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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Diana WellsAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Odes All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Prose for Older WomenStephen Oram (Editors)|rating=45|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=I am, of course, not an older woman and nether is Diana Wells. We were born in the same year and we are what is best described as 'upper middle aged', but - perhaps in anticipation Opening up new ways of what is to come - Diana has collected together her writings on the subject and I read through them in two sittings (thinking about the break was enforced) and I laughed and cried, but the wry smile shape of recognition never left my face from beginning things to endcome. There are about eighty five short stories and odes - with none more than a few pages long - written, we are told, from observation, experience or imagination and I can only conclude that Wells has led a very rich life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780356838</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|title=Sad Monsters|author=Frank Lesser|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=If you thought you had I've heard it bad… Here said that 'technology' is the chupacabra writing what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the newspapers for better press – notices feeling that donit't universally mention his goats all getting away from me. Some of it is -sucking habits before his chessfrankly -playing, dancing or debating recordquite frightening. Here is a banshee struggling with high school life Of course, knowing I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end of everyone that comes across her pathup down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. Here is King Kong, being defended in court by a lawyer with a revelation to the jury about his bipolarity I needed people I knew I could trust and how wrong it was to get his hopes up with a Broadway show who could deliver information in a strange cityway I could understand. Did you honestly think Godzilla enjoyed the way his life ended up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285642324</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0CDZRGT1M|title=Dear LifeSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Alice MunroMark C Wallfisch
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Alice Munro has made an art form of short story writing. ''Dear LifeGot a minute to be amused, entertained, or challenged?'''' is a collection of truly beautiful short These 100 stories, perfectly crafted in a way that leaves no wanting feeling, as is often an issue with are super short stories. Each of the 14 stories contained within the collection None is just that; a story in its own rightmore than 300 words. There is no getting caught up and lost You can read one in style and literary flare, but a cool prose, a calmness of tone and good strong storiesflash.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578638</amazonuk>}}''Some are funny. Some are poignant. All are short.''
{{newreview|title=The Complete Short StoriesQuestion: Volume Two|author=Roald Dahl|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Having only recently read the first volume of this collection how do you review flash fiction? How do you give a flavour of a fully rounded little story 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 of Roald Dahl’s short stories them? I couldn’t help but think of the phrase don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn'too much t a fixed definition of a good thing'' although I have never really agreed with the phrase (I could happily gorge on chocolate or whisky flash fiction but that for days without the slightest regret) I am still pleased that this book provides yet more evidence of the inaccuracy of the expressioncollection, author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a three hundred word limit. With stories as diverse as That's about a butler getting revenge on his employer and a baby being brought up on royal jelly by a fanatical bee lover, these are tales of horror, humour, adventure, love and all out weirdnesssingle page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910119</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Tales from the Dead of Night: Thirteen Classic Ghost StoriesRachel Harrison|authortitle=Cecily Gayford (editor)Bad Dolls|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This collection It's been some time since I've read any horror. I had a couple of classic ghost stories covers all kinds misspent teen years reading Stephen King, borrowing the books from a boy I fancied at school and scaring myself half silly with them to the point that I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of chilling tales. There are physical ghoststhe vampires outside! Don't worry - this short story collection isn't like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, emotional ghostsand I didn't have to read it during daylight hours only! But it is creepy, ghosts and I found most of that feeling came from the fact that these are never seen but merely sensedstories about women, living normal lives, and even the odd entity that just seems ghostlyat least in part, even though it might be an ordinary everyday thing - but still makes you feel the horrors arises from very normal situations such as if you’vea breakup, welltrying a new dieting app, seen going to a ghost. Each story is preceded hen party and a coping with some information on the author. The stories are from are from several different periods and the settings range from winter nights in England to sultry summers in India. This combines to make for an excellent overview of all kinds of spooky sagasgrief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781250944</amazonuk>1803363932
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aimee BenderB0CCCVRSGX|title=The Color MasterStories 2|author=Richard F Walker|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Another parade This is Richard F Walker's second volume of fascinating, unusual personalities short stories. There are thirteen in all and oddevents I took something from the author each of [[Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender|WillfulCreatures]]them. This time out [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee]]introduces us There isn't a single one that doesn't deserve to people like Hans be among the fake Naziothers or brings down the overall quality. It can be tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, young William so I'll just pick two to whomall people look the same talk about and Janet who decides to spice up herlove-life with detrimental results. Among other things we alsowitness I think they give a less-than-altruistic anti-war demonstration and an oddoccurrence in an orchard showing how odd an apple-only diet could makeusgeneral flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953898</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1739593901
|title=22 Ideas About The Future
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of flying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.''
