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[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Carys Bray Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to come.'' I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of course, I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and othersend up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B0CDZRGT1M|title=How Much the Heart Can HoldSuper Short Stories: Seven Stories on LoveFlash Fiction|author=Mark C Wallfisch|rating=34.5

|summary=This Sceptre collection does not have as simple ''Got a remit as it might appear; these minute to be amused, entertained, or challenged?''''These 100 stories are no straightforward love storiessuper short. None is more than 300 words. Instead, they each take You can read one aspect in a flash.''''Some are funny. Some are poignant. All are short.'' Question: how do you review flash fiction? How do you give a flavour of love – often one a fully rounded little story if that story is told in fewer than three hundred words? Or do you try to draw out themes from all the flash fictions in a book of the ancient Greek classifications – and provide them? I don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn't a whole new way fixed definition of thinking flash fiction but that for this collection, author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a three hundred word limit. That's about it. After all, the heart holds a lot of metaphorical weightsingle page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473649420</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Helen SimpsonRachel Harrison|title=CockfostersBad Dolls|rating=3.54

|summary=This was a belated reunion for me, having It's been introduced to the authorsome time since I's snappy short story collections courtesy the very first one while at unive read any horror. MindI had a couple of misspent teen years reading Stephen King, it was borrowing the books from a much more gentle boy I fancied at school and placid reunion than scaring myself half silly with them to the one point that starts I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of the vampires outside! Don't worry - this book – Julie and Philippa short story collection isn't like that! It doesn't have had a shop-bought curry togetherthose jump scares, but and I didn't have had to forsake a cultural chat for a trip haring along the London Underground chasing after a pair of glasses one of them left behind. read it during daylight hours only! The piece But it is definitely about the subject creepy, and I found most of ageing – about time passed and what might be remaining ahead – but you soon discover that not only do all feeling came from the pieces here have titles fact that these are unadorned place namesstories about women, living normal lives, but they all concern and that at least in part, the horrors arises from very theme. Can anyonenormal situations such as a breakup, let alone Helen Simpsontrying a new dieting app, sustain such going to a vaguely morbid topic over hen party and a full collection?coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178470198X</amazonuk>1803363932

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David BecklerB0CCCVRSGX|title= The Road More Travelled: Tales of those seeking refugeStories 2|author=Richard F Walker|rating= 54|genre= Short Stories|summary= This is Richard F Walker''The Road More Travelled'' is an anthology s second volume of short stories - . There are thirteen in all and I took something from each of them. There isn't a single one poem - written in response that doesn't deserve to be among the refugee crisis as it exploded across our TV screens and newspapers throughout 2015others or brings down the overall quality. To the horror of the authorsIt can be tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, the language used by many was aggressive so I'll just pick two to talk about and dehumanising, describing this mass of desperate people as a swarm or a horde. The stories together form I think they give a response to this otheringgeneral flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0993147224</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Ransom Riggs1739593901|title= Tales of the Peculiar|rating= 5|genre= Teens|summary= A fork-tongued princess. A boy who can control the currents of the sea. Cannibals who feast on the limbs of a village of peculiars. These are just a few of the brilliant stories to be found in ''Tales of the Peculiar'', all of which hold mystical information about the peculiar world - a place familiar to many of us since its first introduction by Ransom Riggs in [[Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs|Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children]]. 22 Ideas About The stories in this collection explore peculiar history and folklore in a wonderfully imaginative way, and also include some beautiful illustrations to accompany each of the tales.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141373407</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=I'll Be Home For ChristmasFuture|author=Benjamin Zephaniah Greenaway and OthersStephen Oram (Editors)

