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[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=RevengeAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Yoko Ogawa Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Snyder Oram (translatorEditors)

|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=A woman waits for a long time at a village bakery, her mind only on ''Opening up new ways of thinking about the strawberry shortcakes she wants shape of things to buy, and the strange reasons come.'' I've heard it said that make the purchase so important to her. A boy 'technology' is invited by a girl at school to a posh French restaurant – with strawberry shortcakes on the menu – in order for him to provide moral support as she meets her estranged father for the first timewhat happens after you're eighteen. NearbyWell, I must confess that there have been more than a woman enjoys an unusual relationship with her elderly landlady, who keeps finding unusually-shaped carrots few decades of technology in her vegetable gardenmy lifetime. A man reflects on an unusual relationship I've kept up reasonably well with a writer who for a couple what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of years at least was a stepit is - frankly -mum to himquite frightening. Of course, even as she went dotty in 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 to herselfabout or the latest conspiracy theorist. Unusual relationships, vegetables, motives – I needed people I knew I could trust and strawberry shortcakes – are prevalent who could deliver information in this fascinating look at a sunlit yet dark world, which makes for a superlatively clever readway I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553937</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0CDZRGT1M|title=Dead Man's HandSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=John Joseph Adams (editor)Mark C Wallfisch|rating=4.5

|summary=''Dead ManGot a minute to be amused, entertained, or challenged?'s Hand''' features short stories with themes ranging from time travel and vampires to theology; at first glance it definitely appears to be an eclectic mix. These 100 stories are linked by the genre of the weird west, which is defined by its elasticitysuper short. John Joseph Adams' helpful introduction outlines the main features of the weird west and provides a clear, insightful guide to this little-known genre. Far from being mismatched, the eclectic nature of this collection None is in fact the greatest strength of the weird west genremore than 300 words. Unconstrained by narrow generic conventions, the authors You can read one in this collection have plundered the deepest depths of their imaginationsa flash. The result? A colourful, memorable and, above all, ''imaginative'' collection of fictionSome are funny. Some are poignant. All are short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783295465</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=The Listener|author=Tove Jansson|rating=5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Until very recently Jansson was probably only known Question: 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 English-speaking world for her Moomin stories. Then along came flash fictions in a book of them? I don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn'Sort t a fixed definition of'' books and their wonderful translatorsflash fiction but that for this collection, foremost among them: Thomas Tealauthor Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a three hundred word limit. And we started to understand what it was That's about the woman…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908745363</amazonuk>a single page in your average paperback.

 {{newreview <!-- 19/5 -->Frontpage|author=Lightfall Literary Agency (Editor)Rachel Harrison|title=The Obsidian Poplar and Other StoriesBad Dolls

|summary=IIt'll confess that s been some time since I was a little nervous about ''The Obsidian Poplar and Other Stories''ve read any horror. There's I had a common misconception that short stories are easy - something run off quickly before the author gets on with doing the proper job couple of a full-length workmisspent teen years reading Stephen King, but borrowing the truth is rather different. A short story has none of books from a boy I fancied at school and scaring myself half silly with them to the luxuries point that I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of a longer work: plot development has to be done quickly, characters have to come off the page. vampires outside! Every word must earn its keep. A book can be written Don't worry - a this short story must be collection isn't like that! It doesn'craftedt have those jump scares, and I didn''. t have to read it during daylight hours only! But what made me particularly nervous here was it is creepy, and I found most of that all feeling came from the authors fact that these are students - stories about women, living normal lives, and the editor was convinced that there are ten of them who are good enough to be included at least in part, the bookhorrors arises from very normal situations such as a breakup, trying a new dieting app, going to a hen party and a coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>B00JH1B94E</amazonuk>1803363932

