Welsh writer and 2012 West Coast Eisteddfod Online Short Story Competition winner Thomas Morris

Thomas Morris is from Caerphilly, South Wales. He has previously published short fiction in The Irish Times, The Moth, and Icarus, and has won first prize in both The Undercurrents Short Story Competition and the West Coast Eisteddfod. In 2012, he received an Emerging Artist Bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland.

Currently enrolled in the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia, Thomas is working on a collection of short stories set in Caerphilly, and a novel, Second Best: The Diaries of a Substitute Goalkeeper. He is also a fiction editor with The Stinging Fly, a magazine and small press based in Dublin.

'Terramuni', which features here, is an extract from his as-yet-unpublished novella, 'As If I'm Standing In The Garden':-

Is she done yet?

I turn to answer; her head framed by Gareths living room window. The curtains are closed so you cant see anything, but you can still hear the music.

Is who duh-duh-done what?

The entertainment, I mean. Is she finished? She looks at the cake Im still holding.

I the word dunno gets stuck in my teeth. The done caught me out just there, and now Ive got a block on Ds again. I take a quick, shallow breath and decide to bounce off the first word.

I-think so, I say.

Whad you mean you think so? she says straight back, like she was at the net, waiting to volley the word right back at me.

Someones . . . I take another sharp breath to avoid stuttering. Someones-taken-her-stethoscope.

Fucks sake, the girl says, getting off the wall and heading to the front door.

Then she looks at me one more time. I dunno whats the matter with you fuckin boys, but you have to keep stealing the fuckin stethoscope dun you?

Im sorry, I say.

And thats all I can think.

Also featuring 'Aston Villa Baby':-

The baby was born in a full Aston Villa football kit. That is to say it came out of the womb like that. In a full football kit. How did it get there?

The doctors were mystified. Nothing in the ultrascans indicated such an abnormality. And it didnt make much sense to the parents either. None of them even supported Aston Villa.

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Eto specializes in Welsh fiction by Welsh writers and persons of Welsh descent from around the globe. We will also be featuring poetry, literary reviews and interviews. Visual arts and photography features will also be considered.

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Contact the editors Phil Rowlands Ceri Shaw Gaabriel Becket ( or use the contact form on this page ) Now accepting submissions for our 2nd Issue ( September 2013 )

To enter the 2013 West Coast Eisteddfod Online Short Story Competition please go here :- West Coast Eisteddfod 2013 Online Short Story Competition