{{newreview|title=The Complete Short Stories: Volume One|author=Roald Dahl|rating=4I've got a couple of confessions to make.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Roald Dahl’s name I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book has for . There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me always meant I was in for a fun and imaginative readengaged. His children’s books are Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the pinnacle of children’s literature and combine fantastic ideas technology which takes centre stage along with wordplay and some of the most amusing characters and situationsworld-building. The stories for a younger audience always managed to thrill It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and entertain both adult and child and reading them aloud is a joythe world scape are purely incidental. In short So, what did I believe Roald Dahl was think of a true master of storytelling. I have however only actually read one of his adult books before reading this collection book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910100</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B09XZMCDVF|title=The Dinner Club and Other Stories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Rob KeeleyRichard F Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Confident Readers
|summary=''Being on home dinners gives Aidan the chance to make some money...''<br>
''A bridesmaid and a page chase a runaway wedding cake...''<br>
''Mia and her Dad turn detective...''
 
These are just a few of the premises you can try out for size in Rob Keeley's third book of short stories for middle grade readers. He's really having some fun with this format. I approve. We need more short story collections for this age group. They're entertaining and they appeal particularly to reluctant readers. Short stories like this can act as a springboard to full-length novels.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783060603</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|title=Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st Detective
|author=Paul Kane and Charles Prepolec (Editors)
|rating=3.5
|genre=Anthologies
|summary=C. Auguste Dupin is often regarded as the first fictional detective and at the very least Edgar Allan Poe’s character was the blueprint for many sleuths to come, most notably Sherlock Holmes. Dupin is an eccentric genius from Paris whose use of logic and deduction aid the police on their most baffling cases. The characters literary debut was in the short story ''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'' in 1841 and between 1842 and 1844 Poe wrote two more short stories about Dupin and his exploits. ''Beyond Rue Morgue'' contains nine stories (in addition to the original Poe tale) by various authors and gives many different takes on the same character or influenced by him. From samurai assassins and the apocalypse to an agoraphobic distant relative of Dupin attempting to solve a murder without even leaving her home; the different writers all take the intriguing character to places we wouldn’t expect and the creativity of all keeps the character fresh from story to story.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781161755</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|title=Russian Stories
|author=Francesc Seres
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This brilliant and varied collection of short stories ''A news vendor is crying out the headlines in the product middle of the night; a current academic interest wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in cross-cultural translation. Francisco Guillen Serés is his imagination; a Catalan professor of Art History from Aragon. A Russophile, he has travelled widely stickler for correct grammar goes back in time to collect stories from those writing during correct an iconic quote; a volunteer teacher proves the past hundred years of Russian history. These ideal person to have been translated into Catalan and then into English. These unusual and delightful stories, some twenty one of them written by five writers read fluently and engagingly. They form an informative tapestry of Soviet and post-Soviet life, moving back around in time with a lawless village; the older, earlier writers like Bergchenko, who died in new boy on the siege of Stalingradpub football team is very useful with his feet, at the end. Ranging over mythic and symbolic tales to realistic portrayals of personal relationships; love trysts in St Petersburg, ferocious bears in the deep heart of the Taiga to the perils of becoming lost in continuous orbit in space. All aspects are impressively recounted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085705158X</amazonuk>}}awfully familiar…''
{{newreview|title=Best British Short Stories 2013|author=Nicholas Royle (editor)|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Expect to read some quality work in ''Best British Short Stories 2013'', sourced from a number This collection of thirteen short story magazines; 'Granta', 'Shadows and Tall Trees', 'Unthology' and 'The Edinburgh Review' are just some of stories by Richard F Walker has a lot to offer the publications in which these pieces were to be seen firsteclectic reader. If asked to identify a red thread between Tying them together is the components of Nicholas Royle’s anthologyidea that remarkable and strange, I would say that in each short storyeven miraculous, everything is left things can happen to simmer under the surfaceordinary people. And that ordinary doesn't mean boring or uninteresting. There is a frustration brought about by the lack Form and tone varies so this little treasury of clarity in every short story, which to me fiction is a reflection of just how unclear the most seismic of situations may be to any individual involvednever boring and you're never quite sure what's coming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773479</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1737030942|title=This CloseBag O'Goodies|author=Jessica Francis KaneJolly Walker Bittick|rating=54|genre=Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=Sometimes, you deserve a treat and mine was Jolly Walker Bittick's ''Bag O'Goodies'This Close' is a sensitively written collection of short stories exploring the fragile nature of the bonds connecting friends, neighbours and family. As the title suggests, most of the stories contain pivotal moments where I first encountered his writing about a missed opportunityyear ago, fleeting as it may bewhen I read his [[Cape Henry House by Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], can propel a person along rollicking tale of what happens when five young men find a path culminating in regret or lossbase for their partying. Each story is poignantly written and perceptively observed. As Right now, I didn't want a readerfull-length novel, so I was drawn in turned to this anthology of verse and short stories. Bittick's writing has matured - and became so emotionally involved with the have his characters that it was often impossible to close the book until I knew how each story ended.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1555976360</amazonuk> Well... most of them!