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=Publisher Little Tiger and homelessness charity Crisis have ''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got together night-vision killer drones and produced automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.'' I'll Be Home For Christmasve got a couple of confessions to make. I'' - an anthology of m not keen on short stories from some of the most popular writers on the UK YA scene. The as I find it easy to read a few stories are connected by and then forget to return to the theme of homebook. What does home mean There's got to you? Is it your house, the physical place where you live? Is it your family? Your friends? Home can mean different things be a very compelling hook to different people, cankeep me engaged. Then there't s science fiction: far too often it? The book opens 's the technology which takes centre stage along with a powerful poem by Bookbag favourite, Benjamin Zephaniahthe world-building. The following stories It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are disparate - some telling tales of hardship and fearpurely incidental. So, some warming the cockles what did I think of your heart. But all a book of them are about ''home''twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157726</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Rebecca SchiffB09XZMCDVF|title= The Bed MovedStories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Richard F Walker|rating= 54|genre= Short Stories |summary= Rebecca Schiff's collection 'A news vendor is crying out the headlines in the middle of short stories was the night; a wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his imagination; a stickler for correct grammar goes back in time to correct an iconic quote; a revelation. It has everything I want from volunteer teacher proves the ideal person to have around in a collection: humour, (often of lawless village; the new boy on the black variety), heartbreaking sadnesspub football team is very useful with his feet, and moments awfully familiar…'' This collection of shocking clarity. These thirteen short stories feel like the revealing of by Richard F Walker has a lot to offer the inner workings of a young American woman's psycheeclectic reader. In fact, in Tying them together is the last short pieceidea that remarkable and strange, entitled ''Write What You Know''even miraculous, it feels that the narrator/author is telling us the experiences which have led things can happen to this collectionordinary people. And that ordinary doesn''I only know about parent death t mean boring or uninteresting. Form and sluttiness', she tells us. She goes on to talk about her knowledge tone varies so this little treasury of Jewish people who are assimilated, liberal short fiction is never boring and sexual guilt, and I think it is no exaggeration to say that these are the underlying themes to practically all of the stories hereyou're never quite sure what's coming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147363184X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Simon Van Booy1737030942|title= Tales of Accidental GeniusBag O'Goodies|author=Jolly Walker Bittick|rating= 54|genre= Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=A diverseSometimes, haunting you deserve a treat and humorous collection of short fictionmine was Jolly Walker Bittick's ''Bag O'Goodies''. I first encountered his writing about a year ago, when I read his [[Cape Henry House by Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], Simon Van Booy offers a collection rollicking tale of stories highlighting how human genius can emerge through acts of compassionwhat happens when five young men find a base for their partying. With characters ranging from an eccentric film director Right now, an aging Cockney bodyguardI didn't want a full-length novel, the teenage child so I turned to this anthology of Nigerian immigrants, a divorced amateur magician verse and a Beijing street vendor, ''Tales of Accidental Geniusshort stories. Bittick'' takes the reader on many, incredible journeys, s writing has matured - and conveys more in a few pages than many authors would struggle to do in a whole novelso have his characters. Well... |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780749716</amazonuk>most of them!

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Amnesty International1529418100|title= Here I StandBruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales|author=Martin Walker|rating= 54|genre= TeensShort Stories|summary= Every so often Amnesty International gets together I'm not usually a number fan of great authors short stories - I find it all too easy to put the book down between stories and produces an anthology forget to pick it up again - but I am a fan of writing. This time, theyMartin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the temptation to read ''Bruno've done it for younger readers with s Challenge''Here was hard to resist and I Stand'm rather glad that I didn't even try. Twenty-five contributions explore where we are with human rights in today For those new to the series, there's society: the sacrifices many made to win them; the sacrifices an excellent introduction that still will tell you all you need to be made know about who's who and the background to spread them; how, where and why these rights are under attack and how deep Bruno is the need to defend themin St Denis. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>140635838X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Anna MetcalfeB08NF79QXT|title= Blind Water Pass and other storiesCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Brooke Adams|rating= 53|genre= Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary= Anna MetcalfeThirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's debut collection of short stories is a treasure trove of language, cultures, nominated for - and beautifully written prosewins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. The stories are bound together She's delighted and the two people she's brought with a loose theme of communicationher to the event couldn't be more pleased. Sonja, or miscommunicationher mother, across characters is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and culturesLiberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and the narrators of these stories are as different as human beings themselvestheir four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473631815</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Wendy BrandmarkB08KKQ85FN|title= He Runs the MoonBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona|rating= 3.54|genre= Short Stories |summary= This is ''If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the first time I had read any company of Wendy Brandmark's fictioncarrion crows or, more to the point, and I was intrigued at about to discover the theme real world of the storiesbus timetables and paying his own gas bills. '' You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you? She sets out writing short stories about different cities We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in [[Sorting the Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|Sorting the US, Denver, Bronx, New York, Cambridge Priorities]] and Boston, we learned what it was like to be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but also weaves in setting the stories time has come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of Former Ambassador... They have left The Career and settled in different erasRome. So we have a collection of stories ranging from the 1950Well 'settled's to rather overstates the 1970'ssituation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907320601</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Birgul OguzB08CHJLNBS|title= HahCapturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams|rating= 3|genre= Literary Women's Fiction|summary= I was interested to receive this book for review as I knew it was written in a modernHe's Charles Devereaux, interesting style, being effectively thirty-eight and a collection of short storiespartner at Wickham Jones, but appearing more in a novel structurethe Mayfair letting agents. I wasShe's Emilia, howevertwenty-nine, rather disappointed with librarian and archivist in the bookheritage library next door. Whilst it does have some very fine examples of prose writing within the storiesEmilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, I felt disconnected from the narratorwhich leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, who is the daughter of to something a recently deceased man who was involved in a Turkish military coup in 1980little deeper. There Charles is therefore more of a lot of examples of the narrator relating the conversations they had shared regarding [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian'revolution'. They're obviously not at all compatible, and the way so why can Charles not get this had affected the daughterwoman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it's upbringing and childhoodobvious to his friends. Another And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles'storys superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship' then delves into s obviously a seemingly disconnected wander through the townnon-starter, whereby we see the narrator working at gutting fish, and talking about a man she finds repulsive, but who appears to be in love with her. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>9462380740</amazonuk>isn't it?

