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[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Doctor WhoAll Tomorrow's Futures: 11 Doctors, 11 StoriesFictions that Disrupt|author=Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott Benjamin Greenaway and othersStephen Oram (Editors)

|genre=Confident ReadersScience Fiction|summary=It's basic knowledge that Doctor Who has changed a lot since first being seen fifty years ago – and I don't mean the title character, but the nature Opening up new ways of the programme. It has gone from black and white, and cheaply produced, and declared disposable, to being an essential part of the BBC, full-gloss digital, and accessed in all manner of ways. So with the celebratory programme still ringing in our ears, and leaving people pressing a red button to see a programme thinking about three Doctors, er, pressing a red button, we turn to other aspects of the birthday bonanza. Such as this book, which has also mutated in its much shorter lifespan, from being a loose collection of eleven short e-book novellas written by the blazing lights shape of YA writing, things to a huge and brilliant paperback collecting everything within one set of coverscome.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141348941</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=Of Lions and Unicorns: A Lifetime of Tales from the Master Storyteller|author=Michael Morpurgo|rating=4|genre=Confident Readers|summary=I've heard it said that 'Of Lions and Unicornstechnology'is what happens after you' is re eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a collection few decades of short stories and extracts technology in my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from Morpurgo’s most popular booksme. The book Some of it is split into five sections- frankly - quite frightening. Of course, which focus on recurring themes I could research the possibilities and the probabilities and end up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in his writinga way I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007395353</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0CDZRGT1M|title=Rags and BonesSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt (Editors)Mark C Wallfisch

|summary=I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The most fun when facing a new author, especially Got a big name one, is minute to come through the undergroundbe amused, tackling the smaller worksentertained, the quirkier output, the less representative sections of her or his oeuvre. And for those who have or havenchallenged?'t read ''The Jane Austen Book Club'', there These 100 stories are super short. None is plenty of potential for that with the rest of [[The Case of the Imaginary Detective by Karen Joy Fowler|Karen Joy Fowler]], for her output includes almost as many selections of short stories as it does very successful novels, and what's more they carry the science fictional bannerthan 300 words. A long time ago there was You can read one in a teenage me very happy to be reading flash.''Lord of the Flies'' and writing an essay about how sci-fi it was, and I do relish the mainstream author entering a genre, or the inverse of thatSome are funny. Some are poignant. But boy, I normally come away a lot happier than I did hereAll are short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1604868252</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|author=Kate Mosse|title=The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=This book Question: how do you review flash fiction? How do you give a flavour of 14 short stories and a short play fully rounded little story if that story is based on the ideaof haunting. Sometimes the haunting is the ghostly kind and sometimessomething psychologically deeper and more primal. All the stories drift told in fewer than three hundred words? Or do you try tous draw out themes from different eras, both past and recent, but all have one thing the flash fictions incommon: they centre on a troubled person. For instance book of them? I don't know! Perhaps we meet Gaston, could start by explaining that there really isn't aFrench child who witnesses an odd event on the beach just after losing hisparents. In the inevitably touching fixed definition of flash fiction but beautiful ''Red Letter Day'' wetravel to a French castle with that for this collection, author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a woman who has an appointment with the pastthree hundred word limit.If you want something completely different, thereThat's ''The Duet'' which drawsus into about a fascinating dialogue and then hits us with a stingsingle page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409148041</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Time Traveller's AlmanacRachel Harrison|authortitle=Anne VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeerBad Dolls

|genre=AnthologiesShort Stories|summary=From HIt's been some time since I've read any horror.G Wells I had a couple of 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 the vampires outside! Don'Doctor Whot worry - this short story collection isn't like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, there is something about a good time-travel story that has the power and I didn't have to ignite the imagination in a way unique to the genre. Perhaps read it during daylight hours only! But it is due to creepy, and I found most of that feeling came from the fact that when dealing with these are stories about women, living normal lives, and that at least in part, the subject of time travelhorrors arises from very normal situations such as a breakup, literally ''anything is possible''. Welltrying a new dieting app, almost anything...apart from going back in time to a hen party and killing your Grandfather, which we know would cause an almighty paradox and probably destroy the universea coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1781853908</amazonuk>1803363932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Diana WellsB0CCCVRSGX|title=Odes and Prose for Older WomenStories 2|author=Richard F Walker

