Quark Soup

Quark Soup

Yippee! 3rd place in the Segora International Short Story competition for my ‘Quark Soup’. The competition was judged by Amanda Hodgkinson (who wrote the bestseller ’22 Britannia Road’) and organised by Gordon and Jocelyn Simms. Congratulations to Fleur Smithwick (1st) and Anne Woodford (2nd), whose writing I admire enormously. I feel honoured to have my name alongside theirs on the Segora website announcement. You can download and read Quark Soup here.

Amanda said:

“Third place goes to QUARK SOUP. This is a lyrical and emotional look at the life of a couple dealing with illness and changes in their lives. The writing is rich and detailed, and satisfyingly full of emotional depth and wisdom.”

I was lucky enough to meet Amanda in Bordeaux last year, when she spoke about her work. You can read my blog post about her here.

There is also a review of Quark Soup on ‘String To My Bow’ website

“Springbett starts with an assault of flavours and textures and quickly hits the reader with a one-two punch that completes the metaphor of the opening paragraph and literally takes the breath away.

The timespan of this short story is a mere couple of minutes, yet in that time the protagonist feels, remembers and tastes every aspect of her love for her husband.

With a bombshell happening in the third paragraph, it is hard to see how the author will resolve this emotional story. And yet she does with a sleight of hand that is as natural and beautiful as the prose.

Quark Soup was recently awarded third prize in the Segora International Short Story competition. A real deserved plaudit for Springbett’s approach to the genre.”