hot tears. It’s a particularly awful trek at four o’clock in...

24/12/2023

Wishing all writers and readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season.
We appreciate all of you.

16/12/2023

Attention Agnes and True authors: Have you had a book of short stories or poetry, a novel, a play, etc. published in the past few years? We're compiling a list to post on social media. If you'd like to be included, please let us know and provide links and/or photos or other media. Thank you!

04/12/2023

Look who's joined the party! Welcome! Better late than never!

Prairie Fire is giving centre stage to women writers fifty and over! This special issue is a celebration that honours and recognizes the enormous contribution of living Canadian women writers, who have helped shape CanLit and continue to do so.  If you are a woman, aged fifty and over, have at leas...

04/12/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our December story, "Wanderer," by Alexis MacIsaac:

by Alexis MacIsaac The house sits on a hill, far from the dirt road, partially obscured by half-dead appendages of once mighty trees. A wooden structure: large, square, and battered. Cavernous when unlit. Inelegant in its rusticity. I see this image as might a stranger. But my detachment is always d...

11/11/2023

Congratulations to Thomas Wharton! We published his short story, Fort Mac, in 2018. You can read it here: https://www.agnesandtrue.com/fort-mac/

03/10/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our October story, "Tame," by Tannis Koskela.

by Tannis Koskela Only a few weeks ago this bushy cat was a feral barn cat. Claws out, hissing, and quick to hide. A bit of warmth and regular food, and he has become a cat of luxury. He moves into the room like an inch worm. Step,

05/09/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our September story, "For Solo Voice," by Tina Silver:

by Tina Silver Even though Gretchen had little potential as a singer, Renata needed the money. Seventy-five dollars bought the same groceries whether it came from a promising talent or a mom taking a forty-five-minute reprieve from carpools and laundry. Renata privately vowed to train Gretchen not t...

07/08/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our August story, "Women of Windsor," by Preston Lang:

by Preston Lang The book was called Men of Moncton. Rita grabbed it on the way out of Owen’s apartment to have something to read on the train. She’d thought it was fiction, but it was a collection of short biographies—each profiling another illustrious son of New Brunswick’s most essential c...

07/07/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our July story, "Donor Fatigue," by Cadence Mandybura:

by Cadence Mandybura “Just the blood today, ma’am?” Marybeth blinked, still distracted by how she’d hung up on her daughter to make this appointment in time. “No, I’ve signed up for the whole regimen, as usual,” she said. “Compassion, patience, tolerance—the works.” “Oh,” sai...

19/06/2023

“We are not going to hear from poor people,” said McNicoll. They’re too busy hustling multiple jobs, they’re tired, they don’t have the resources to buy the mental space to write.”

From novels to TV, you’ll have a hard time finding people who struggle with poverty

09/06/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our June story, "The Universal Treat," by Jenny Vester:

by Jenny Vester Even before they chain up that dog in their spectacularly untended back yard, you despise the couple next door. You refer to them as Bitch and As***le, same as they call each other, and give them the surname K**b so you can lump them together—as in, The K**bs have really

01/05/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our May story, "Bad Luck and Big Ants," by Sheila Burpee Duncan:

by Sheila Burpee Duncan In the darkness, Ella swats the side of her head before lifting it from the pillow. “F**king ants,” she says and fumbles for the switch. Bedside lamplight blinds her, but soon she can see that the dog on the floor beside her is awake—alert and ready to do whatever

31/03/2023

https://www.bristolprize.co.uk

The Bristol Short Story Prize is a writing competition that publishes great short stories and promote writers

23/03/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our March story, "Intentions," by Beth Goobie:

by Beth Goobie Riley locked her bike to a NO PARKING sign and surveyed the storefront forty feet in from the sidewalk, behind a small parking lot. Four months ago, she had started volunteering at The Good Intentions Emporium, a local thrift store, in the hopes of earning a job reference. At twenty-s...

03/03/2023

Some Agnes and True alumnus news:

Canadian author Wharton chats with a robot about creativity, existential dread and the rise of AI in our writing lives.

16/02/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our February story, "The Woman I Know," by Imola Zsitva:

by Imola Zsitva I saw her every morning at eight fifteen on the corner of Avenue de L’Épée and Fairmount. First to emerge from the electric car were the black, high-heeled boots and blue skinny jeans, followed by the green wool coat. It didn’t look warm, but it wrapped around her figure in

27/01/2023

13/01/2023

Agnes and True is happy to present our newest story, Bed Blocker, by Nancy Johnson:

by Nancy Johnson The words fly down the hospital corridor like precision missiles homing in on Maggie, their fleeing target, piercing her on impact. “Keep her away. She’s abusing me!” Maggie presses palms against ears as she escapes her accuser, the screeching woman in the corner room. Indiffe...

11/01/2023

Attention Canadian short story writers: submission guidelines are here: https://www.mbwriter.mb.ca/programs-and-services/dave-williamson-national-short-story-competition/

25/12/2022

Wishing all our writers and readers a happy and peaceful holiday season.

16/12/2022

Agnes and True is happy to present our December story, "The Broken Village," by Catherine Austen:

by Catherine Austen “It’s your fan belt,” the mechanic says. He has dirty hands and clean hair, a lopsided smile and good teeth. He charmed the older sister, Odelia, when he leaned over the engine and raised his pale green eyes. Young and cute—so cute he doesn’t have to be tall or rich.

29/11/2022

Congratulations to Agnes and True alumna, Jennifer Falkner, whose story, The Inventory, was published in April 2019. Her first collection of stories, Above Discovery, will be published by Invisible Publishing in May 2023! Pre-order here:

In Jennifer Falkner’s richly imagined first collection, past and present glancingly converge, making the familiar outlines of myth, history, and everyday life seem suddenly strange.

27/11/2022

Saw this quote in an email: “I see the short attention span of others my age and especially teens: Does Netflix’s Reed Hastings have something in mind regarding the high and increasing popularity of short videos?” It reminded me of this:

ScreenCraft's Ken Miyamoto breaks down why short stories are easier for screenwriters to adapt for the big screen compared to novels.

15/11/2022

Agnes and True is happy to present our November story, The Radical, by Julie McClement:

by Julie McClement Looking at my sister’s Instagram makes me feel hollow inside, but I can never stop returning to it—the same way I ran my tongue over the spot from a missing tooth as a kid. I tell myself I should cut back, but it’s a harmless vice, no worse than my

14/10/2022

Agnes and True is happy to present our October story, "Antler Magnifying Glass Late 1800s, Good Condition," by Emily Hunt:

by Emily Hunt My memory has changed everything about you. It thinks you’re perfect. I buckle under the druggy weight of the lie, sometimes. Press awkwardly against the ground, happy and stupid beneath it. It thinks that when you first walked into my shop—collapsing your umbrella between us in sl...