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{|class-"wikitable" cellpadding="15" <!-- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERE--> <!-- Davidson -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:150690551X.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/150690551X/ref=nosimYou don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Roses We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in December by Matthew de Lacey Davidson]]=== [[imageSorting the Priorities:4star.jpgAmbassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star ReviewsSorting the Priorities]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] ''Roses in December'' is a collection of twenty-two short stories. And when I say short, I mean ''short'', with each just a few pages long and some brushing we learned what it was like to be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the flash fiction genre, such is Italian Government but the brevity. I think the shorter the story, the harder it is time has come for HE to write retires and the more difficult the task for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of engaging, then satisfying, the readerFormer Ambassador... So it is to the immense credit of Matthew de Lacey Davidson that I sighed They have left The Career and settled in appreciation many times while readingRome. He Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, has a good sense no intention of which moments of the human experience to capture in order to make the point he wants to makeslowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf. Some highlights: [[Roses in December by Matthew de Lacey Davidson|Full Review]]}}<!-- Onymouse -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=B08CHJLNBS| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Capturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams[[image:Onymouse_Quick.jpg|leftrating=3|linkgenre=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1788039122/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]] Women's Fiction| stylesummary="verticalHe's Charles Devereaux, thirty-align: top; texteight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the Mayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, twenty-align: left;"|===[[Quick nine, librarian and Quirky: Short Stories with Quips! by Fred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse]]=== [[image:1archivist in the heritage library next door.5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] Emilia has read [[:Category:Short StoriesThe Secret by Rhonda Byrne|Short StoriesThe Secret]] Quick, and indeed, quirky, are positive attributes, Ibut she'm sure you'd agree – apart s moved on from perhaps in surgeons. I new age books like things that have , which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a quirk, and I approve of the quickylittle deeper. I've been dabbling in the world Charles is more of creative writing for a few years now[[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, and whenever anyone asks what it is I mostly writebut, I define it with the catch-above all safety net of , he's shocked that Emilia reads ''flippantThe Guardian''. So They're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this book should be right up my streetwoman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it's obvious to his friends. And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, being as it is why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a bijou selection of illustrated and fairly largenon-print short stories. [[Quick and Quirky: Short Stories with Quips! by Fred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse|Full Review]]starter, isn't it?}}<!-- Hill -->{{Frontpage|-author=Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)| styletitle="widthCursed: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales[[image:Hill_Strange.jpg|left|linkrating=https://www.amazon4.co.uk/gp/product/147322117X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=147322117X]] 5| stylegenre="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"Fantasy|===[[Strange Weather by Joe Hill]]summary=== [[image:5starCurses.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Horror|Horror]]They're there throughout tales of faery and other fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, [[:Category:Fantasy|Fantasy]]or not to be able to do that. Children can be cursed, [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]] Strange Weather is a collection as can princesses on the verge of four short novels all linked by, unsurprisinglymarrying, strange and cataclysmic weatherolder people too. Each novel is distinct and showcases HillIt seems in a way there's restrained yet vivid style which takes everyday events and makes them bitingly, acerbically macabre or blindingly beautiful, often switching from one sentence to the nextno escaping it. As Hill himself says ''Which is why the beauty theme of the world and the horror this book of the world were twined together'', never short stories is such a standout – we may well think we know all there is to know about this truer than in Strange Weather where moments of abject horror are coupled with raw beautyaccursed character, that demonised place, and that other bewitched person. We'd be very wrong. [[Strange Weather by Joe Hill|Full Review]]isbn=1789091500}}<!-- Stibbe -->{{Frontpage|-| styleisbn="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Stibbe_Xmas.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0241309824?