The Last Thing the Author Said: Writing by Nick Sweeney
  • First Thing
  • The Emigre Engineer
  • A Blue Coast Mystery, Almost Solved
  • One Percent Dog
  • The Exploding Elephant
  • Laikonik Express
    • Laikonik Express on Kindle
    • Laikonik Express: cultural baggage
    • Reviews of Lakonik Express
    • Laikonik Express - origins
    • Laikonik Express film
    • Laikonik Express on Resonance FM - soundscapes with Johny Brown and the Band of Holy Joy
  • Out in 2021
  • My Published Short Stories
  • Interviews with me
    • Interview, June 2020
    • Interview, October 2020
  • Man Seeks Dog
  • Andabatae
  • The Place of the Dead
  • Short stories and tall tales
    • The Boy at the Bus Stop
    • End-User of Ordinance
    • Fast in the Life Lane
    • Wojtek and the Commissar
    • Wheel
  • My works-in-progress
    • A gothic American tale
    • Angelika and the Forgers
    • Cleopatra's Script
  • Last Thing Blog

My short stories

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I tend to think of myself as a novelist; long-winded rather than to the point. However, something, some urge I can't ignore, makes me want to write short stories. It is a beautiful form, I think, and it's good self-discipline to say what you need to say with the minimum of words. In a way, it's easy to write a novel - in one way, I mean, not every way - easy to let it all flow and mount up. The short story has to be concise (I know, I know, not all of them are, and there are rules, which I'll go into another time, as they give me a headache, in general) and easy to digest; it's the haiku to the novel's epic poem, the brush and dustpan to its vacuum cleaner, etc etc etc. 


I've had quite a few published, by various small press magazines, the most notable and enduring of which has been Ambit magazine. I will post some of the published ones on this site, and also some that are unpublished - maybe they are unpublishable - and some works-in-progress. 


Featured stories

Click on the titles to be taken to the stories, or links to them.

The Boy at the Bus Stop
Beat the Dust, 2011

End-user of Ordinance
Ambit, 2010

Fast in the Life Lane
Lateral Moves, 1999

Wojtek and the Commissar
Ambit, 2011

Wheel
Ambit, 1999


Just Looking
​Mystery Weekly, 2016
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