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Chuck PalahniukMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title=Make Something UpCursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories Fantasy|summary=What are we to make Curses. They're there throughout tales of that subtitle-seeming writing on the front cover faery and other fantastical folk – ''stories you can't unread''? Does that not apply to all good fiction? Clearly it is here due people being cursed to the reputation of the authordo this, and the baggage his name brings or not to the page. We'd expect a dramatic approach from anything Palahniuk writes, and an added frisson, an extra layer, from which we might be forced able to shrink back. But a lot of the contents don't quite go do that far. YesChildren can be cursed, things are dramatic, when society starts attaching defibrillators to itself, to create as can princesses on the perfect, simple, care- (''The Price is Right''-verge of marrying, and Kardashian-) free happinessolder people too. A man buys It seems in a horse for his daughter – but boy is way there's no escaping it the wrong horse to buy. A man falls in love – yes, sometimes Which is why the plot summaries theme of these this book of short stories really are better off for being short (speaking of which, don't turn is such a standout – we may well think we know all there is to the three-page entrant here as a tasterknow about this accursed character, it'll put you off by dint of beingthat demonised place, almost uniquely here, a nothing story). A call centre worker can't convince people he's on the level and even in their country – until someone starts riffing back to himthat other bewitched person. A housing estate report conveys bad regulation violations, but not as bad as the happenings at a We'Burning Man'-styled festival, in a d be very clever couple of tales. But many too are the instances where that extra step has been takenwrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099587688</amazonuk>1789091500

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Martin Edwards (editor)Stibbe_Xmas|title=Murder at the Manor: Country House Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics)An Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe

|genre=Crime (Historical)Humour|summary=I'm not big Christmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on short storiesthe downstairs loo to defrost overnight, but two factors nudged me towards this bookand if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Firstly, Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's broadly golden age crimesuitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, one of my weaknesses and secondlyget too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, the editor is [[:Category:Martin Edwards|Martin Edwards]], of course also a man whose knowledge time of golden age crime is probably unsurpassed and hegreat boons. It's done us proudcash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, not only with his selection, but it was always a godsend for postmen with all the halfthank-page biographies of the writers, which precede each story. There's just enough there you letters to allow aunties you to place saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as for the author makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and to direct you to sell them any other works if you're tempted. Ittime of the year?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=A Winter Book|author=Tove Jansson|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Tove Jansson's an elegant selectionworldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, from written in the well known 1940s and later becoming television characters of the less simplicity, naivety and sheer 'goodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Simple drawings, simple stories, simple goodness. What is often forgotten outside of her native Finland is that she was a serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well known, all set in as children…and that she had a feeling for the natural world and around the country housesimple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of how the world might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712309934</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joe Abercrombie1911115847|title=Sharp EndsNights of the Creaking Bed|author=Toni Kan