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli and Giancarlo De CataldoB0CCCVRSGX|title=JudgesStories 2|author=Richard F Walker|rating=4.5

|summary=IThis is Richard F Walker'll confess that it was the name s second volume of [[:Category:Andrea Camilleri|Andrea Camilleri]] which brought me to this bookshort stories. There are thirteen in all and Itook something from each of them. There isn'm t a long-time fan of his Inspector Montalbano series and a recent reading of a spin-off [[Montalbanosingle one that doesn's First Case by Andrea Camilleri|novella]] had proved t deserve to me that be among the others or brings down the concise nature of his full-length novels was no flukeoverall quality. In It can be tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, so I''Judges'' we had another novella - worth buying for its own sake - and the bonus of ll just pick two more stories from better-than-decent Italian authors. All that was needed was a glass of wine to talk about and I think they give a comfortable chairgeneral flavour. Did the book live up to expectation?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052977</amazonuk>

 {{newreview|title=Lying Under the Apple Tree|author=Alice MunroFrontpage|ratingisbn=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Munro packs an extraordinary amount into a short story. Some of them are quite long for short stories, and they are not the sorts of stories that might suit reading on your daily commute; they demand more attention than that. Her observations of human behaviour are acute, and the most innocuous of them will set you thinking a great deal. Most of the stories warrant a pause for thought and need a little time for absorption of detail.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099593777</amazonuk>}} {{newreview1739593901|title=Stories of World War One22 Ideas About The Future|author=Tony BradmanBenjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)

|genre=TeensScience Fiction|summary=World War One, or the Great War as it was known at the time, was a cataclysmic war''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Millions died and life was changed forever for the survivors - for the women Instead of Britainflying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and for the working classes and ruling classes alike. 2014 is the centenary of its outbreak and the redoubtable Tony Bradman has gathered together a dozen of our best writers for young people to create an anthology of short stories automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to commemorate the anniversarytrack grandma.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408330350</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=Something Like Happy|author=John Burnside|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=How do you pick I've got a name for a short story collection? It seems couple of confessions to me the ''make...and other stories' I' add-m not keen on is like picking short stories as I find it easy to read a favourite child, a promotion of one portion of few stories and then forget to return to the content above the restbook. [[:Category:John Burnside|John Burnside]] has There's got to be a title story here, but such is the mood of the book that he seems very compelling hook to have nailed the matter, and picked the most apposite namekeep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it'Something Like Happy'' could in a way be s the technology which takes centre stage along with the title for practically every piece hereworld-building.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575590</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|title=Brief Loves That Live Forever|author=Andrei Makine|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Our unnamed narrator is inspired to think back through his life on It's human beings who fascinate me: the girls technology and women he has been in love withthe world scape are purely incidental. So, partly because what did I think of a time spent with an associate – a time marked by a seemingly most unremarkable encounter with a further woman – whom he deemed had never been loved. book of twenty-two science fiction short stories? The associateWell, you see, had spent half his adult life in Soviet camps for political instruction – our narrator himself was an orphan in the 1960s' Soviet UnionI loved it. This snappy volume takes us through episodes in several lives at different points during and since the second half of communist rule – and finally explains the import of that unremarkable encounter…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780870493</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Elizabeth HaynesB09XZMCDVF|title=Promises to KeepStories: A Short Story13 tantalising tales|author=Richard F Walker

|summary=Jo ''A news vendor is haunted by crying out the headlines in the death middle of the night; a wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his imagination; a teenage asylum seeker whilst stickler for correct grammar goes back in police custody and she only hangs on time to her fragile sanity by running. Whilst she's out in correct an iconic quote; a volunteer teacher proves the woods (where she'd been warned that she ''really'' shouldn't go) she discovered a young boy living rough and she knew that she had ideal person to do everything have around in her power to keep him safe. There were complications. Her partner was DS Sam Hollands who had a direct involvement with asylum seekers - and lawless village; the new boy living rough in on the woods was the younger brother of the dead teenager. Sam wanted to get her relationship pub football team is very useful with Jo back onto an even keelhis feet, but one night she returned from work to find a stranger in her house.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00I9GXP2M</amazonuk>}}and awfully familiar…''