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529418100|title=Behind the FacadeBruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales|author=Dennis FriedmanMartin Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=We have I'm not usually a fan of short stories - I find it all, at one time or another, wished that we had too easy to put the book down between stories and forget to pick it up again - but I am a fan of Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the ability temptation to read minds. Imagine how interesting it would be ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to peer beyond the external appearance resist and I'm rather glad that I didn't even try. For those new to understand the various thought processes lurking beneath the surface. Psychiatrist Dennis Friedman gives the reader the opportunity series, there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to do just that with his collection of short stories know about who'Beyond s who and the Facade'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0720615070</amazonuk>background to why Bruno is in St Denis.
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Margo LanaganB08NF79QXT|title=YellowcakeCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Brooke Adams|rating=4.53|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=We should always make time Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for short storiesjust six months when she's nominated for - and wins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. Especially if they are written by Margo Lanagan 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. In Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty'Yellowcakes best friend: they've known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica's husband, a traveller boy uses three items to reunite an Charles and their four-year-old man with his memoriesdaughter, Ava. A boy with Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a crippled foot watches his townfolk butcher a beautiful creature washed up man in their harbour. Rapunzel gets a makeover in which things turn out differently. We find out how the Ferryman of the Dead became the Ferrywoman. And moreher life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849921113</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Melvin BurgessB08KKQ85FN|title=Krispy WhispersBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''A If a woman stops you 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 road and gazes fearfully into company of carrion crows or, more to the pram. "Your babies are not humanpoint," she says. Then she runs offabout to discover the real world of bus timetables and paying his own gas bills.''
Ooh! Alien changelings! Cuckoos in the nest? Are they really? Really, reallyYou don't get many better opening sentences than that, really? Can do you be sure? So begins the We first story met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in ''Krispy Whispers'', a series of flash fictions [[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 Bookbag favourite Melvin Burgess. You also get a girl dreaming of riches, a lonely woman who finds a pet the Italian Government but the time has come for HE to retires and gets a boyfriend too closely together for mere coincidenceSandra Aragona to become The Wife of Former Ambassador. And a priest who actually meets God. And a very worrisome monster. Concentrate hard They have left The Career and settled in Rome. Because you Well 'settled'll need to keep up.rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf..|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00DAC68EM</amazonuk>
}}
{{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|The 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-starter, isn't it?}}{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Alison MooreMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title=The Pre-War House 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 storiesis 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=Short StoriesHumour|summary=Alison Moore's ''Pre-War House'' is a collection Christmas – the time of 24 short stories, traditional trauma. You only three of which are original have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the downstairs loo to this collectiondefrost overnight, but most were first published in and if that failed the last couple of years and, unless you are a an avid reader of hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it''The New Writer'' they will probably s all be new having to you. Mooremake sure it's themes tend suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, and get too friendly with it to concentrate on fairly dark characterswant to eat it. Christmas, though, usually with is of course also a hidden secret, and more often than not dealing with the past and frequently some kind time of personal loss or anguishgreat boons. If you enjoyed MooreIt's Booker Prize shortlisted [[The Lighthouse by Alison Moore|The Lighthouse]]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 will find plenty letters to enjoy here aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as most of the stories have a similar hauntingly sad feel to them. With one possible exceptionchild, a very short piece called ''The Yacht Man'' which did nothing and as for methe makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, the stories are beautifully judged did they even try and equally satisfying, often saving a final hit or a surprise until the end sell them any other time of the pieces.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773509</amazonuk>year?