|genre=FantasyLiterary Fiction|summary=I often feel that short stories are an indulgence on the part ''Nights of the author, they get to write down Creaking Bed'' is a lot collection of their ideas that don't really fit into a larger storyshort stories by Toni Kan. The stop/start nature series of stories tell of the lives and lusts of an assortment of them never sits well with mecharacters living in and around Lagos, just as I am starting to get to know a character they are goneNigeria. One way of solving Nigeria, in this would be to use characters that a fan will already know; perhaps explore the pastcollection, or is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the futureshadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. That sounds great for Kan writes with a fan, but how do you do this whilst also catering for vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a new reader?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575104678</amazonuk>glimmer of hope.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sara Taylor1529014484|title=The ShoreExhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=The first story we hear from Over the Shorepast twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a group of isolated islands off the coast of Virginia, science fiction fan it is from Chloe, who's telling her sister about what she overheard in the store. She'd been there buying chicken necks so likely that they could go crabbing. Normally they used bacon rinds, but they'd you have already eaten those. Cabel Bloxom had been murdered and ''they done cut his thang clean off''. The girls are motherless and Chloe is fiercely protective come across some of her little sister Reneethe work by Ted Chiang. SheIf you haven's the first of the strong women we'll encounter in these stories, which interlink t then take this opportunity to give a greater picturedo so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959188X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Higgins Clark1794467440|title=Death Wears a Beauty MaskWatchwords |author=Philip Neal

|summary=In 1972, Mary Higgins Clark began writing This satisfying collection of short stories has a novella entitled ''Death Wears provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it. Philip Neal lost a Beauty Maskwatch.'' She struggled with the story It was a watch he was fond of and put it asidehad been told was like a 1930s Cartier. Instead of mourning its loss, where he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it lay forgotton for several decades. When the author rediscovered the manuscript amongst some old files, she decided And that she liked it and was ready 's how he became a watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to complete the long-awaited endingAntique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. ''Death Wears The eBay purchase was a Beauty Mask'' joins some of her other worksfake, both old but the friendship that grew between the buyer and new, in an entertaining collection the repairer of short stories full watches was not and the seed of mystery and suspensean idea for a book was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471143228</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Danielle McLaughlin1529006031|title=Dinosaurs on Other PlanetsReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors

|genre=Short Stories |summary=Seeing as this book is clearly In following a talented author hitting young girl called Alice down the ground runningrabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book she was in [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of age]], I found that I will dispense didn't really find too much favour with any major preambleit. We start with a tale of a daughter affected by The wacky-for-the emotions -sake-of her parents -it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more as they separate – and the influence of a certain school-teacher – from the mother's point of viewchild. An ancient input shows how alien, and But I would suggest I am the modern day domesticity how regular, the isolation of a woman can feel, as events are peppered by minor acts of destructionperfect audience for this book. But men can be alienated too – especially one, a reluctant guest I had every chance to enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a party for children hosted by someone he once had an affair with – he feels tangent, that show the new form benefits of this influence in the light of another one he has had to try and abandonoblique glance. I'All About Alice' – thatve always preferred coming to an author's what the title character wants to say but has nobody to speak it tooutput through their least obvious, but is it her – midallegedly throw-40s away pieces, and single, living it's the same with her father franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that is most removed from her dreams or her old friend and now child factoryremains just a hunch, Marian? for obvious reasons). And we complete a lap of the calendar with the wintry tale of a man unable For another thing, there was every reason to tell his work superiors expect some kind of the problems he faces at home greatness here – a new homewith Carroll much loved by millions, recently built like so many one sees while driving round Ireland.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473613701</amazonuk>surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Christopher Fowler1846974658|title= Bryant and May - London's Glory|rating= 4|genre= Crime|summary=In the depths of the last [[Bryant and May – The Burning Man by Christopher Fowler|B&M review I wrote]] I said '' Of course, it's unbelievable, farcical. But then you don't come to a Bryant and May story for realism. You come for absurdity.'' Naturally, I stand by that comment. Fowler has concocted his characters and has no shame in shunting them up and down the time-line of British history as he sees fit.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523457</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewLong Path To Wisdom|author=Alexander McCall Smith|title=Chance Developments: Unexpected Love StoriesJan-Philipp Sendker|rating=5|genre=General Fiction|summary=Sometimes, if I'm in a cafe by myself, I like to watch the people around me and imagine stories about their lives. Just a single sentence, overheard, can lead to wonderous tales of mystery and intrigue whilst I sip my cappuccino! So I was delighted to sit down to read the latest offering from AMS, not only because he wrote it, but because he wrote it after looking at 5 different black and white photographs, and then imagining the stories behind them. Who are all these people, and what are their stories? Each story is unique, and yet they all have one abiding link...love.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973295</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Joannah Yacoub|title=When Mr Putin Stole My Painting: Ten Short Stories|rating=3.54

