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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
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|genre=Anthologies Women's Fiction|summary=A compilation like this should be nigh on brilliant. It's not one authorHe's best short worksCharles Devereaux, it's that of thirty-eight and a dozenpartner at Wickham Jones, the Mayfair letting agents. ItShe's not from one snapshot in timeEmilia, twenty-nine, as some were written the year of publication librarian and some archivist in the 1960sheritage library next door. ItEmilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's not moved on from one tiny patch of authornew age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's desk or one set philosophies, to something a little deeper. Charles is more of laptop keysa [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but from the entire Nordic world, whether above all, he's shocked that be urban ScandinaviaEmilia reads ''The Guardian''. They're obviously not at all compatible, the Faroes and other island groups, or Greenlandso why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it's obvious to his friends. That is a world And given thatEmilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's changing – as the Greenland-born author now living in Brooklynsuperficiality, and the Iraqi blood on these pages, testify. why does she feel drawn to him? ItThe relationship's obviously a world where new roads non-starter, isn't it?}}{{Frontpage|author=Marie O'Regan and new building works mean a family living on the edge Paul Kane (editors)|title=Cursed: An Anthology of the forest at the beginning Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Curses. They're there throughout tales of the story are faery and other fantastical folk – people being surrounded by other life by cursed to do this, or not to be able to do that. Children can be cursed, as can princesses on the endverge of marrying, and with older people too. It seems in a way there's no escaping it. Which is why the influence theme of centuries this book of folklore featured, short stories is such a lot more than that changes standout – sometimes it seems we may well think we know all there is to know about this accursed character, that demonised place, and that other bewitched person. We'd be even the characters' species…very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1782273824</amazonuk>1789091500
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Laura SolomonStibbe_Xmas|title=Taking WainuiAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe|rating=24.5|genre=General FictionHumour|summary= This is Christmas – the first time I of traditional trauma. You only have come across Laura Solomonto think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's worksuitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of course also a New Zealand writer time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who has won writing prizes can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for both her fiction and poetry. Although this book appears postmen with all the thank-you letters to be aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a collection child, and as for the makers of short storiesMeltis Newberry Fruits – well, I found its format somewhat confusing.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>8193409353</amazonuk>did they even try and sell them any other time of the year?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=A Winter Book|author=Kenneth StevenTove Jansson|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Tove Jansson's worldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, written in the 1940s and later becoming television characters of the 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 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.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1911115847|title=Winter TalesNights of the Creaking Bed|author=Toni Kan
|rating=4
|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary= Upon opening this book you are presented with an eclectic ''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is a collection of twelve short stories centred by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in and around a common theme Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, in this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of Winterdarkness. You Danger stalks the shadows and people are taken around the world as you read stories set in killed for nothing more than a variety of places from Helsinki to New York, Germany to Russiawrong look. Kenneth Steven cleverly utilises Kan writes with a key component of short vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories - that you can read each story in one sitting - to his advantage as he gives each story an individual focal subject, such as bullying, ensuring that you are reading achieve a distinct story every time you open the bookglimmer of hope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910674508</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Roald Dahl1529014484|title= FearExhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating= 5|genre= Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=Do you enjoy being scared? Featuring fourteen classic spineOver the past twenty-chilling eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories chosen by Roald Dahl, these terrible tales of ghostly goingsmagnificent stories have won twenty-on will have seven major science fiction awards so if you shivering with fear as are a science fiction fan it is likely that you turn have already come across some of the pageswork by Ted Chiang. If you haven't then take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405933216</amazonuk>
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=1794467440
|title=Watchwords
|author=Philip Neal
