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[[Category:Short Stories|*]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John GrishamAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Ford CountyAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=45|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=When I think ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of John Grisham things to come.'' I tend to think firstly of lawyers've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, actually, I think must confess that there have been more than a few decades of Tom Cruise first to be honest, and then the whole lawyer thingtechnology in my lifetime. I expect surprising twists and long, detailed plots'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. This collection, however, Some of it is a book of short stories so has to work differently- frankly - quite frightening. There isn't room within a short story for a lengthy, twisting plotOf course, I could research the possibilities and so Grisham has to rely on other skills to make them work. My feeling was that some do the probabilities and some donend up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they'tre talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. Set I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in America's Deep South all the stories revolve around a rather mixed bag of characters from Ford County, with the ever-present lawyers but also gamblers, murderers, con artists, drunks and scoundrelsway I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099545780</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John HarveyB0CDZRGT1M|title=A Darker Shade of BlueSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Mark C Wallfisch

|summary=There ''Got a minute to be amused, entertained, or challenged?''''These 100 stories are eighteen super short stories covering the East Midlands, those parts of London you'd generally really rather avoid and rural East Anglia. None is more than 300 words. Youcan read one in a flash.'ll see broken families, revenge killings, prostitution and drugs'''Some are funny. There's corruption – not unusual when you have an overstretched police force and underpaid men and women staffing itSome are poignant. And then there All are the people who, in spite of everything, fight for justiceshort.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548232</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Ben Okri|title=Tales of Freedom|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Tales of Freedom is Question: how do you review flash fiction? How do you give a book flavour of two halves, with a short fully rounded little story entitled Comic Destiny taking up the majority of 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. Comic Destiny is made up of them? I don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn't a series fixed definition of short pieces flash fiction but that follow on from each other and are probably best described as being closer to prose poetry than anything elsefor this collection, author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a three hundred word limit. That's about a single page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846041597</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Jane FeaverRachel Harrison|title=Love Me TenderBad Dolls|rating=4.5

|summary=A woman remembers her dead husband playing Love Me Tender (the song made famous by Elvis Presley) on his tenor hornIt's been some time since I've read any horror. She is in I had a daze, feeling the grief couple of the bereaved widow she ismisspent teen years reading Stephen King, borrowing the betrayal of the deceived wife, books from a boy I fancied at school and scaring myself half silly with them to the guilt point that I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of having murdered him. The title the vampires outside! Don't worry - this short story of this collection isn't like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, and I didn't have to read it during daylight hours only! But it is all the more moving creepy, and startling because I found most of its understated stylethat feeling came from the fact that these are stories about women, living normal lives, and what is not said that at least in part, the horrors arises from very normal situations such as well as what isa breakup, trying a new dieting app, going to a hen party and a coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099521288</amazonuk>1803363932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aravind AdigaB0CCCVRSGX|title=Between the AssassinationsStories 2|author=Richard F Walker

|summary=This is Richard F Walker''Between the Assassinations'' is a collection s second volume of short stories set . There are thirteen in the fictional South Indian town all and I took something from each of Kittur, which is almost certainly Mangalore (where the Adiga grew up)them. But There isn't a single one that doesn't deserve to be among the plight of others or brings down the residents overall quality. It can be found in any Indian city - which tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, so I imagine is Adiga's point of setting it in ll just pick two to talk about and I think they give a fictional location. The twelve stories are vaguely interlinked (there are some recurring characters) but for the most part the stories stand alone. The time period is set between the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, although like the location, the time period and the assassinations of the title have little bearing on the events themselvesgeneral flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848871236</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=David Eagleman|title=Sum: Tales from the Afterlives|rating=4I've got a couple of confessions to make.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=For some reason I'm not keen on short stories as I find myself unable it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to start this reviewthe book. So IThere'll mention this book starts with the end, and see where we go from theres got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Of course, thatThen there's science fiction: far too often it's the key – this book does just that – starts technology which takes centre stage along with the end of our world-building. It's human life here on Earth (or wherever you happen to be reading this) beings who fascinate me: the technology and posits forty possibilities of what happens thereafter, in the hereafterworld scape are purely incidental. It's not so much 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' as 'Forty Heavens you Might Meet People In'So, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847674283</amazonuk>