{{newreview|title=The Rental Heart and other Fairytales|author=Kirsty Logan|rating=3.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=To start with, are these This collection of thirteen short stories strictly fairytales? On the evidence of this collection, it is at times by Richard F Walker has a distinction that seems open lot to debate, a category that lies waiting for definitionoffer the eclectic reader. But at the same time, such is the genre-switching (and at times gender-switching), that it Tying them together is a subtitle that serves better than most. The title story examines a life's romantic history via a twist on the idea that we give our heart away to every lover – what do we have when they are gone remarkable and a new one takes their place? Elsewherestrange, a landed lady takes advantage of her servanteven miraculous, and another cultured madam hires a clockwork companion things can happen to shrug off the suitors, with obvious, narratively logical resultsordinary people. And that ordinary doesn't mean boring or uninteresting. A medical worker Form and her pregnant partner share a caravan together, all the while knowing a different circumstance might be closer than first thought. We have the beginnings tone varies so this little treasury of love lives, the end of hatred, short fiction is never boring and the end of the world in these pagesyou're never quite sure what's coming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773754</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1737030942|title=Further Encounters of Sherlock HolmesBag O'Goodies|author=George Mann (Editor)Jolly Walker Bittick

|genre=Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=Hot on the heels of 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 [[Encounters of Sherlock Holmes Cape Henry House by George Mann (Editor)Jolly Walker Bittick|Encounters of Sherlock HolmesCape Henry House]] comes another collection , a rollicking tale of brandwhat happens when five young men find a base for their partying. Right now, I didn't want a full-new tales written by some length novel, so I turned to this anthology of the brightest creative minds from the genres of science fiction verse and crimeshort stories. In this anthology, Holmes Bittick's writing has matured - and Watson are pitched headlong into twelve different mysterious scenarios and invited to unravel secrets and unmask villains as only they know howso have his characters. Well.. During their adventures they come face to face with a mountain monster, take a murderous boat trip, meet Moriarty’s siblings and even indulge in a little space travel. The game is afootmost of them!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178116004X</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Rose (writer of short stories)1529418100|title=Posthumous StoriesBruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales|author=Martin Walker|rating=4.5

|summary=These sixteen I'm not usually a fan of short stories have one thing in common: lives, - I find it all too easy to put the book down between stories and plenty of them. We jump from the earthy banter of a road crew building speed humps forget to an interview prepick it up again -broadcast but I am a fan of a classical piece where Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the interviewer isntemptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that I didn't getting the kind of answers for which he hopeseven try. On the way we meet For those new to the least-mentioned Beatleseries, visit a world where people are paid there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to read for the many that donknow about who't s who and the man trying background to remember his father through art to name but a fewwhy Bruno is in St Denis. For good measure there are a couple of Kafka-esque experiments that also work as ripping good yarns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773576</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08NF79QXT|title=Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 StoriesCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott and othersBrooke Adams|rating=53|genre=Confident ReadersWomen's 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 of the programme. It Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has gone from black and whitehad her shop, and cheaply produced, and declared disposable, to being an essential part of the BBCCherry Blossom Boutique, fullfor just six months when she's nominated for -gloss digital, and accessed in all manner of wayswins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. So with She's delighted and the celebratory programme still ringing in our ears, and leaving two people pressing a red button she's brought with her to see a programme about three Doctors, er, pressing a red button, we turn to other aspects of the birthday bonanzaevent couldn't be more pleased. Such as this bookSonja, which has also mutated in its much shorter lifespanher mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from being a loose collection of eleven short e. Jessica's thirty-book novellas written by the blazing lights of YA writingfour and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and Liberty adores Jessica's husband, to a huge Charles and brilliant paperback collecting everything within their four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one set of coversthing: she misses having a man in her life.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141348941</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08KKQ85FN|title=Of Lions and Unicorns: A Lifetime of Tales from the Master StorytellerBut Never For Lunch|author=Michael MorpurgoSandra Aragona

|genre=Confident ReadersShort Stories|summary=''Of Lions and Unicorns'' is If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a Rottweiler in lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a collection pampered peacock about to be released into the company of short stories carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of bus timetables and extracts from Morpurgo’s most popular books. The book is split into five sections, which focus on recurring themes in paying his writingown gas bills.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007395353</amazonuk>}}''