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Robert Walser0954899520|title=The Walk and other storiesA Winter Book|author=Tove Jansson
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=The publication of this collection of around forty short stories affords Tove Jansson's worldwide fame lasts on the English speaking public a unique opportunity; that of reading WalserMoomin books, possibly written in the leading modernist writer 1940s and later becoming television characters of Swiss German in the last century. He has received high praise in simplicity, naivety and sheer 'A Place in the Countrygoodness'that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Simple drawings, simple stories, W G Sebald's recently published posthumous collection and he 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-known as being children…and that she had a significant influence on Franz Kafka. His work here dates from 1907 to 1929 feeling for the natural world and along with his poetry won him recognition with Berlin's avant garde. He combines lyrical delicacy with detailed observation; reflective melancholy with criticism the simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of brash commercialism. The fine writing in this volume strives to achieve a hard won integrity together with an experimental capacity for reflection. It challenges how the reader and provokes him to new insightsworld might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689589</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ted Olinger1911115847|title=The Woodpecker MenaceNights of the Creaking Bed|author=Toni Kan
|rating=4
|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=The Key Peninsula ''Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is a small spur collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of land on the Puget Sound lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in Washington stateand around Lagos, shaped - you guessed it - like a keyNigeria. Its resident are disparate and include both incomers and those who'd see themselves as pioneer settlers. But they're joined Nigeria, in a communal sense this collection, is imbued with its very own heart of island livingdarkness. It's on Danger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a much smaller scale, but I think most British people can feel affinity with identifying as an islanderwrong look. It flavours our relationship Kan writes with continental Europe in so many waysa vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0984840036</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Nikolai Leskov, Richard Pevear (translator) and Larissa Volokhonsky (translator)1529014484|title=The Enchanted Wanderer and Other StoriesExhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating=45|genre=Literary Science Fiction|summary=This is a collection of 17 Nikolai Leskov stories as mixed in subject matter as they are in length. From Over the very past twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short ''Spirit of Madame de Genlis''stories, warning of the dire consequences of selecting literature for these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if you are a mollycoddled princess, to the novella-length ''The Enchanted Wanderer'' telling the tale science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the apparently immortal monk who prayed for suicide victims, Leskov (aided greatly work by the talented translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) unlocks the mores, traditions, religion and superstitions of 19th century Russia for a modern readershipTed Chiang. If you haven't then take this opportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099577356</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Roberto Saviano, Carlo Lucarelli, Valeria Parrella, Piero Colaprico, Wu Ming, Simona Vinci1794467440|title=OutsidersWatchwords |author=Philip Neal
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''Outsiders'' is a This satisfying collection of six pieces short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of writing by Italian authorsthe antique watches that inspired it. Philip Neal lost a watch. The pieces have been collated from It was a supplement to an Italian daily newspaper watch he was fond of and six have had been chosen around the theme told was like a 1930s Cartier. Instead of outsiders for translation into Englishmourning its loss, he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it. And that's how he became a watch collector. Thus, An eBay purchase led him to the pieces themselves were not written around this specific theme but have rather had this theme imposed on them Antique Watch Company watch repairers in this collectionClerkenwell. Since The eBay purchase was a fake, but the outsider is often used in various forms by writers to observe friendship that grew between the buyer and the status quo, this is repairer of watches was not and the seed of an idea for a big leap of imaginationbook was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052446</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aimee Bender1529006031|title=Willful CreaturesReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary= In this collection wefollowing 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 didn're shown t really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-the reaction -sake-of ten men with terminal illness prognoses-it did not gel, a large man purchasing a very unusual pet and the case of I don't remember loving it more as a hard-done-by boyfriendchild. There are also delights like But I would suggest I am the shop perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to enjoy these short stories that sells words crafted into what they readcome at the core from a tangent, a boy with keys instead of fingers and that show the beautifully touching tale benefits of the pumpkin-headed mother who gives birth oblique glance. I've always preferred coming to an ironauthor's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-headed babyaway 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). NoFor another thing, this isn't your average collection there was every reason to expect some kind of predictable short stories; these are [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee Bender]] short stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558858</amazonuk>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=Karen Russell1846974658|title=Vampires in the Lemon GroveThe Long Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker|rating=54