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Roald Dahl1846974658|title= InnocenceThe Long Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker|rating= 54|genre= Short Stories|summary=What makes us innocent and how do we come On my travels around the world, I have a tendency to lose it? Featuring the autobiographical stories telling of Roald Dahl's boyhood end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and youth while I buy as well many second-hand escapist tales as four further tales of innocence betrayed, Dahl touches on the joys and horrors of growing up. Among other storiesnext person, youwhat I'll read about m really looking for is the wager that destroys a girl's faith in her fatherlocal' – the cookbook maybe, the landlady who has plans for her unsuspecting young guest and maps definitely, but above all: the commuter who is horrified folk tales. If I ever get to Burma, I won't need to discover that a fellow passenger once bullied him at schoolhunt, I can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405933259</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tania HershmanB077969HN8|title=Some of Us Glow More Than OthersAlternative Medicine|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories |summary=Laura Solomon's publisher describes the short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a twist of surrealism''. I'm rather glad that I wondidn't be alone in stating that see this until ''after'' I'd finished reading short story collections can be slightly awkward. Going through from A-Z, witnessing as I'm not normally a bounty fan of ideas and characters in short order can be too mucheither, but do you have I've come to two conclusions about the right to pick and choose according to book: what appeals, the publisher says is correct - and what time you have to fill? The sequence has carefully been considered, surely. Such would appear to be the case hereI really enjoyed it. The last time I read one of this authorcomedy is not ''too''s collections, with [[The White Road by Tania Hershman|The White Road]], black and the only real difficulty was holding back surrealism is gentle and rationing them, but here you not only get perhaps best described as a whopping forty pieces twist or flick of writing, they reality when you were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are also spread into sectionsgoing to be invaded in the nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910061484</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James Kelman9386897504|title=That Was a Shiver, Tales of Love and Other StoriesDisability|author=Laura Solomon|rating=3.54|genre=Short Stories |summary=This is I've always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of skill and talent to write a short story which holds the ninth book reader and keeps them coming back for more. There are far too many collections of short stories by this author, which means heare all too easy to put down and forget after you's presented just as many collections ve read a couple of the short form as he has novelspieces. You will find it hard to think I've recently read a couple of another author that has been so noted for longer works (what with novellas by Laura Solomon - [[How Late It Was, How Late Marsha's Deal by James KelmanLaura Solomon|How Late It Was, How LateMarsha's Deal]] winning the Booker) but who is so generous in presenting shorter pieces for the time-poor, or those like me who see the variety in a writerand [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell's short or less typical works Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, so I was intrigued to be the more interesting places to turn. Opening these pages, from the pen of such see what she could do with an esteemed pro, came with no small sense of anticipationeven shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786890909</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Various Authors1986586898|title= A Change Is Gonna ComeGoing To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight|rating= 4.5|genre= TeensShort Stories|summary= 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 Change Is Gonna ComeGrey Day'' is an anthology owner struggles with the problem of stories and poems interpreting whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the theme ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of change by twelve BAME writers. ItH's Stripes Publishing's response , the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the under-representation yard of BAME authors John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the UKGrand National and considered a no-hoper. And it's In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a great responsepile-up occurred at the 23rd fence.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847158390< Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, winning the race at odds of 100/amazonuk>1.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Helen Stancey9386897296|title= The Madonna of the PoolHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating= 3.5|genre= Short Stories|summary= In most short story collectionsA little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel, an overarching theme is usually present in each ''Hell's Unveiling''. It's probably not much of a spoiler to say that Marsha bested the narratives which help each story gently flow devil in ''Marsha's Deal'', but the devil is not one to the nexttake defeat lying down. In this debut collection Helen Stancey explores the quiet disappointments, achievements, He's out to wage war on Planet Earth and complications that each particularly on Marsha (who's thought of us experience through everyday lifeas a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). She draws attention Although a strong person, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to the small events juvenile detention and decisions that can both disrupt and significantly alter refused permission to return to live with Marsha. Then, of course, there are all the lives other children who are not only targeted but - worst of others all - subverted to the devil's evil ends. He's out to prey on their fears and ourselvesweaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is very fragile. This is no small-scale operation, all while maintaining either - the devil has set up a delicately poetic tone throughouttraining complex on earth, complete with an elevator to Hell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1912054000</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joanna Walsh1979217440|title=Worlds from the WordMarsha's EndDeal|author=Laura Solomon|rating=3.54