|summary=Put yourselfOn my travels around the world, if necessaryI have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, in and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the mind of someone wanting to publish their first collection of short stories. What do you choose as next person, what I'm really looking for is the contents 'local' – besides just saying the best available? Do you try and find a themecookbook maybe, or connecting happenstance or style, to pin them together? Are they based on you now, someone else somewhen elsethe maps definitely, or but above all : the diverse people and places you have once met? folk tales. Joannah Yacoub seems If I ever get to Burma, I won't need to have gone for the latterhunt, I can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0704373971</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Eoin Colfer (editor)B077969HN8|title=Once Upon a Place|rating=3.5|genre=Confident Readers Alternative Medicine|summary=You know the bit of the blurb on every ''Artemis Fowl'' book, where Eoin Colfer had it said about how you pronounce his name? That wasn't the intention of an up-and-coming author to be recognisable; rather, it was pride. Pride in the difference of it, of the Irishness of it. Ireland, it seems to me, is more full than usual of people, things and ideas, and places that are different by dint of their singular nationality – and so many deserve to have pride attached to them. The places might not be the famous ones, but they can be the source of pride, and of stories, which is where this compilation of short works for the young comes in, with the authors invited to select their chosen place and write about it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>191041137X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Sophie Hannah|title=The Visitors BookLaura Solomon|rating=34.5|genre=Paranormal|summary= Sophie Hannah's The Visitors Book is a short anthology of modern stories with a supernatural twist. There is not a hammy gothic turret in sight as her characters experience their mundane, day-to-day, 21st century business -- a children's birthday party, a visit to a boyfriend, neck pain, the school run. Now, ghost stories based on ordinary people leading ordinary lives can be very unsettling indeed, making overly imaginative readers look over their shoulder at the bus stop, or giving them goosebumps for no apparent reason. So I was curious to see what Sophie Hannah, a writer I much admire, would make of this particular material.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908745525</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Marina Warner|title=Fly Away Home|rating=3

|summary=How would you subvert a fairy tale? You know enough of them and enough about them to do it, so think on it. Would you give a mermaid a smartphone? Would you pepper them with pop stars, and perhaps let them be witness to the Schadenfreude caused by a cave thatLaura Solomon's sacred to native Canadians? Would you, in publisher describes the light of their characters usually being routine, interchangeable tropes, give them a closely-observed personality – as seen here short stories in a teacher's interior thoughts when faced with a piece of East Anglian lore? Would you take the exoticism of the east, and Egypt in particular, and see it in the light of a musical teacher on a zero-hours contract who ends up muttering to himself, directing traffic in the middle of the road, or from the remove of an elderly man with 'Alternative Medicine''swollen feet in orthopaedic sandalsas '' black comedy with a message from the past? Certainly these two are not the standard Arabian Nights-styled pieces…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784630381</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Rose Tremain|title= The American Lover|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories |summary= Having never read a Rose Tremain book before, I was interested to start this collection twist of short storiessurrealism''. I wasn'm rather glad that I didn't disappointed, and it quickly became clear why she has won so many literary awards for her work.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548445</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Ursula K Le Guin|title= The Windsee this until ''after''s Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose|rating= 4|genre= Science Fiction|summary=I'll start by saying that d finished reading as I think the SF Masterworks series are pretty much always and without fail 'm not normally a really interesting read. fan of either, but I've bought quite a few from this come to two conclusions about the book: what the publisher now says is correct - and I find they will always pick interesting titles from really enjoyed it. The comedy is not ''too'' black and the science fiction genre, making them surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a great place to start if you are either just dipping your toe into science fiction for the first time twist or if flick of reality when you're looking to build up your collection.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147320576X</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Maeve Binchy|title= A Few of the Girls|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories|summary= I was excited about reviewing a brand new collection of Maeve Binchy short stories and I wasn't disappointedwere least expecting it. As her widower states Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the introduction, Binchy had an extraordinary talent for telling powerful and compassionate stories, and was a true storyteller with an amazing outputnicest possible way. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409161412</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ann Cleeves (editor)9386897504|title=The Starlings Tales of Love and Other StoriesDisability|author=Laura Solomon