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=On my travels around the world, I know you shouldn't judge have a book by 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 covernext person, but when what I'm really looking for is the cover has a title like 'local'Vampires in – the cookbook maybe, the Lemon Grove''maps definitely, I can't help but be a little intrigued, especially when above all: the author has a recent history like Karen Russell'sfolk tales. This history includes a Guardian award nomination for a previous collection with another great title; If I ever get to Burma, I won''Stt need to hunt, I can read before I go. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves'' and a Pulitzer Prize shortlisting for her novel, [[Swamplandia! by Karen Russell|Swamplandia!]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701187883</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=George Mann (Editor)B077969HN8|title=Encounters of Sherlock HolmesAlternative Medicine|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=4.5
|genre=Crime (Historical)
|summary=
Sherlock Holmes remains an enduring icon of English literature; perhaps as popular today as he was back in the late 1800s, maybe even more so with the advent of TV and film adaptations of his adventures. Indeed, such is the lasting appeal of the character that since the death of Conan Doyle there have been literally hundreds of works published, picking up where the original stories left off.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781160031</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Prajwal Parajuly
|title=The Gurkha's Daughter
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Parajuly is the son of an Indian father and Nepalese mother hailing from Gangtok in the Indian Himalayas, but spending most of his time somewhere between New York and Oxford. His insight is therefore something we should probably trust.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780872933</amazonuk>
}}
 
{{newreview
|author=Simon Rich
|title=The Last Girlfriend on Earth
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=There is more opportunity than ever these days to downsize your library. You can take all those lumpen classics to Laura Solomon's publisher describes the charity shop now that they can be downloaded for free onto an e-reader. And short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with these couple of hundred pages you can also divest yourself of a heck twist of a lot of fiction about love, for this can easily replace so much yousurrealism''ve read at greater length, with less imagination and with much less humour elsewhere. That hyperbole is only partly inspired by the style of the contents, for it really is I'm rather glad that good.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668921X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Lee Child (Editor)|title=Vengeance|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=I like short story collections. Theydidn't see this until ''after'' I're useful d finished reading material when youas I're m not normally a mum fan of young children as you can usually manage to squeeze in a six page story at nap timeeither, but you're guaranteed if you try to start that 500 page novel youI've been meaning come to read that just as two conclusions about the book: what the publisher says is correct - and I really enjoyed it starts to get interesting your baby will wake up! This collection of crime stories . The comedy is brought together under the title of not ''Vengeancetoo'' so, black and the surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of reality when you'd imagine, they were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are all going to do with revenge and people getting or trying to get their own backbe invaded in the nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857899015</amazonuk>
}}
 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Deborah Levy9386897504|title=Black VodkaTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I''Black Vodka'' is ve always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a collection great deal of ten previously published skill and talent to write a short pieces of writing by Deborah Levy, many first published in story which holds the early 2000sreader and keeps them coming back for more. The most recent is the piece from There are far too many collections of short stories which this collection gains its title which has been shortlisted for the 2012 BBC International Short Story Awardare all too easy to put down and forget after you've read a couple of pieces. As I've recently read a compilation couple of her writingnovellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell's Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, obviously these were not written so I was intrigued to appear together, but some clear themes emerge from the collection, namely a deeply disturbing look at the search for love, particularly amongst those on the edge of society|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908276169</amazonuk>see what she could do with an even shorter form.
