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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author=Jessie Greengrass
|title=An Account of the Decline of the Great Auk, According to One Who Saw It
|rating=3
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=The title story, which appears first, is exactly what it says on the tin: one hunter's story of travelling to remote islands to take part in massive culls of great auks, until they were simply gone. It's always hard to believe that species that once numbered in their millions, such as the passenger pigeon, could go extinct so quickly, but when you read about the brutal slaughter tactics here – swinging clubs and boiling birds alive – you can see how a flightless bird was a sitting target. The narrator makes no real attempt to defend himself: the birds were there for the taking; that was that. Still, he regrets their extinction, because 'in any loss you can see a shadow of the way that you will be lost yourself.' (Those interested in the great auk's extinction may also want to read the 2013 novel ''The Collector of Lost Things'' by Jeremy Page.)
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473610850</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Colin Barrett
|summary=These sixteen short stories have one thing in common: lives, and plenty of them. We jump from the earthy banter of a road crew building speed humps to an interview pre-broadcast of a classical piece where the interviewer isn't getting the kind of answers for which he hopes. On the way we meet the least-mentioned Beatle, visit a world where people are paid to read for the many that don't and the man trying to remember his father through art to name but a few. For good measure there are a couple of Kafka-esque experiments that also work as ripping good yarns.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773576</amazonuk>
}}