{{newreview|title=Rags 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 BonesBeagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|author=Melissa Marr Sorting the Priorities]] and Tim Pratt (Editors)|rating=4.5|genre=Anthologies|summary=Some of today's top authors have we learned what it was like to be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but the time has come together for HE to retell classic tales - from fairy stories retires and for Sandra Aragona to Victorian-era fictionbecome The Wife of Former Ambassador... They have left The Career and settled in Rome. As usual with this kind of anthology, it Well 's a fairly hit-or-miss affair, but the hits here are so strong that theysettled're well worth picking up rather overstates the book forsituation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of slowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472210522</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08CHJLNBS|title=The Science of HerselfCapturing Emilia|author=Karen Joy FowlerBrooke Adams

|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=IHe've said it befores Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and I'll say it again. The most fun when facing a new author, especially a big name onepartner at Wickham Jones, is to come through the undergroundMayfair letting agents. She's Emilia, tackling the smaller workstwenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the quirkier output, the less representative sections of her or his oeuvreheritage library next door. And for those who have or haven't Emilia has read ''[[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Jane Austen Book ClubSecret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, there to something a little deeper. Charles is plenty of potential for that with the rest more of a [[The Case of the Imaginary Detective Personal by Karen Joy FowlerLee Child|Karen Joy FowlerJack Reacher]]man himself, but, above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''. They're obviously not at all compatible, for her output includes almost as many selections so why can Charles not get this woman out of short stories as his mind? She's not his usual type at all: it does very successful novels, and what's more they carry the science fictional bannerobvious to his friends. A long time ago there was And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a teenage me very happy to be reading non-starter, isn't it?}}{{Frontpage|author=Marie O'Lord Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title=Cursed: An Anthology of the Flies'Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Fantasy|summary=Curses. They' re there throughout tales of faery and writing an essay about how sci-fi it wasother fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, and I or not to be able to do relish that. Children can be cursed, as can princesses on the mainstream author entering verge of marrying, and older people too. It seems in a genre, or way there's no escaping it. Which is why the inverse 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 thatother bewitched person. But boy, I normally come away a lot happier than I did hereWe'd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1604868252</amazonuk>1789091500

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate MosseStibbe_Xmas|title=The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting TalesAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe

|genre=Short StoriesHumour|summary=This book of 14 short stories and a short play is based on Christmas – the ideatime of hauntingtraditional trauma. Sometimes You only have to think about the haunting is turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the ghostly kind downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and sometimessomething psychologically deeper and more primalif that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. All the stories drift Nowadays it's all having tous from different erasmake sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, both past and recentget too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, but all have one thing is of course also a time of great boons. It's cash incommon: they centre on hand for a troubled person. For instance we meet Gastonlot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always aFrench child who witnesses an odd event on godsend for postmen with all the beach just after losing hisparents. In the inevitably touching but beautiful ''Red Letter Day'' wetravel thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a French castle with decade that your parents made you write out in long-hand as a woman who has an appointment with child, and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the past.year?}}{{Frontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=A Winter Book|author=Tove Jansson|rating=5|genre=Literary FictionIf you want something completely different, there|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'The Duet'' which drawsus into 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 fascinating dialogue feeling for the natural world and then hits us with a stingthe simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of how the world might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409148041</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1911115847|title=The Time Traveller's AlmanacNights of the Creaking Bed|author=Anne VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeerToni Kan