|genre=CrimeShort Stories|summary=Six authors, known collectively as I'The Murder Squad', and their six accomplices were given twelve photographs ve always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of the remote landscape of Pembrokeshire by acclaimed photographer David Wilson skill and asked talent to come up with write a short story inspired by what they sawwhich holds the reader and keeps them coming back for more. Some There are far too many collections of the short stories will be more which are all too easy to your taste than others, as is only to be expected in such a varied anthology, but none are weak put down and if forget after you enjoy crime short stories then this book could be 've read a real treatcouple of pieces. I've recently read a couple of novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1909823740</amazonuk>Hell's Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, so I was intrigued to see what she could do with an even shorter form.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Walter M Miller Jr1986586898|title= Dark BenedictionGoing To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing|rating= 5|genreauthor= Science Fiction|summary= Walter M. Miller Jr is rightly placed among the science fiction giants H.G. Wells, Michael Moorcock, and Philip K. Dick in the ''Masterworks'' series, a large selection of genre-defining writers and works at the centre of what is now such a popular and diverse range of literatures, films, and television productions. Miller is considered one of the finest science fiction writers of the 1950s, and in ''Dark Benediction'', fourteen of this author's best short stories are brought together in one collection.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473211948</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Elizabeth McCracken|title= ThunderstruckD Knight|rating= 4.5

|summary= I chose to review this collection of short stories In the opening story, a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in his pocket - and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with no prior knowledge the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the authorground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H's work – often the best way to do it, though I am aware that McCracken's work comes highly commended. After reading these stories, I can see why and I am already looking forward to reading more the story of her workFoinavon.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099592975</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Pete Bellotte|title= The Unround Circle|rating= 2.5|genre= Short Stories|summary= As short story collections go, this H is depicted as a fairly ambitious bundle, some 22 stories running kind horse who only wanted to a total of nearly four hundred pagesplease people. You'll gather from After changing hands on various occasions he came to the fact that I'm starting with the statistics that I didn't instantly fall in love with Bellotte's writingyard of John Kempton.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910533092</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Mary Higgins Clark H (editoror Foinavon)|title= Manhattan Mayhem – New Crime Stories from was entered in the Grand National and considered a no-hoper. In one of the Mystery Writers most dramatic runnings of America|rating= 5|genre= Crime|summary= I was unsure how to open this review. I heart Manhattanthe race, big timea pile-up occurred at the 23rd fence. I am always attracted to any work set in ManhattanFoinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, but I don’t want cleared the fence and galloped to pigeonhole this remarkable collection of stories into a slot that says 'only for Manhattan lovers'. Far from it – it is a superb collection featuring the highest standards of both mystery writing and line, winning the form race at odds of short story100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>159474761X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ivan Vladislavic9386897296|title=101 DetectivesHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon

|summary=101 Detectives had me baffled. The book comprises of a collection of stories which explore multiple themes from the perspective of one person. The stories are as varied as the characters presenting the tale to you. This exquisitely written book leaves you asking many questions and pondering many ideas. A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908276568</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Laurie R King Marsha's Deal]] and Leslie Klinger (editors)|title=In I was delighted by the Company of Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by opportunity to read the Holmes Canon|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=Wellsequel, that''Hell's Unveiling''. It's one way to get a heck probably not much of a lot of attention spoiler to your series of short story collectionssay that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'', for sure – get but the estate of the author you're respecting devil is not one to take you defeat lying down. He's out to court with the idea that the works cannot be published – the characters are so firmly established wage war on Planet Earth and entrenched, but established and entrenched particularly on Marsha (who's thought of as their property and therefore cannot be artistically reinterpreteda 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong person, revived or otherwise returned to at all until full and final copyright statutes have expiredshe's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Never mind that the characters – one S Holmes Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to juvenile detention and Dr JH Watson – hardly have parallels in how often they already have been mimickedrefused permission to return to live with Marsha. Never mind Then, of course, there are all the fact that the estate other children who are not only targeted but - worst of Conan Doyle was paid off in order for all - subverted to the first book to releaseddevil's evil ends. StillHe's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, the case was won and this sequel their self-esteem is in our handsvery fragile. Is it worth all the legal documents? What This is no small-scale operation, either - the important verdictdevil has set up a training complex on earth, at the end of the reading day?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329843X</amazonuk>complete with an elevator to Hell.