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0241309824]]  | styletitle="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[An Almost Perfect Christmas by |author=Nina Stibbe]]==|rating= [[image:4.5star.jpg5|linkgenre=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Humour|Humour]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] summary=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 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 suitably 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 time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the 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 makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year? [[An Almost Perfect Christmas by Nina Stibbe|Full Review]]}}<!-- Dick -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=0954899520| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|A Winter Book[[image:Dick_Electric.jpg|left|linkauthor=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1473223288?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1473223288]] Tove Jansson| stylerating="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"5|genre===[[Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams by Philip K Dick]]===Literary Fiction[[image:3star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Science Fiction|Science Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Philip K DickTove Jansson's stories were originally published worldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, written in the 50s1940s and later becoming television characters of the simplicity, but they are more present than past. On the big screen naivety and sheer 'goodness'Blade Runner 2049'' relaunched the Dick-inspired cult classic to reviews of pure praise; and on slightly smaller screensthat would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Simple drawings, Channel 4 has adapted the author's short 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 TV. Startlingly, Dick's current relevance reaches beyond fiction the natural world and into the factual: his topics from intrusive advertising and loss simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of privacy to how the increasing machination of society are all headline material in today's newsworld might be. It is as if half a century after their inception, Dick's electric dreams are becoming reality. [[Philip K Dick's Electric Dreams by Philip K Dick|Full Review]]}}<!-- Mettler -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1911115847| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Nights of the Creaking Bed[[image:Mettler_15.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/191158636X?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASINauthor=191158636X]] Toni Kan| stylerating="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"4|===[[Fifteen Minutes by Erinna Mettler]]==genre=Literary Fiction [[image:4star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Our world ''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is obsessed with celebrity culture - a collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in this advent of social mediaand around Lagos, the updates on celebrity come 24 hours a dayNigeria. Nigeria, delivered to us on our televisionsin this collection, our magazines, on our phones and our computersis imbued with its very own heart of darkness. In focusing on these heightened Danger stalks the shadows and airbrushed lives though, people are we missing the killed for nothing more interesting than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and human stories passion that are out there? That's what Erinna Mettler considers in ''15 Minutes'' - short allows these cynical stories that feature celebrity encounters told through the eyes to achieve a glimmer of ordinary, but no less compelling, charactershope. [[Fifteen Minutes by Erinna Mettler|Full Review]]}}<!-- Hodgkinson -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1529014484| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Exhalation [[image:Hodgkinson_Dark.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1782273824/ref=nosim?tagauthor=thebookbag-21]] Ted Chiang| stylerating="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"5|===[[The Dark-Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North by Sjon Hodgkinson and Ten Hodgkinson (editors)]]==genre=Science Fiction [[image:3star.jpg|linksummary=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Anthologies|Anthologies]]Over the past twenty-eight years, [[:Category:Literary Fiction|Literary Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] A compilation like this should be nigh on brilliant. It's not one author's best Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short worksstories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it's is likely that of a dozen. It's not from one snapshot in time, as you have already come across some were written the year of publication and some in the 1960swork by Ted Chiang. ItIf you haven's not from one tiny patch of author's desk or one set of laptop keys, but from the entire Nordic world, whether that be urban Scandinavia, the Faroes and other island groups, or Greenland. That is a world that's changing – as the Greenland-born author t then take this opportunity to do so now living in Brooklyn, and the Iraqi blood on these pages, testify. It's a world where new roads and new building works mean a family living on the edge of the forest at the beginning of the story are being surrounded by other life by the end, and with the influence of centuries of folklore featured, a lot more than that changes – sometimes it seems to Trust me; your imagination will be even the characters' species… [[The Dark-Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North by Sjon Hodgkinson and Ten Hodgkinson (editors)|Full Review]]grateful.}}<!-- Solomon -->{{Frontpage|-isbn=1794467440| styletitle="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"Watchwords |author=Philip Neal[[image:Solomon_Taking.jpg|linkrating=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/8193409353/ref4|genre=nosim?tagShort Stories|summary=thebookbag-21]]This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it.

| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Taking Wainui by Laura Solomon]]=== [[image:2star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:General Fiction|General Fiction]], [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] This is the first time I have come across Laura Solomon's work, Philip Neal lost a New Zealand writer who has won writing prizes for both her fiction and poetrywatch. Although this book appears to be It was a collection watch he was fond of short stories, I found its format somewhat confusing. [[Taking Wainui by Laura Solomon|Full Review]] <!-- STEVEN -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Steven_Winter.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1910674508/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Winter Tales by Kenneth Steven]]=== [[image:4star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Upon opening this book you are presented with an eclectic collection of twelve short stories centred around and had been told was like a common theme of Winter1930s Cartier. You are taken around the world as you read stories set in a variety Instead of places from Helsinki to New Yorkmourning its loss, Germany he began to Russiacollect vintage watches that resembled it. Kenneth Steven cleverly utilises a key component of short stories - And that you can read each story in one sitting - to his advantage as 's how he gives each story an individual focal subject, such as bullying, ensuring that you are reading became a distinct story every time you open the bookwatch collector. [[Winter Tales by Kenneth Steven|Full Review]] <!-- Dahl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Dahl_Fear.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1405933216/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Fear by Roald Dahl]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] Do you enjoy being scared? Featuring fourteen classic spine-chilling stories chosen by Roald Dahl, these terrible tales of ghostly goings-on will have you shivering with fear as you turn An eBay purchase led him to the pages. [[Fear by Roald Dahl|Full Review]] <!-- Dahl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Dahl_War.jpg|left|link=https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1405933194?ie=UTF8&tag=thebookbag-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=1405933194]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[War by Roald Dahl]]=== [[image:5starAntique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]], [[:Category:Autobiography|Autobiography]] In war, are we at our heroic best or our cowardly worst? Featuring the autobiographical stories from Roald Dahl's time as The eBay purchase was a fighter pilot in the Second World War as well as seven other tales of conflict and strifefake, Dahl reveals but the human side of our most inhumane activity. [[War by Roald Dahl|Full Review]] <!-- Dahl -->|-| style="width: 10%; vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|[[image:Dahl_Trickery.jpg|link=http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1405933232/ref=nosim?tag=thebookbag-21]]  | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: left;"|===[[Trickery by Roald Dahl]]=== [[image:5star.jpg|link=Category:{{{rating}}} Star Reviews]] [[:Category:Short Stories|Short Stories]] How underhand could you be to get what you want? In these ten tales of dark and twisted trickery Roald Dahl reveals friendship that we are at our smartest and most cunning when we set out to deceive others - and, sometimes, even ourselves. Here, among others, you'll read of the married couple and the parting gift which rocks their marriage, the light fingered hitch-hiker and grew between the grateful motorist, buyer and discover why the serious poacher keeps a few sleeping pills in his arsenal. [[Trickery by Roald Dahl|Full Review]]  <!-- DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE -->|} {{newreview|author= Roald Dahl|title= Innocence|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories|summary=What makes us innocent and how do we come to lose it? Featuring the autobiographical stories telling repairer of Roald Dahl's boyhood watches was not and youth as well as four further tales of innocence betrayed, Dahl touches on the joys and horrors seed of growing up. Among other stories, you'll read about the wager that destroys a girl's faith in her father, the landlady who has plans an idea for her unsuspecting young guest and the commuter who is horrified to discover that a fellow passenger once bullied him at schoolbook was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405933259</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tania Hershman1529006031|title=Some of Us Glow More Than OthersReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors

|genre=Short Stories |summary=In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit 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 wondidn't be alone in stating that reading short story collections can be slightly awkwardreally find too much favour with it. Going through from AThe wacky-for-the-sake-Z, witnessing a bounty of ideas and characters in short order can be too much-it did not gel, but do you have the right to pick and choose according to what appeals, and what time you have to fill? I don't remember loving it more as a child. The sequence has carefully been considered, surelyBut I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. Such would appear I had every chance to be enjoy these short stories that come at the case herecore from a tangent, that show the benefits of the oblique glance. The last time I read one of this 've always preferred coming to an author's collectionsoutput through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with [[The White Road Carroll much loved by Tania