|summary=I am, This is Richard F Walker's second volume of course, not an older woman and nether is Diana Wellsshort stories. We were born There are thirteen in the same year all and we are what is best described as I took something from each of them. There isn'upper middle agedt a single one that doesn', but - perhaps in anticipation of what is t deserve to come - Diana has collected together her writings on be among the subject and I read through them in two sittings (others or brings down the break was enforced) and I laughed and cried, but the wry smile of recognition never left my face from beginning overall quality. It can be tricky to end. There are about eighty five review short stories and odes - with none more than a few pages long - writtenwithout giving too much away, we are told, from observation, experience or imagination so I'll just pick two to talk about and I can only conclude that Wells has led think they give a very rich lifegeneral flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780356838</amazonuk>

I've got a couple of confessions to make. 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. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the technology and the world scape are purely incidental. So, what did I think of a book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, I loved it. }}{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B09XZMCDVF|title=Sad MonstersStories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Frank LesserRichard F Walker

|summary=Alice Munro has made an art form of short story writing. ''Dear Life'' A news vendor is crying out the headlines in the middle of the night; a collection of truly beautiful short stories, perfectly crafted wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his imagination; a way that leaves no wanting feeling, as is often stickler for correct grammar goes back in time to correct an issue with short stories. Each of the 14 stories contained within the collection is just thaticonic quote; a story volunteer teacher proves the ideal person to have around in its own right. There a lawless village; the new boy on the pub football team is no getting caught up and lost in style and literary flarevery useful with his feet, but a cool prose, a calmness of tone and good strong stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578638</amazonuk>}}awfully familiar…''

{{newreview|title=The Complete Short Stories: Volume Two|author=Roald Dahl|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Having only recently read the first volume of this This collection of all of Roald Dahl’s thirteen short stories I couldn’t help but think of the phrase ''too much of by Richard F Walker has a good thing'' although I have never really agreed with lot to offer the phrase (I could happily gorge on chocolate or whisky for days without eclectic reader. Tying them together is the slightest regret) I am still pleased idea that remarkable and strange, even miraculous, things can happen to ordinary people. And that this book provides yet more evidence of the inaccuracy of the expressionordinary doesn't mean boring or uninteresting. With stories as diverse as a butler getting revenge on his employer Form and a baby being brought up on royal jelly by a fanatical bee lover, these are tales tone varies so this little treasury of horror, humour, adventure, love short fiction is never boring and all out weirdnessyou're never quite sure what's coming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910119</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1737030942|title=Tales from the Dead of Night: Thirteen Classic Ghost StoriesBag O'Goodies|author=Cecily Gayford (editor)Jolly Walker Bittick|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=This collection Sometimes, you deserve a treat and mine was Jolly Walker Bittick's ''Bag O'Goodies''. I first encountered his writing about a year ago, when I read his [[Cape Henry House by Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], a rollicking tale of classic ghost stories covers all kinds of chilling taleswhat happens when five young men find a base for their partying. There are physical ghosts Right now, emotional ghosts, ghosts that are never seen but merely sensedI didn't want a full-length novel, so I turned to this anthology of verse and even the odd entity that just seems ghostly, even though it might be an ordinary everyday thing short stories. Bittick's writing has matured - but still makes you feel as if you’ve, well, seen a ghostand so have his characters. Well. Each story is preceded 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 most of all kinds of spooky sagas.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250944</amazonuk>them!

