I’ve just read in Interzone, the winner of the latest James White Award for unpublished authors, and noted that story didn’t read in any way (as some previous winners have) as the work of a novice writer.
In contrast, this story, from a well-established writer whose short stories have been received with critical acclaim, does read like the work of a novice writer. It lacks any great depth or subtlety, spelling all the issues out, and with some writing that did actually cause a wince or two (..he was a big pear-shaped man with a thick tobacco-stained moustache and eyes that looked in two different directions..)