Hershmanmillions, surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success? }}{{Frontpage|isbn=1846974658|title=The White Road]]Long Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=On my travels around the world, I have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the next person, what I'm really looking for is the 'local' – the cookbook maybe, the only real difficulty was holding back and rationing themmaps definitely, but here you not only above all: the folk tales. If I ever get a whopping forty pieces of writingto Burma, I won't need to hunt, they are also spread into sectionsI can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910061484</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James KelmanB077969HN8|title=That Was a Shiver, and Other StoriesAlternative Medicine|author=Laura Solomon|rating=34.5|genre=Short Stories |summary=This is Laura Solomon's publisher describes the ninth book of short stories by this author, which means hein ''Alternative Medicine''s presented just as many collections ''black comedy with a twist of the short form as he has novelssurrealism''. You will find it 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, but I've come to think of another author that has been so noted for longer works (two conclusions about the book: what with [[How Late It Was, How Late by James Kelman|How Late It Was, How Late]] winning the Booker) but who publisher says is so generous in presenting shorter pieces for the timecorrect -poor, or those like me who see and I really enjoyed it. The comedy is not ''too'' black and the variety in surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a writer's short twist or less typical works flick of reality when you were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the more interesting places to turn. Opening these pages, from the pen of such an esteemed pro, came with no small sense of anticipationnicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1786890909</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Various Authors9386897504|title= A Change Is Gonna ComeTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon|rating= 54|genre= TeensShort Stories|summary= I''A Change Is Gonna Come'' is an anthology 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 reader and keeps them coming back for more. There are far too many collections of short stories which are all too easy to put down and poems interpreting the theme forget after you've read a couple of pieces. I've recently read a couple of change novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by twelve BAME writers. ItLaura Solomon|Marsha's Stripes PublishingDeal]] and [[Hell's response to the under-representation of BAME authors in the UK. And itUnveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell's a great responseUnveiling]] and enjoyed them, so I was intrigued to see what she could do with an even shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847158390</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Helen Stancey1986586898|title= Going To The Madonna of the PoolLast: Short Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight|rating= 34.5|genre= Short Stories|summary= In most short the opening story collections, 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 overarching theme owner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is usually present in each against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', the narratives which help each story gently flow in 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 nextyard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and considered a no-hoper. In this debut collection Helen Stancey explores one of the most dramatic runnings of the quiet disappointmentsrace, achievementsa pile-up occurred at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and complications that each of us experience through everyday life. She draws attention galloped to the small events and decisions that can both disrupt and significantly alter line, winning the lives race at odds of others and ourselves, all while maintaining a delicately poetic tone throughout100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1912054000</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joanna Walsh9386897296|title=Worlds from the WordHell's EndUnveiling|author=Laura Solomon

|summary=We here at The Bookbag liked this authorA little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's fairly recent collection of short stories, [[Vertigo Deal by Joanna WalshLaura Solomon|VertigoMarsha's Deal]]and I was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''. I myself missed outIt's probably not much of a spoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'', but that seemed the devil is not one to be vignettes from one charactertake defeat lying down. He's narration – here we get homosexual male narrators out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who's thought of as a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong person, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a host morecrime he didn't commit and sent to juvenile detention and refused permission to return to live with Marsha. Then, as well as much less of course, there are all the other children who are not only targeted but - worst of all - subverted to the sadness prevalent beforedevil's evil ends. He's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is very fragile. Having had This is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a brief encounter training complex on earth, complete with this an elevator to Hell.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1979217440|title=Marsha's Deal|author courtesy of her entry into =Laura Solomon|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=Marsha didn't have an easy ride in life the first time around. She'd been afflicted with [[Bookshelf (Object Lessons) by Lydia Pyne|Object Lessons]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva] series, I was intrigued by her name being stamped on a selection rare disease which turned parts of shortsher body to bone when they were damaged. Was it Finally, she was unable to stand her life any longer and went to Dignitas, the ideal calling card? Swiss euthanasia clinic. LetShe's face it, d thought that would be the very short story itself can be a postcard – let's sayend, from a specific hotel or twobut after cremation, as we see hereher body went straight to hell and she found herself face-to-face with the devil. And that was when she made the pact. 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