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aimee Bender1529418100|title=The Color MasterBruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales|author=Martin Walker|rating=4.5

|summary=Another parade I'm not usually a fan of fascinating, unusual personalities short stories - I find it all too easy to put the book down between stories and oddevents from the author forget to pick it up again - but I am a fan of Martin Walker's [[Willful Creatures by Aimee BenderMartin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|WillfulCreaturesBruno Courreges Mysteries]]so the temptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that I didn't even try. This time out [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee]]introduces us For those new to people like Hans the fake Naziseries, young William there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to whomall people look know about who's who and the same and Janet who decides background to spice up herlove-life with detrimental results. Among other things we alsowitness a less-than-altruistic anti-war demonstration and an oddoccurrence why Bruno is in an orchard showing how odd an apple-only diet could makeusSt Denis.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953898</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08NF79QXT|title=The Complete Short Stories: Volume OneCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Roald DahlBrooke Adams|rating=4.53|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=Roald Dahl’s name on a book Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for me always meant I was in just six months when she's nominated for a fun - and imaginative readwins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. His children’s books are She's delighted and the pinnacle of children’s literature and combine fantastic ideas two people she's brought with wordplay and some of her to the most amusing characters event couldn't be more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is an ex-model and situationsBrazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. The stories for a younger audience always managed to thrill Jessica's thirty-four and entertain both adult Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and child Liberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and reading them aloud is a joytheir four-year-old daughter, Ava. In short I believe Roald Dahl was Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a true master of storytelling. I have however only actually read one of his adult books before reading this collection of short storiesman in her life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910100</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08KKQ85FN|title=The Dinner Club and Other StoriesBut Never For Lunch|author=Rob KeeleySandra Aragona

|genre=Confident ReadersShort Stories|summary=''Being on home dinners gives Aidan If a woman approaching the chance menopause can be likened to make some money...''<br>''A bridesmaid and a page chase Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a runaway wedding cake...''<br>''Mia 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 her Dad turn detective..paying his own gas bills.''

These are just a few of the premises You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you can try out for size in Rob Keeley? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's third book 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 short stories for middle grade readersFormer Ambassador. He's really having some fun with this format. I approve. We need more short story collections for this age group They have left The Career and settled in Rome. They Well 'settled're entertaining rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and they appeal particularly to reluctant readersdeaf. Short stories like this can act as a springboard to full-length novels.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783060603</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08CHJLNBS|title=Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe's 1st DetectiveCapturing Emilia|author=Paul Kane and Charles Prepolec (Editors)Brooke Adams|rating=3.5|genre=AnthologiesWomen's Fiction|summary=C. Auguste Dupin is often regarded as the first fictional detective He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a partner at Wickham Jones, the very least Edgar Allan Poe’s character was the blueprint for many sleuths to comeMayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, twenty-nine, most notably Sherlock Holmes. Dupin is an eccentric genius from Paris whose use of logic librarian and deduction aid archivist in the police on their most baffling casesheritage library next door. Emilia has read [[The characters literary debut was in the short story ''Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Murders in the Rue MorgueSecret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else' in 1841 and between 1842 and 1844 Poe wrote two s philosophies, to something a little deeper. Charles is more short stories about Dupin and his exploits. of a [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''Beyond Rue MorgueThe Guardian'' 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 They're obviously not at all take the intriguing character to places we wouldn’t expect and the creativity compatible, so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all keeps the character fresh from story : it's obvious to storyhis friends.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781161755</amazonuk> 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|titleauthor=Russian StoriesMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|authortitle=Francesc SeresCursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesFantasy|summary=This brilliant and varied collection of short stories is the product of a current academic interest in cross-cultural translationCurses. Francisco Guillen Serés is a Catalan professor They're there throughout tales of Art History from Aragonfaery and other fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, or not to be able to do that. A RussophileChildren can be cursed, he has travelled widely to collect stories from those writing during as can princesses on the past hundred years verge of Russian history. These have been translated into Catalan and then into English. These unusual and delightful storiesmarrying, some twenty one of them written by five writers read fluently and engaginglyolder people too. They form an informative tapestry of Soviet and post-Soviet life, moving back It seems in time with a way there's no escaping it. Which is why the oldertheme 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, earlier writers like Bergchenkothat demonised place, who died in the siege of Stalingrad, 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 spacethat other bewitched person. All aspects are impressively recountedWe'd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>085705158X</amazonuk>1789091500