This collection of thirteen short stories by Richard F Walker has a lot to offer the eclectic reader. Tying them together is the idea that remarkable and strange, even miraculous, things can happen to ordinary people. And that ordinary doesn't mean boring or uninteresting. Form and tone varies so this little treasury of short fiction is never boring and you're never quite sure what's coming next.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James Lasdun1737030942|title=ItBag O's Beginning To HurtGoodies|author=Jolly Walker Bittick|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=ItSometimes, you deserve a treat and mine was Jolly Walker Bittick's Beginning to Hurt is ''Bag O'Goodies''. I first encountered his writing about a collection of sixteen short storiesyear ago, all bound together when I read his [[Cape Henry House by the theme Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], a rollicking tale of hurt in various formswhat happens when five young men find a base for their partying. It is James Lasdun Right now, I didn's third collection t want a full-length novel, so I turned to this anthology of verse and short stories . Bittick's writing has matured - and, chances are, if you are a fan of the short story then you will so have read something by him beforehis characters. Well...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099512327</amazonuk>most of them!

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew Porter1529418100|title=The Theory of Light Bruno's Challenge and MatterOther Dordogne Tales|author=Martin Walker

|summary=Both I'm not usually a fan of short stories - I find it all too easy to put the book cover down between stories and its title are enticing, quirky, eyeforget to pick it up again -catching. Personally, but I'm am a fan of most things American including American fiction, Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the temptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that I couldndidn't wait to start readingeven try. I was not disappointed. Porter introduces us For those new to charactersthe series, many of whom would probably be described as deeply flawed. He shares the darker side of modern-day American life with the reader - which is far from the bright lights of glitzy New York or the sun-drenched beaches of California. You could say there's an excellent introduction that this is will tell you all you need to know about real life. To underline his point, Porterwho's characters are mostly local folks (who and the background to use a favourite American word) shuffling through life as best they canwhy Bruno is in St Denis.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408982X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James KelmanB08NF79QXT|title=If it is Your LifeCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Brooke Adams

|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's nominated for - and wins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. She'If This Is Your Lifes delighted and the two people she's brought with her to the event couldn' t be more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is not so much a collection of short stories as a collection of pieces of creative writingan ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Kelman doesnJessica't really do s thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they'storiesve known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica'. In nineteen pieces of writing of varying length from just a single page to more lengthy piecess husband, such as the story that gives its title to this collectionCharles and their four-year-old daughter, Kelman writes (mostly) about people on the edge of societyAva. He addresses issues such as class, politics, gender, age and ill health Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241142423</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Christopher Golden (Editor)B08KKQ85FN|title=Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead|rating=5|genre=Horror|summary=Anyone who enjoys a good horror story and likes zombie films will love this book, which is a collection of nineteen short stories by a variety of authors. I have to admit that I have only heard of one of the authors before - [[:Category:Mike Carey|Mike Carey]], who writes the [[The Naming of the Beasts (Felix Castor) by Mike Carey|Felix Castor]] novels - but I am not an avid reader of the genre and don't doubt that the authors will be known to readers more familiar with it. Despite this unfamiliarity, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories, with just one or two seemingly not up to scratch.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749952539</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewBut Never For Lunch|author=Katie Fforde (Editor) and Sue Moorcroft (Editor)|title=Loves Me, Loves Me NotSandra Aragona|rating=4.5

|summary=What ''If a feast is presented woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a Rottweiler in these forty stories from well-loved and prolific romantic authorslipstick, celebrating an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the fiftieth anniversary company of the Romantic Novelists' Association. In a Who's Who of the genrecarrion crows or, there are writers from every age group, including one or two who might even have been founder members of more to the RNApoint, back in 1960. My advice is about to sip through discover the stories slowly, rather than gobbling them up quickly real world of bus timetables and suffering from indigestionpaying his own gas bills.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303373</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Stephanie Tillotson|title=Cut on You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in [[Sorting the BiasPriorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=If ''Cut on Sorting the Bias'' is in your local bookshop, you will surely Priorities]] and we learned what it was like to be won over moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the feisty coverItalian Government but the time has come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of Former Ambassador... Stories about women They have left The Career and settled in Rome. Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their clothes are about identitydog, Beagle, so what better start to a set has no intention of short stories than a fashion statement cover featuring the bags in which said clothes arrive home?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784132</amazonuk>slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Janice GallowayB08CHJLNBS|title=Collected StoriesCapturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams|rating=53|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=In this collection, stories are taken from two previous volumesHe's Charles Devereaux, Blood and Where You Find It. The fortythirty-two snap shots of life are mainly of women eight and young girlsa partner at Wickham Jones, struggling with emotionsthe Mayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, sometimes realized and sometimes not. In alltwenty-nine, there seems to be an underlying link of isolation librarian and trutharchivist in the heritage library next door. Emilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The settings are variedSecret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, from a visit to the dentist to the place known as homewhich leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a walk in the eveninglittle deeper. We have Charles is more of a peek into the deepest darkest corners of everyday relationships[[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, with loversabove all, partners and most he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''. They're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all ourselves: it's obvious to his friends.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540398</amazonuk> And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-starter, isn't it?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|author=Shirley JacksonMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title=The Lottery and Other StoriesCursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales

|genre=Short StoriesFantasy|summary=Even though it was written over sixty years ago, The Lottery, coming in at fewer than 3,500 words still has the power to shockCurses. When it first appeared in the The New Yorker in 1948 it caused many outraged readers to cancel their subscriptions such was the devastating nature They're there throughout tales of the story. Time may have lessened sensibilities over the latter half of the twentieth century faery and the beginning of the twenty first but The Lottery, like many of the other stories in fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this timely reissue, still packs a mighty punchor not to be able to do that.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141191430</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Edgar Allan Poe and Gris Grimly|title=Tales of Death and Dementia|rating=5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=Wow! What a wonderful combination: Edgar Allan PoeChildren can be cursed, master as can princesses on the verge of the gothic horror short storymarrying, and Gris Grimly, outstanding illustrator, known for his [[The Dangerous Alphabet by Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly|work with Neil Gaiman]]older people too. PoeIt seems in a way there's ''Tales of Death and Dementia'' are shown off at their very best in this editionno escaping it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847386474</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=William Bedford|title=None Which is why the theme of the Cadillacs was Pink|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=I chose this book because of its superb title – the last and best memoir in a collection of sixteen short stories. These Humberside and Lincolnshire stories have is such a background beat of Fifties' music standout – we may well think we know all there is to know about this accursed character, that sets them firmly in an excitingdemonised place, disturbing time for young people everywhere, not least for the author and his friends, as old ways of living made way for new along the East Coast of Englandthat other bewitched person.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904529445</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Clive Cussler (editor) |title=Thriller 2: Stories You Just CanWe't Put Down|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=If you enjoy thrillers or short stories then you might find this book a treat. If you enjoy them both then it's a treasure trove. ''Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down'' is edited by best-selling author [[:Category:Clive Cussler|Clive Cussler]] (although none of his work is included) and includes work by some authors who are the top of their game. There are twenty three stories in all, each about twenty pages long and they're perfect for those moments when you just want to dip into something short and satisfyingd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0778303209</amazonuk>1789091500

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Will Eisner Stibbe_Xmas|title=Minor MiraclesAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe

|genre=Graphic NovelsHumour|summary=This short story collection starts with two appetisers before getting 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 with two main coursesthe downstairs loo to defrost overnight, but as with and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best meals even the smallest dishes can have the most depthbet. We start with the entire life cycle Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's suitably free- riserange and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, falland get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, risethough, fall - is of course also a hobo feeding pigeons in the parktime of great boons. Obviously he hasn't been doing that all his years - heIt's been keeping his dignity intact, with cash in hand for a huge amount lot of chutzpah plump people who can hire red suits and more. Nextbeards, it was always a smart Alec defeats godsend for postmen with all the older kids on thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as for the stoop with a bit makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of canny street wisdom.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393328147</amazonuk>the year?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Agnes Owens 0954899520|title=The Complete NovellasA Winter Book|author=Tove Jansson

|summary=Who is Agnes Owens? A Scottish author who portrays working class life from Tove Jansson's worldwide fame lasts on the nineteen forties and fifties. Now an octogenarianMoomin books, apparently Agnes Owens started writing at written in the age 1940s and later becoming television characters of 58the simplicity, naivety and sheer 'goodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Here are five previously published stories collected into one new editionSimple drawings, a companion volume to her short simple stories, published in 2008simple goodness. I don't think you'll What is often forgotten outside of her native Finland is that she was a serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as children…and that she had a feeling for the natural world and the simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of how the world might be disappointed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971373</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kazuo Ishiguro 1911115847|title=Nocturnes: Five Stories Nights of Music and Nightfall |rating=3.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=A jobbing guitarist from an Eastern European country, playing in Venice, is given a most singular gig by an ageing, passing crooner. An old friend of a couple at loggerheads stays in their flat, but enters a nightmare world of comedy, doing greater and greater wrongs to cover his first transgression. A younger couple running a cafe employ a friend to help out, despite his wish to hide in the hills and compose new songs for his not-very illustrious career.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057124498X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewCreaking Bed|author=Aleksandar Hemon |title=Love and ObstaclesToni Kan