|genre=AnthologiesLiterary Fiction|summary=From H.G Wells to ''Doctor WhoNights of the Creaking Bed'', there is something about a good time-travel story that has collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the power to ignite the imagination lives and lusts of an assortment of characters living in a way unique to the genreand around Lagos, Nigeria. Perhaps it Nigeria, in this collection, is due to the fact that when dealing imbued with the subject its very own heart of time travel, literally ''anything is possible''darkness. Well, almost anythingDanger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look...apart from going back in time Kan writes with a vitality and killing your Grandfather, which we know would cause an almighty paradox and probably destroy the universepassion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781853908</amazonuk>

{{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.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Diana Wells1794467440|title=Odes and Prose for Older WomenWatchwords |author=Philip Neal

|summary=I am, This satisfying collection of course, not an older woman and nether is Diana Wells. We were born in short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the same year and we are what is best described as 'upper middle aged', but - perhaps in anticipation provenance of what is to come - Diana has collected together her writings on the subject and I read through them in two sittings (the break was enforced) and I laughed and cried, but the wry smile of recognition never left my face from beginning to end. 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 antique watches that Wells has led a very rich lifeinspired it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780356838</amazonuk>}}

{{newreview|title=Sad Monsters|author=Frank Lesser|rating=4|genre=Humour|summary=If you thought you Philip Neal lost a watch. It was a watch he was fond of and had been told was like a 1930s Cartier. Instead of mourning its loss, he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it bad… Here is the chupacabra writing . And that's how he became a watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to the newspapers for better press – notices that don't universally mention his goat-sucking habits before his chess-playing, dancing or debating recordAntique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. Here is The eBay purchase was a banshee struggling with high school lifefake, knowing but the end of everyone friendship that comes across her path. Here is King Kong, being defended in court by a lawyer with a revelation to grew between the jury about his bipolarity buyer and how wrong it the repairer of watches was to get his hopes up with not and the seed of an idea for a Broadway show in a strange citybook was born. Did you honestly think Godzilla enjoyed the way his life ended up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285642324</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529006031|title=Dear LifeReturn to Wonderland|author=Alice MunroVarious Authors

|summary=In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book she was in [[Alice Munro has made an art form 's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of short story writingage]], I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-the-sake-of-it did not gel, and I don''Dear Life'' is t remember loving it more as a collection of truly beautiful child. But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to enjoy these short storiesthat come at the core from a tangent, perfectly crafted in a way that leaves no wanting feelingshow the benefits of the oblique glance. I've always preferred coming to an author's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, as is often an issue and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short stories. Each of novella than the 14 stories contained within the collection is whole Twilight saga (although that remains just that; a story in its own righthunch, for obvious reasons). There is no getting caught up and lost in style and literary flare For another thing, but a cool prosethere was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, a calmness of tone and good strong stories.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578638</amazonuk>surely pieces written with that love in mind could only provide for success after success?

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1846974658|title=The Complete Short Stories: Volume TwoLong Path To Wisdom|author=Roald DahlJan-Philipp Sendker|rating=54

|summary=Having only recently read On my travels around the first volume of this collection of all of Roald Dahl’s short stories world, I couldn’t help but think of the phrase ''too much of have a good thing'' although tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and while I have never really agreed with buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the phrase (next person, what I could happily gorge on chocolate or whisky 'm really looking for days without is the slightest regret) I am still pleased that this book provides yet more evidence of 'local' – the inaccuracy of cookbook maybe, the expression. With stories as diverse as a butler getting revenge on his employer and a baby being brought up on royal jelly by a fanatical bee lovermaps definitely, these are but above all: the folk tales of horror. If I ever get to Burma, humourI won't need to hunt, adventure, love and all out weirdnessI can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910119</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B077969HN8|title=Tales from the Dead of Night: Thirteen Classic Ghost StoriesAlternative Medicine|author=Cecily Gayford (editor)Laura Solomon