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Stibbe_Xmas|title=Best British Short Stories 2013An Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nicholas Royle (editor)Nina Stibbe|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesHumour|summary=Expect 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 read some quality work in ''Best British Short Stories 2013''defrost overnight, sourced from a number of short story magazines; and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it'Grantas all having to make sure it', 'Shadows s suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and Tall Trees'visit it, 'Unthology' and 'The Edinburgh Review' are just some of the publications in which these pieces were get too friendly with it to want to be seen firsteat it. If asked to identify a red thread between the components of Nicholas Royle’s anthologyChristmas, I would say that in each short storythough, everything is left to simmer under the surfaceof course also a time of great boons. There is It's cash in hand for a frustration brought about by the lack lot of clarity in every short storyplump people who can hire red suits and beards, which it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-you letters to me is aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a reflection of just how unclear child, and as for the most seismic makers of situations may be to Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any individual involved.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773479</amazonuk>other time of the year?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=This CloseA Winter Book|author=Jessica Francis KaneTove Jansson

|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=Tove Jansson'This Close' is a sensitively s worldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, written collection of short stories exploring in the fragile nature 1940s and later becoming television characters of the bonds connecting friendssimplicity, neighbours naivety and familysheer 'goodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. As the title suggestsSimple drawings, most of the simple stories contain pivotal moments where a missed opportunity, fleeting as it may be, can propel a person along a path culminating in regret or losssimple goodness. Each story What is often forgotten outside of her native Finland is poignantly written and perceptively observed. As that she was a serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as children…and that she had a reader, I was drawn in feeling for the natural world and became so emotionally involved with the characters simple life that it was often impossible to close not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of how the book until I knew how each story endedworld might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1555976360</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1911115847|title=Behind Nights of the FacadeCreaking Bed|author=Dennis FriedmanToni Kan

|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=We have all''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, at one time or anotherin this collection, wished that we had the ability to read mindsis imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Imagine how interesting it would be to peer beyond Danger stalks the external appearance shadows and to understand the various thought processes lurking beneath the surfacepeople are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Psychiatrist Dennis Friedman gives the reader the opportunity Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to do just that with his collection achieve a glimmer of short stories 'Beyond the Facade'|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0720615070</amazonuk>hope.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Margo Lanagan1529014484|title=YellowcakeExhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=We should always make time for Over the past twenty-eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories. Especially , these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction awards so if they you are written a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Margo LanaganTed Chiang. In 'If you haven'Yellowcake'', a traveller boy uses three items t then take this opportunity to reunite an old man with his memories. A boy with a crippled foot watches his townfolk butcher a beautiful creature washed up in their harbour. Rapunzel gets a makeover in which things turn out differently. We find out how the Ferryman of the Dead became the Ferrywomando so now. And moreTrust me; your imagination will be grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1849921113</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Melvin Burgess1794467440|title=Krispy WhispersWatchwords |author=Philip Neal

|summary=''A woman stops you in This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the road and gazes fearfully into provenance of the pramantique watches that inspired it. "Your babies are not human," she says. Then she runs off.''

Ooh! Alien changelings! Cuckoos in the nest? Are they really? Really, really, really? Can you be sure? So begins the first story in ''Krispy Whispers'', Philip Neal lost a series of flash fictions by Bookbag favourite Melvin Burgesswatch. You also get It was a girl dreaming watch he was fond of riches, a lonely woman who finds a pet and gets had been told was like a boyfriend too closely together for mere coincidence1930s Cartier. And a priest who actually meets GodInstead of mourning its loss, he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it. And that's how he became a very worrisome monsterwatch collector. Concentrate hard. Because you'll need An eBay purchase led him to keep up.the Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell.The eBay purchase was a fake, but the friendship that grew between the buyer and the repairer of watches was not and the seed of an idea for a book was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00DAC68EM</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alison Moore1529006031|title=The Pre-War House and other short storiesReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors

|summary=Alison Moore's ''Pre-War House'' is In following a collection of 24 short stories, only three of which are original to this collection, but most were first published in young girl called Alice down the last couple of rabbit hole a few years andago, unless you are a an avid reader of ''The New Writer'' they will probably all be new to you. Moore's themes tend to concentrate on fairly dark characters, usually with a hidden secret, and more often than not dealing with when the past and frequently some kind of personal loss or anguish. If you enjoyed Moorefirst book she was in [[Alice's Booker Prize shortlisted [[The Lighthouse Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Alison MooreLewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|The Lighthousehit 150 years of age]], you will I found that I didn't really find plenty to enjoy here as most of the stories have a similar hauntingly sad feel to themtoo much favour with it. With one possible exception, a very short piece called '' The Yacht Man'' which wacky-for-the-sake-of-it did nothing for menot gel, the stories are beautifully judged and equally satisfying, often saving I don't remember loving it more as a final hit or a surprise until child. But I would suggest I am the end of the piecesperfect audience for this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773509</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Robert Walser|title=The Walk and other stories|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=The publication of this collection of around forty I had every chance to enjoy these short stories affords that come at the English speaking public core from a unique opportunity; tangent, that of reading Walser, possibly show the leading modernist writer benefits of Swiss German in the last centuryoblique glance. He has received high praise in I'A Place in the Countryve always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, W G Sebaldallegedly throw-away pieces, and it's recently published posthumous collection and he is well-known as being a significant influence on Franz Kafka. His work here dates from 1907 to 1929 and along the same with his poetry won him recognition with Berlinfranchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's avant gardeshort novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). He combines lyrical delicacy For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with detailed observation; reflective melancholy Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with criticism of brash commercialism. The fine writing that love in this volume strives to achieve a hard won integrity together with an experimental capacity mind could only provide for reflection. It challenges the reader and provokes him to new insights.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846689589</amazonuk>success after success?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ted Olinger1846974658|title=The Woodpecker MenaceLong Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker

|summary=The Key Peninsula is On my travels around the world, I have a small spur of land on the Puget Sound tendency to end up in Washington stateany bookshop that is selling English-language books, shaped and while I buy as many second- you guessed it - like a key. Its resident are disparate and include both incomers and those whohand escapist tales as the next person, what I'm really looking for is the 'd see themselves as pioneer settlers. But theylocal're joined in a communal sense of island living– the cookbook maybe, the maps definitely, but above all: the folk tales. It If I ever get to Burma, I won's on a much smaller scalet need to hunt, but I think most British people can feel affinity with identifying as an islander. It flavours our relationship with continental Europe in so many waysread before I go. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>0984840036</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|author=Nikolai Leskov, Richard Pevear (translator) and Larissa Volokhonsky (translator)|title=The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories|rating=4|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=This is a collection of 17 Nikolai Leskov stories as mixed in subject matter as they are in length. From the very short ''Spirit of Madame de Genlis'', warning of the dire consequences of selecting literature for a mollycoddled princess, to the novella-length ''The Enchanted Wanderer'' telling the tale of the apparently immortal monk who prayed for suicide victims, Leskov (aided greatly by the talented translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky) unlocks the mores, traditions, religion and superstitions of 19th century Russia for a modern readership.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099577356</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Roberto Saviano, Carlo Lucarelli, Valeria Parrella, Piero Colaprico, Wu Ming, Simona VinciB077969HN8|title=Outsiders|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=''Outsiders'' is a collection of six pieces of writing by Italian authors. The pieces have been collated from a supplement to an Italian daily newspaper and six have been chosen around the theme of outsiders for translation into English. Thus, the pieces themselves were not written around this specific theme but have rather had this theme imposed on them in this collection. Since the outsider is often used in various forms by writers to observe the status quo, this is not a big leap of imagination.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052446</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAlternative Medicine|author=Aimee Bender|title=Willful CreaturesLaura Solomon