|summary=Picture ''Roses in December'' is a world where youcollection of twenty-two short stories. And when I say short, I mean ''short'', with each just a new motherfew pages long and some brushing the flash fiction genre, move such is the brevity. I think the shorter the story, the harder it is to a town where you slowly start write and the more difficult the task of engaging, then satisfying, the reader. So it is to realise the immense credit of Matthew de Lacey Davidson that every other woman seems I sighed in appreciation many times while reading. He has a replica good sense of which moments of the human experience to capture in order to make the point he wants to make. Some highlights:}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Onymouse_Quick|title=Quick and Quirky: Short Stories with Quips!|author=Fred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse|rating=1.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Quick, and indeed, quirky, are positive attributes, I'm sure you 'd agree – dressing and doing as you doapart from perhaps in surgeons. Consider a place where you I like things that have a perfect other half – most literally – but itquirk, and I approve of the quicky. I's only to be found on an alien planet. Or how about ve been dabbling in the woman who suddenly finds she can see everything world of creative writing for a few years now, and everyone else alive as having no skinwhenever anyone asks what it is I mostly write, just organs, tissue and bone as if everyone was having a Gunther von Hagens plastination job? A lot of these stories are hard to summarise without dropping into I define it with the voice catch-all safety net of the ''Twilight Zoneflippant'' narration. So this book should be right up my street, but they're not specifically genre works – they're just further examples being as it is a bijou selection of this author's unsettling look at the bizarre elements of lifeillustrated and fairly large-print short stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782273425</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Cixin LiuHill_Strange|title= The Wandering EarthStrange Weather|author=Joe Hill|rating= 5|genre= Science FictionShort Stories|summary= If anyone thought that the short story as a form had been relegated to the pages of women's magazines (no disrespect) – think again. One genre that has always been a stalwart supporter and encourager of the short form Strange Weather is Sci-fi. So when you pick up a collection of Sci-fi shortsfour short novels all linked by, unsurprisingly, you know that it will have just as much depth strange and thought-provoking philosophy as any similar cataclysmic weather. Each novelis distinct and showcases Hill's restrained yet vivid style which takes everyday events and makes them bitingly, acerbically macabre or blindingly beautiful, often switching from one sentence to the next. Add to that As Hill himself says ''the intrigue beauty 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 and the rest horror of the planet…and add to that an author who world were twined together'', never is not only a best-seller this truer than in his home country but has the distinction Strange Weather where moments 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>abject horror are coupled with raw beauty.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Fleur Jaeggy and Gini Alhadeff (translator)Dick_Electric|title= I Am The Brother Of XXPhilip K Dick's Electric Dreams|author=Philip K Dick|rating= 43|genre= Short Stories|summary=Philip K Dick''I Am The Brother of XX'' is a collection of twenty one short s stories from Fleur Jaeggywere originally published in the 50s, who expertly wields malevolence and spite throughout, from but they are more present than past. On the evil done between husband and wife in big screen ''The AviaryBlade Runner 2049'', a nasty tale relaunched the Dick-inspired cult classic to reviews of Oedipal menace pure praise; and viciouson slightly smaller screens, although admittedly, artful cruelty, to senseless annihilation and immolation in ''The Heir'Channel 4 has adapted the author's short stories for TV. Jaeggy also appears to have a particular fascination with religionStartlingly, from the nun receiving a rather special sort of communion in ''The Visitor'Dick' to general references to the Church s current relevance reaches beyond fiction and religious devotion throughout many of her stories. Family is also a recurrent theme; whether focused on into the distance between siblings in the titular story, told factual: his topics from the point of view intrusive advertising and loss of a brother filled with longing and loneliness trying privacy to create a bond with his distant older sister, or the primal need to protect the bond between mother and son, regardless increasing machination of the cost society are all headline material in today's news. It is as if half a century after their inception, Dick'Adelaide''s electric dreams are becoming reality.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1911508024</amazonuk>