Happy
Travels

Well, I never did find that purple suitcase, but in its place came a whole lot of happy travellin' whimsy!

The variety of imagination, creativity and human craft on display in our second contest was nothing short of inspired; I lost count of the times I had to stop reading to go and find my lucky hat so I could tip it to you, for a moment of magic, a turn of phrase, or a story well—and sometimes outrageously—told. Needless to say, narrowing this down to just five selected stories and honourable mentions was like packing for a gap year without checked baggage. But we got there in the end with an absolutely wonderful group of stories.

Our Whimsy August selection features an hilarious portrait of antiquated, out-of-place "Britishness", an equally hilarious epistolary of a gym bro in space, a first-time holidayer stepping onto—and out the back of—the wrong flight, and a stunningly conceived story of shipwrecked love under a moonlit sky. While this month's spotlight—which practically picked itself (and was written by one of our inaugural honourable mentions!)—captures the Happy Travels theme with oooodles of personality, a pair of loveable, relatable characters, and a final line/callback for the ages. Not to mention... quokkas.

A massive congratulations also goes to our honourable mentions, who gave us peculiarity via alien gas money, a magically told famous swim, chin hair ruminations, the oh-so atmospheric west, and the sort of resignation letter I wish I'd sent a few of my previous employers. Every one of these stories stood out amongst a field of genuinely remarkable writers. Alas, once more, there could only be five. We’ll be in touch shortly about inclusion in this year’s anthology alongside our selected stories.

We’ve also handpicked three additional entries from this month’s contest that just missed out on the final list. So we'll be dropping those writers a line, too.

At last, bravo to our second inductee into the Whimsy Wall of First Lines. This month's entry is just perfect, smile-giving whimsy.

Thank you all for travelling happily with us. We'd love to see you again for Whimsy September!

– Timothy Hayes (aka timmytimtimothy)