|summary= In this collection weLaura Solomon're shown s publisher describes the reaction of ten men short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with terminal illness prognoses, a large man purchasing a very unusual pet and the case twist of a hard-done-by boyfriendsurrealism''. There are also delights like the shop I'm rather glad that sells words crafted into what they read, I didn't see this until ''after'' I'd finished reading as I'm not normally a boy with keys instead fan of fingers and either, but I've come to two conclusions about the beautifully touching tale of book: what the pumpkinpublisher says is correct -headed mother who gives birth to an iron-headed babyand I really enjoyed it. No, this isn The comedy is not ''too''t your average collection black and the surrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of predictable short stories; these reality when you were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee Bender]] short storiesgoing to be invaded in the nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099558858</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Karen Russell9386897504|title=Vampires in the Lemon GroveTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon|rating=54

|summary=I know you shouldn't judge ve always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a book by the cover, but when the cover has great deal of skill and talent to write a title like ''Vampires in short story which holds the Lemon Grovereader 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 forget after you'', I can't help but be a little intrigued, especially when the author has ve read a recent history like Karen Russell'scouple of pieces. This history includes I've recently read a Guardian award nomination for a previous collection with another great title; ''St. Lucycouple of novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Home for Girls Raised Deal by Wolves'Laura Solomon|Marsha' s Deal]] and a Pulitzer Prize shortlisting for her novel, [[Swamplandia! Hell's Unveiling by Karen RussellLaura Solomon|Swamplandia!Hell's Unveiling]]|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0701187883</amazonuk>and enjoyed them, so I was intrigued to see what she could do with an even shorter form.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=George Mann (Editor)1986586898|title=Encounters of Sherlock HolmesGoing To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight

|summary=Parajuly is In the opening story, a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in his pocket - and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the son problem of an Indian father and Nepalese mother hailing from Gangtok whether or not to run his horse in the Indian HimalayasGold Cup when the ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', but spending most the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the yard of his time somewhere between New York John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and Oxfordconsidered a no-hoper. His insight is therefore something we should probably trustIn one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a pile-up occurred at the 23rd fence.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780872933< Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, winning the race at odds of 100/amazonuk>1.

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Simon Rich9386897296|title=The Last Girlfriend on EarthHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating=3.5

|summary=There is more A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by the opportunity than ever these days to downsize your library. You can take all those lumpen classics to read the charity shop now that they can be downloaded for free onto an e-readersequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''. And with these couple of hundred pages you can also divest yourself It's probably not much of a heck of a lot of fiction about love, for this can easily replace so much youspoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal''ve read at greater length, with less imagination and with much less humour elsewhere. That hyperbole is only partly inspired by but the style of the contents, for it really devil is that good.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>184668921X</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Lee Child (Editor)|title=Vengeance|rating=4|genre=Crime|summary=I like short story collectionsnot one to take defeat lying down. TheyHe're useful reading material when yous out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who're a mum s thought of young children as you can usually manage to squeeze a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a six page story at nap timestrong person, but youshe's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn're guaranteed if you try t commit and sent to start that 500 page novel you've been meaning juvenile detention and refused permission to read that just as it starts return to get interesting your baby will wake up! live with Marsha. This collection Then, of crime stories is brought together under course, there are all the title other children who are not only targeted but - worst of all - subverted to the devil's evil ends. He'Vengeance'' sos out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is very fragile. This is no small-scale operation, as you'd imagineeither - the devil has set up a training complex on earth, they are all to do complete with revenge and people getting or trying an elevator to get their own backHell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857899015</amazonuk>

{{newreview|author=Deborah Levy|title=Black Vodka|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=''Black Vodka'' is a collection of ten previously published short pieces of writing by Deborah Levy, many first published in the early 2000s. The most recent is the piece from which this collection gains its title which has been shortlisted for the 2012 BBC International Short Story Award. As a compilation of her writing, obviously these were not written Move 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>}}[[Newest Spirituality and Religion Reviews]]