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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
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{{Frontpage
|isbn=B08NF79QXT
|title=Cherry Blossom Boutique
|author=Brooke Adams
|rating=3
|genre=Women'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's delighted and the two people she's brought with her to the event couldn't be more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=B08KKQ85FN
|title=But Never For Lunch
|author=Sandra Aragona
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the company of carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of bus timetables and paying his own gas bills.''
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 Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|Sorting the Priorities]] and we learned what it was like to be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but the time has come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to become The Wife of Former Ambassador... They have left The Career and settled in Rome. Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B08CHJLNBS|title=Capturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams|rating=3|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the Mayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the heritage library next door. Emilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|classThe Secret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a little deeper. Charles is more of a [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, above all, 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: it's obvious to his friends. And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-"wikitable" cellpaddingstarter, isn't it?}}{{Frontpage|author=Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title=Cursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Curses. They're there throughout tales of faery and other fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, or not to be able to do that. Children can be cursed, as can princesses on the verge of marrying, and older people too. It seems in a way there's no escaping it. Which is why the theme of this book of short stories is such a standout – 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 very wrong.|isbn=1789091500}}{{Frontpage|isbn=Stibbe_Xmas|title=An Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe|rating=4.5|genre="15" <!Humour|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- INSERT NEW REVIEWS BELOW HERErange 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?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=A Winter Book|author=Tove 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=Nights of the Creaking Bed|author=Toni Kan|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is 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 and around Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, in this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1529014484|title=Exhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=Over the past twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. If you haven't then take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.}}{{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.
|rating=4.5
|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 [[The White Road by Tania Hershman|The White Road]]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, the only real difficulty there was holding back and rationing themevery reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, but here you not surely pieces written with that love in mind could only get a whopping forty pieces of writing, they are also spread into sections.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1910061484</amazonuk>provide for success after success?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1846974658|title=The Long Path To Wisdom|author=James KelmanJan-Philipp Sendker|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|titlesummary=That Was On my travels around the world, I have a Shivertendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and Other Storieswhile 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 maps definitely, but above all: the folk tales. If I ever get to Burma, I won't need to hunt, I can read before I go.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B077969HN8|title=Alternative 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 turnnicest possible way. Opening these pages, from the pen of such an esteemed pro, came with no small sense of anticipation.|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
|rating=3.5
|genre=Short Stories
|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 host more'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong person, as well as much less of the sadness prevalent beforeshe's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Having had Daniel is framed for a brief encounter crime he didn't commit and sent to juvenile detention and refused permission to return to live with this author courtesy Marsha. Then, of her entry into course, there are all the [[Bookshelf (Object Lessons) by Lydia Pyne|Object Lessons]] series, I was intrigued by her name being stamped on a selection other children who are not only targeted but - worst of shortsall - subverted to the devil's evil ends. Was it the ideal calling card? LetHe's face itout to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, the their self-esteem is very short story itself can be a postcard – let's sayfragile. This is no small-scale operation, from either - the devil has set up a specific hotel or twotraining complex on earth, as we see herecomplete with an elevator to Hell. Perhaps I should have geared myself up, however, for such intricate writing on said postcards – and for the exotic locations from which they came…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1911508105</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Helen Phillips1979217440|title=Some Possible SolutionsMarsha's Deal|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Picture a world where youMarsha didn't have an easy ride in life the first time around. She'd been afflicted with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fibrodysplasia_ossificans_progressiva fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva], a new motherrare disease which turned parts of her body to bone when they were damaged. Finally, move she was unable to a town where you slowly start stand her life any longer and went to realise that every other woman seems a replica of you – dressing and doing as you doDignitas, the Swiss euthanasia clinic. Consider a place where you have a perfect other half – most literally – but itShe's only to d thought that would be found on an alien planet. Or how about the woman who suddenly finds she can see everything and everyone else alive as having no skinend, just organsbut after cremation, tissue her body went straight to hell and bone as if everyone she found herself face-to-face with the devil. And that was having a Gunther von Hagens plastination job? when she made the pact. A lot In exchange for details about some of these stories are hard those who had been close to summarise without dropping into her - their strengths and weaknesses - she would be reborn on the voice of same day to the ''Twilight Zone'' narration, same parents but they're not specifically genre works – they're just further examples would live her life free of this author's unsettling look at the bizarre elements of lifedisease.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782273425</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Cixin Liu150690551X|title= The Wandering EarthRoses in December|author=Matthew de Lacey Davidson|rating= 54|genre= Science FictionShort Stories|summary= If anyone thought that the short story as ''Roses in December'' is a form had been relegated to the pages collection of womentwenty-two short stories. And when I say short, I mean ''short's magazines (no disrespect) – think again. One genre that has always been ', with each just a stalwart supporter few pages long and encourager of some brushing the short form flash fiction genre, such is Sci-fithe brevity. So when you pick up a collection of Sci-fi shortsI think the shorter the story, you know that the harder it will have just as much depth is to write and thought-provoking philosophy as any similar novelthe more difficult the task of engaging, then satisfying, the reader. Add So it is to that the intrigue immense credit of seeing how the concepts are approached by someone from China which – to be polite – Matthew de Lacey Davidson that I sighed in appreciation many times while reading. He has a somewhat different world-view in many ways to much good sense of the rest which moments of the planet…and add human experience to that an author who is not only a best-seller capture in his home country but has the distinction of having produced the first translated work of SF ever order to win make the Hugo Award…this has got point he wants to be good!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1784978493</amazonuk>make. Some highlights:
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Onymouse_Quick|title= Fleur Jaeggy Quick and Gini Alhadeff (translator)Quirky: Short Stories with Quips!|titleauthor= I Am The Brother Of XXFred Onymouse and Ann Onymouse|rating= 41.5|genre= Short Stories|summary=Quick, and indeed, quirky, are positive attributes, I'm sure you'd agree – apart from perhaps in surgeons. I Am The Brother like things that have a quirk, and I approve of XXthe quicky. I'' is ve been dabbling in the world of creative writing for a collection of twenty one short stories from Fleur Jaeggyfew years now, who expertly wields malevolence and spite throughoutwhenever anyone asks what it is I mostly write, from I define it with the evil done between husband and wife in catch-all safety net of ''The Aviaryflippant''. So this book should be right up my street, being as it is a nasty tale bijou selection of Oedipal menace illustrated and viciousfairly large-print short stories. }}{{Frontpage|isbn=Hill_Strange|title=Strange Weather|author=Joe Hill|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Strange Weather is a collection of four short novels all linked by, although admittedlyunsurprisingly, artful crueltystrange and cataclysmic weather. Each novel is 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 senseless annihilation the next. As Hill himself says ''the beauty of the world and immolation in the horror of the world were twined together''The Heir, never is this truer than in Strange Weather where moments of abject horror are coupled with raw beauty.}}{{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. Jaeggy also appears to have a particular fascination with religion, from On the nun receiving a rather special sort of communion in big screen ''The VisitorBlade Runner 2049'' relaunched the Dick-inspired cult classic to general references to the Church and religious devotion throughout many reviews of her stories. Family is also a recurrent themepure praise; whether focused and on slightly smaller screens, Channel 4 has adapted the distance between siblings in author's short stories for TV. Startlingly, Dick's current relevance reaches beyond fiction and into 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>
}}
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