|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=We start with ''Nights of the young narrator away from home, and in Africa, due to his diplomat father. HeCreaking Bed''s left behind home, is a potential girlfriend, collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and more, but finds company with lusts of an older, chancer character assortment of characters living in and his junkie girlfriendaround Lagos, and their pot, drinks and 70s rockNigeria. Closer to his rootsNigeria, but still a young man abroadin this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the second story sees him travelling across his homeland on an errand - to deliver payment shadows and people are killed for the biggest chest freezer his father could findnothing more than a wrong look. But poems, losing his virginity, keeping his money, Kan writes with a vitality and various other fantasies might just put passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a cooler on that unusual taskglimmer of hope...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330464434</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Charles Stross 1529014484|title=Wireless|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=In his introduction, Stross explains that one of the reasons he likes writing shorts stories is because they are the ideal format in which to focus on a particular concept of the future and play around with it. It doesn't matter so much if the idea doesn't ultimately work because neither the reader nor the author has invested in it the way they would in a novel. ''Wireless'' then, is something of an experiment. Stross employs many different styles, tackles many different subjects and is very skilful at creating mood. His stories are a strange blend of the technical and the archaic.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497711</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewExhalation |author=Oxfam|title=Ox-Tales: AirTed Chiang|rating=3.5|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=Four books of short stories each taking (rather loosely on occasions) as a theme one of Over the elements: [[Oxpast twenty-Tales: Earth by Oxfam|Earth]]eight years, [[Ox-Tales: Fire by Oxfam|Fire]]Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, [[Oxthese magnificent stories have won twenty-Tales: Water by Oxfam|Water]], and this book ''Air'', sold in aid of Oxfam but not about Oxfam's work. The writers, many household names, have given their work for free and at least 50p from the sale of each new book goes to Oxfam. That's not entirely the point though, is it? You want to know seven major science fiction awards so if the book is worth buying.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682614</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Oxfam |title=Ox-Tales: Earth|rating=3.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Published in aid of Oxfam work, Ox-Tales comprise of four books featuring original stories donated to the project by you are a variety of writers. The framework for the books science fiction fan it is provided by the four elements likely that you have already come across some of the classical philosophy. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem and ends with a short article highlighting Oxfam's work in a key area ([[Ox-Tales: Fire by Oxfam|fire]] – conflict and war, [[Ox-Tales: Water by Oxfam|water]] – sanitation and clean water, earth – agriculture and air – climate change)Ted Chiang.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682584</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Irvine Welsh |title=Reheated Cabbage|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=Irvine WelshIf you haven's choice of title for t then take this collection of short stories may serve opportunity to warn some unwary readers of its unpalatable naturedo so now. To the uninitiated, its stream of unrestrained swearing, drug taking, sex and casual violence could come as a shock. His fans though, Trust me; your imagination will no doubt lap it upbe grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224080555</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Oxfam 1794467440|title=Ox-Tales: FireWatchwords |author=Philip Neal

|summary=Published in aid This satisfying collection of Oxfam work, Ox-Tales comprise of four books featuring original short stories donated to the project by has a variety of writers. The framework for the books is provided by provenance at least as beguiling as the four elements provenance of the classical philosophy. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem and ends with a short article highlighting Oxfam's work in a key area (fire – conflict and war, water – sanitation and clean water, earth – agriculture and air – climate change)antique watches that inspired it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682592</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|author=Mick Jackson|title=Bears Philip Neal lost a watch. It was a watch he was fond of England|rating=3and had been told was like a 1930s Cartier.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=As you knowInstead of mourning its loss, England has had he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it. And that's how he became a chequered history when it comes watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to her bearsthe Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. From The eBay purchase was a fake, but the days when we only knew them as horrors making bumping noises - among many others - in friendship that grew between the night, we have learnt more, buyer and used them more. Therefore we have this short little book, detailing some of the more remarkable instances repairer of Anglo-bear relations, from watches was not and the days seed of bear-baiting, to them being shot at when they escaped the circus, to when they were employed in subaquatic labour in the days before SCUBA gear..an idea for a book was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571242405</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Paul R Spiring (Editor)1529006031|title=Aside Arthur Conan Doyle: Twenty Original Tales By Bertram Fletcher RobinsonReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors

|summary=The shortlived Bertram Fletcher Robinson is sadly little more than In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a footnote few years ago, when the first book she was in British literature[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of age]], I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. His fame rests largely on having contributed toThe wacky-for-the-sake-of-it did not gel, and helped I don't remember loving it more as a child. But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to inspire, enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a couple of Sherlock Holmes stories – andtangent, if you believe that show the conspiracy theorists, having been bumped off by Conan Doyle for threatening to claim authorship benefits of one of them and denounce Doyle as a fraudthe oblique glance. (DonI've always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and it's the same with franchises – I't d more likely go therefor Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312527</amazonuk> For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle 1846974658|title=Graphic Classics, Volume 17: Science Fiction Classics|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=So, an introduction. The Graphic Classics collection is a series whereby the best in genre fiction, from sources both highly likely and remarkably unexpected, is collected and dressed up for us in graphic novel form. This seventeenth edition, a belated best-of sci-fi volume, is their first foray into full colour, and is headlined by a version of The War of the Worlds. The supporting material ranges from a one-page strip to thirty-page stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0978791975</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewLong Path To Wisdom|author=Edgar Allen Poe, Various, Dan Whitehead (Editor) |title=Eye Classics: Nevermore Jan- A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels |summary=So, if I were to mention someone who was born 200 years ago this season, and who changed the world with their writing, who would you think of first? Charles Darwin, probably. But those of a slightly different bent might just have mentioned someone else - someone at the forefront of all things arcane, horrific and thrilling when it comes to fiction. Someone who lost his birth and foster mother both to tuberculosis before he was ever twenty. Someone who had most unusual circumstances surrounding his death, to best Agatha Christie vanishing for a while, and most of the detectives in the fiction he helped inspire. Someone called Edgar Allan Poe.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955285682</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mary-Ann Constantine|title=The BreathingPhilipp Sendker

|summary=MaryOn my travels around the world, I have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-Ann Constantinelanguage books, and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the next person, what I's book m really looking for is a bit like a piece of embroidery: painstakingly slowthe 'local' – the cookbook maybe, sewn with different threadsthe maps definitely, but above all: the result is a beautiful picture by an accomplished handfolk tales. It is a book of short stories If I ever get to Burma, very different and quite ambiguousI won't need to hunt, describing the lives of people - and an elephant - of a certain location (or a few) in WalesI can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0954088182</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan B077969HN8|title=Demo: v. 1|rating=5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=It's not every young disaffected teenager that will respond to the withdrawal of her medication so explosively. It's not every young disaffected teenager that runs through empty landscapes because she is too scared to speak to anyone – for quite the reasons we see here. Not every family patches itself back together over a funeral in the fashion the third story gives us. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184576921X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAlternative Medicine|author=Jay McInerney|title=The Last Bachelor Laura Solomon

|summary=I enjoyed these Laura Solomon's publisher describes the short stories by Jay McInerney in ''Alternative Medicine'' as if they were ''black comedy with a box twist of expensive, dark chocolatessurrealism''. Some centres were nut hard I'm rather glad that I didn't see this until ''after'' I'd finished reading as I'm not normally a fan of either, while but I've come to two conclusions about the rich ganache in others left a bittersweet aftertastebook: what the publisher says is correct - and I really enjoyed it. The seven deadly sins provided distinctive tastes of American comedy is not ''successtoo'', black and the surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as I nibbled my a twist or flick of reality when you were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the nicest possible way through twelve sophisticated stories. Mmm.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>074759984X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lee Child (Editor)9386897504|title=Killer YearTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon

|summary=This collection of seventeen short stories in the crime genre is by a group of new, young American I've always believed that less-able writers who have all been mentored by more established writers such as Lee Child, Joe R Lansdale and Ken Bruen. Although produce longer books: it is takes a little uneven in quality it does represent an effort to promote the work great deal of younger writers in a world where it can be hard skill and talent to make write a break-through into mainstream publishing. The short story is a specialised medium which holds the reader and the crime genre keeps them coming back for more. There are far too many collections of short story has two prejudices stories which are all too easy to fight - if put down and forget after you don't ve read short stories you are even less likely to read short stories a couple of a particular genrepieces. But whereas mainstream fiction might have its diehard factions, I feel the crime aficionado may well be less uptight and crime novel lovers might 've recently read this collection in the hope a couple of finding the next Harlan Coben or novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Lippman.Solomon|amazonuk=<amazonuk>077830275X</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewMarsha's Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|author=Tania Hershman|title=The White Road|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=A female café owner situated in a very strange place breaks the mundane routine with a very strange act. A female loses sight of her lifeHell's goals due to having a husband Unveiling]] and childrenenjoyed them, and finds a strange way of reconnecting with her interests. And females on first dates so I was intrigued to see what she could do strange things – to levers in zero-G, and with potteryan even shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1844714756</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joyce Carol Oates1986586898|title=Going To The Museum of Doctor MosesLast: Short Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight

|summary=In the opening story, a oneman whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in his pocket -sentence rush, we get and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an entire short story, starring various joggers, that proves above all else that words can killowner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is against him. ItMy favourite was ''The Story of H''s a moral bluntly put, and the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as an opener a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the volume puts us instantly on yard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and considered a nervous edgeno-hoper. We might not be in for In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a pile-up occurred at the happiest read23rd fence. Foinavon, we thinkwho had been many lengths adrift, before turning cleared the fence and galloped to the second storyline, which is called Suicide Watchwinning the race at odds of 100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847245595</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Gardner Dozois (Editor), Jack Dann (Editor)9386897296|title=Dark Alchemy: Magical Tales from Masters of Modern FantasyHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating=43.5

|summary=A little while ago Ireally enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''m always in two minds about short story collections. On the one hand it It's a bit probably not much of a risk – there could be one or two really good stories and a load of rubbish. Butspoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'', but the great thing about them devil is they can introduce you not one to writers you might never have read otherwisetake defeat lying down. While you probably wouldn He't be prepared s out to invest time wage war on Planet Earth and money into particularly on Marsha (who's thought of as a book you aren't sure yougoody two shoes'll likein Hell). Although a strong person, spending half an hour or so reading she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a short story woncrime he didn't leave you feeling too robbed if you doncommit and sent to juvenile detention and refused permission to return to live with Marsha. Then, of course, there are all the other children who are not only targeted but - worst of all - subverted to the devil's evil ends. He't enjoy its out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is very fragile. This is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to Hell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747589542</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Tobias Wolff|title=Our Story Begins|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=Tobias Wolff's short stories offer few easy solutions. His troubled characters face choices they are ill-equipped Move to make. You do not go to Wolff for a satisfying, tidy tale, neatly wrapped, or for an entertaining twist.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0747597278</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kay Green|title=Jung's People|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=These short stories offer fantasy, sci-fi, historical and contemporary angles on human personality. Kay Green used Jung's writing on dreams to delve into her own subconscious and has come up with an eclectic mix of stories. A crisp commentator's voice observes life through different lenses and perspectives. I often felt that I was trapped in a nest of boxes with the characters, not quite sure which way was out. My interest hooked, I delved into the fifteen stories and enjoyed their surprising twists and multiple layers as characters discover their tragic destiny within whatever happens to be the chance setting of their lives. I'll just give you a flavour of three of them.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>190645101X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Donald Ray Pollock|title=Knockemstiff|rating=4|genre=General Fiction|summary=Welcome to Knockemstiff, a quiet little town in Ohio, USA. Wait, I take it back. You are not welcome. Strangers do not come to Knockemstiff. Unless you are lost of course, like that Californian photographer woman, who took random pictures and could not believe the town was for real: so poor, so lost, so abandoned. Come to think of it, the people of Knockemstiff would be more than happy to leave the place themselves. It is just that they never have the chance, or never quite make it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846551560</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Kurt Vonnegut |title=Armageddon in Retrospect |rating=2.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=I have been a fan of Kurt Vonnegut since the early 1970s. I still have the old paperbacks – ''Mother Night'', ''Cat's Cradle'', ''Slaughterhouse 5''. There was something about his style, and especially about the things he had to say, that was refreshing [[Newest Spirituality and new. But he began to go off the boil, or fell out of style, and I stopped reading his books around about the time I stopped buying Crosby, Stills and Nash LPs. For me, ''Breakfast of Champions'' was both the last decent book he wrote, and the first of the stream of below-par books that followed. I just checked my bookcase – ''Slapstick'' in 1976 was the last Vonnegut book I bought, and the ancient bookmark stuffed midway through shows I never managed to finish it. And I had problems trying to finish his 'new' collection, too.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224085395</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Gerard Woodward |title=Caravan Thieves |rating=3|genre=Short Stories|summary=Gerard Woodward is a much short-listed novelist & poet: the Whitbread First Novel Award (2001), Man Booker Prize (2004), T S Eliot Prize (2005). If it hasn't been already, I can well see this collection being equally short-listed for whatever the 'short-story' equivalent is. (Is there even a major prize for short stories?)|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701177608</amazonuk>}}Religion Reviews]]