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=We here at The Bookbag liked this authorMarsha didn's fairly recent collection of short stories, t have an easy ride in life the first time around. She'd been afflicted with [[Vertigo by Joanna Walsh|Vertigo]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva], a rare disease which turned parts of her body to bone when they were damaged. I myself missed outFinally, but that seemed she was unable to be vignettes from one character's narration – here we get homosexual male narrators stand her life any longer and a host morewent to Dignitas, as well as much less of the sadness prevalent beforeSwiss euthanasia clinic. Having had a brief encounter with this author courtesy of her entry into She'd thought that would be the [[Bookshelf (Object Lessons) by Lydia Pyne|Object Lessons]] seriesend, but after cremation, I was intrigued by her name being stamped on a selection of shortsbody went straight to hell and she found herself face-to-face with the devil. Was it And that was when she made the ideal calling card? Let's face it, the very short story itself can be a postcard – let's say, from a specific hotel or two, as we see herepact. Perhaps I should have geared myself up, however, In exchange for such intricate writing details about some of those who had been close to her - their strengths and weaknesses - she would be reborn on said postcards – and for the exotic locations from which they came…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1911508105</amazonuk>same day to the same parents but would live her life free of disease.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Helen Phillips150690551X|title=Some Possible SolutionsRoses in December|author=Matthew de Lacey Davidson
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Picture ''Roses in December'' is a world where youcollection of twenty-two short stories. And when I say short, a new motherI mean ''short'', move to with each just a town where you slowly start to realise that every other woman seems a replica of you – dressing few pages long and doing as you dosome brushing the flash fiction genre, such is the brevity. Consider a place where you have a perfect other half – most literally – but I think the shorter the story, the harder it's only is to be found on an alien planet. Or how about write and the more difficult the woman who suddenly finds she can see everything and everyone else alive as having no skintask of engaging, just organsthen satisfying, tissue and bone as if everyone was having the reader. So it is to the immense credit of Matthew de Lacey Davidson that I sighed in appreciation many times while reading. He has a Gunther von Hagens plastination job? A lot good sense of these stories are hard to summarise without dropping into the voice which moments of the ''Twilight Zone'' narration, but they're not specifically genre works – they're just further examples of this author's unsettling look at human experience to capture in order to make the bizarre elements of lifepoint he wants to make.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782273425</amazonuk>Some highlights:
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Cixin LiuOnymouse_Quick|title= The Wandering EarthQuick and Quirky: Short Stories with Quips!|author=Fred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse|rating= 1.5|genre= Science FictionShort Stories|summary= If anyone thought that the short story as a form had been relegated to the pages of womenQuick, and indeed, quirky, are positive attributes, I'm sure you's magazines (no disrespect) d agree – think againapart from perhaps in surgeons. One genre I like things that has always been have a stalwart supporter quirk, and encourager I approve of the short form quicky. I've been dabbling in the world of creative writing for a few years now, and whenever anyone asks what it is SciI mostly write, I define it with the catch-fiall safety net of ''flippant''. So when you pick this book should be right up my street, being as it is a collection bijou selection of Sci-fi shorts, you know that it will have just as much depth illustrated and thoughtfairly large-provoking philosophy as any similar novelprint short stories. Add to that the intrigue of seeing how the concepts are approached by someone from China which – to be polite – has a somewhat different world-view in many ways to much of the rest of the planet…and add to that an author who is not only a best-seller in his home country but has the distinction of having produced the first translated work of SF ever to win the Hugo Award…this has got to be good!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784978493</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Fleur Jaeggy and Gini Alhadeff (translator)Hill_Strange|title= I Am The Brother Of XXStrange Weather|author=Joe Hill|rating= 45|genre= Short Stories|summary=''I Am The Brother of XX'' Strange Weather is a collection of twenty one four short stories from Fleur Jaeggynovels all linked by, unsurprisingly, who expertly wields malevolence strange and spite throughout, from the evil done between husband cataclysmic weather. Each novel is distinct and wife in ''The Aviaryshowcases Hill'', a nasty tale of Oedipal menace s restrained yet vivid style which takes everyday events and viciousmakes them bitingly, although admittedly, artful crueltyacerbically macabre or blindingly beautiful, often switching from one sentence to senseless annihilation and immolation in ''The Heir''the next. Jaeggy also appears to have a particular fascination with religion, from the nun receiving a rather special sort of communion in As Hill himself says ''The Visitor'' to general references to the Church and religious devotion throughout many beauty of her stories. Family is also a recurrent theme; whether focused on the distance between siblings in the titular story, told from the point of view of a brother filled with longing world and loneliness trying to create a bond with his distant older sister, or the primal need to protect the bond between mother and son, regardless horror of the cost in ''Adelaideworld were twined together'', never is this truer than in Strange Weather where moments of abject horror are coupled with raw beauty.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1911508024</amazonuk>
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=Dick_Electric
|title=Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams
|author=Philip K Dick
|rating=3
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Philip K Dick's stories were originally published in the 50s, but they are more present than past. On the big screen ''Blade Runner 2049'' relaunched the Dick-inspired cult classic to reviews of pure praise; and on slightly smaller screens, Channel 4 has adapted the author's short stories for TV. Startlingly, Dick's current relevance reaches beyond fiction and into the factual: his topics from intrusive advertising and loss of privacy to the increasing machination of society are all headline material in today's news. It is as if half a century after their inception, Dick's electric dreams are becoming reality.
}}
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