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joyce Carol Oates1986586898|title=Going To The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares|rating=5|genre=Last: Short Stories|summary=Many years ago, I stumbled across a Joyce Carol Oates story in a horror anthology. What I most remember about the story was how vividly the feelings the characters experienced were portrayed. Whilst the story itself was not exactly a horror story in the mould of Stephen King and James Herbert, it was very well presented. With this experience, I had high hopes of 'The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares' a brand new collection of short stories from Oates.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908800224</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAbout Horse Racing|author=Robin Jones and Ashley Stokes (Editors)|title=Unthology: No. 3K D Knight
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Unthank Books have brought out their third annual short In the opening story 'unthology', a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in his pocket - and his wife. (See what they did there?) The series is described as showcasing the In ''unconventional, unpredictable and experimentalA Grey Day'' which an owner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is correct as far as it goesagainst him. They omit words that I personally would have included; words like My favourite was 'refreshing' and The Story of H'excitingly different' because, if I needed the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to be convinced about short stories please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the yard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National andconsidered a no-hoper. In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, being a fanpile-up occurred at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, I don't) they would be winning the clincherrace at odds of 100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0957289707</amazonuk>
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 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Tania Hershman9386897296|title=My Mother Was An Upright Piano: FictionsHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating=3.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=ItA little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's said that Deal]] and I was delighted by the art of short-story writing is totally different from that of novels as opportunity to read the writer only has ten or so pages to accomplish what others do in two to three hundred. Imaginesequel, therefore, telling an entire story in prose conveying depth and meaning in fewer words than this review''Hell's Unveiling''. It may be difficult but, apparently, 's probably not downright impossible as [[:Category:Tania Hershman|Tania Hershman]] has nailed it with honours. In fact her first collection [[The White Road by Tania Hershman|The White Road]] was commended by the Orange Prize judges much of 2009.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906477604</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mike Henley|title=One Dog and His Man|rating=4|genre=Pets|summary=Oberon is a Labrador with a pedigree as long as your arm and spoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha'One Dog and His Mans Deal'' , but the devil is his story about what itnot one to take defeat lying down. He's like living with the man he generously refers out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who's thought of as a 'goody two shoes'The Bossin Hell). Although a strong person, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn', about life in general t commit and sent to juvenile detention and the ways of the worldrefused permission to return to live with Marsha. Think of him as the canine equivalent Then, of the parliamentary sketch writercourse, there to highlight are all the idiosyncrasies other children who are not only targeted but - worst of human life and bring a gentle humour all - subverted to situations which might otherwise be taken far too seriouslythe devil's evil ends. Before you wonder how this He's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is possible - how a dog can write a book - let me remind you that dogs are very intelligent animalsfragile. After allThis is no small-scale operation, dogs and their humans might go to what are laughingly called 'dog either - the devil has set up a training classes'complex on earth, but it's the humans who are trained, not the dogscomplete with an elevator to Hell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471660354</amazonuk>
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{{newreview|author=Joseph O'Connor|title=Where Have You Been?|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Irish novelist Joseph O'Connor has had quite a 2012. Earlier in the year he joined the ranks of such authors as Edna O'Brien, Move to [[:Category:Roddy Doyle|Roddy DoyleNewest Spirituality and Religion Reviews]] and Seamus Heaney when he became a recipient of the PEN award for his outstanding contribution to Irish literature. What could possibly top that for a sense of achievement? Well this, his first book of short stories in 20 years, must come pretty close to at least equalling it, amply illustrating the reasons for the panel's decision.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846556899</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Anita Desai|title=The Artist of Disappearance|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=Anita Desai's ''The Artist of Disappearance'' is a collection of three novellas with several satisfying unifying features. All are set in modern day India, all involve some looking back in time and all three involve some consideration of the creative art - who it is for, what happens to it once it leaves the artist's control and who 'owns' it. Most of all, each one is beautifully written, with strong characters and evocative descriptions of personal loss. In terms of length each is relatively short - around 50 pages long - but after each one you feel that you've been engrossed in the story just as much as if you had read a novel of more conventional length.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553953</amazonuk>}}

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