|summary=This collection of classic ghost Laura Solomon's publisher describes the short stories covers all kinds in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a twist of chilling talessurrealism''. There are physical ghosts 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, emotional ghosts, ghosts that are never seen but merely sensed, I've come to two conclusions about the book: what the publisher says is correct - and even the odd entity that just seems ghostly, even though I really enjoyed it might be an ordinary everyday thing - but still makes you feel as if you’ve, well, seen a ghost. Each story The comedy is preceded with some information on not ''too'' black and the authorsurrealism is gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of reality when you were least expecting it. The stories Your comfort zones are from are from several different periods and the settings range from winter nights in England going to sultry summers be invaded in India. This combines to make for an excellent overview of all kinds of spooky sagasthe nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250944</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aimee Bender9386897504|title=The Color MasterTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon|rating=4.5

|summary=Another parade I've always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of fascinating, unusual personalities skill and oddevents from talent to write a short story which holds the author 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 forget after you've read a couple of pieces. I've recently read a couple of novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Willful Creatures Marsha's Deal by Aimee BenderLaura Solomon|WillfulCreaturesMarsha's Deal]]. This time out and [[:Category:Aimee BenderHell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|AimeeHell's Unveiling]]introduces us to people like Hans the fake Naziand enjoyed them, young William so I was intrigued to whomall people look the same and Janet who decides to spice up herlove-life see what she could do with detrimental results. Among other things we alsowitness a less-than-altruistic anti-war demonstration and an oddoccurrence in an orchard showing how odd an apple-only diet could makeuseven shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953898</amazonuk>

 {{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1986586898|title=Going To The Complete Last: Short Stories: Volume OneAbout Horse Racing|author=Roald DahlK D Knight

|summary=Roald Dahl’s name on In the opening story, a book man whose wife has for me always meant I was deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in for a fun his pocket - and imaginative readhis wife. His children’s books are In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the pinnacle problem of children’s literature and combine fantastic ideas with wordplay and some whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', the most amusing characters and situationsstory of Foinavon. The stories for H is depicted as a younger audience always managed kind horse who only wanted to thrill 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 and entertain both adult and child and reading them aloud is considered a joyno-hoper. In short I believe Roald Dahl was a true master of storytelling. I have however only actually read one of his adult books before reading this collection the most dramatic runnings of short storiesthe race, a pile-up occurred at the 23rd fence.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910100< Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to the line, winning the race at odds of 100/amazonuk>1.

 {{newreview|title=The Dinner Club and Other Stories|author=Rob Keeley|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.Frontpage|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783060603</amazonuk>}} {{newreview9386897296|title=Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan PoeHell's 1st DetectiveUnveiling|author=Paul Kane and Charles Prepolec (Editors)Laura Solomon

|genre=AnthologiesShort Stories|summary=C. Auguste Dupin is often regarded as the first fictional detective A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and at the very least Edgar Allan Poe’s character I was delighted by the blueprint for many sleuths opportunity to comeread the sequel, most notably Sherlock Holmes''Hell's Unveiling''. Dupin is an eccentric genius from Paris whose use It's probably not much of logic and deduction aid a spoiler to say that Marsha bested the police on their most baffling cases. The characters literary debut was devil in the short story ''The Murders in the Rue MorgueMarsha's Deal'' in 1841 and between 1842 and 1844 Poe wrote two more short stories about Dupin and his exploits, but the devil is not one to take defeat lying down. He's out to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who'Beyond Rue Morgues thought of as a 'goody two shoes' contains nine stories (in addition to the original Poe taleHell) by various authors . Although a strong person, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and gives many different takes on the same character or influenced by him. From samurai assassins sent to juvenile detention and the apocalypse refused permission to return to an agoraphobic distant relative live with Marsha. Then, of Dupin attempting to solve a murder without even leaving her home; course, there are all the different writers other children who are not only targeted but - worst of all take - subverted to the intriguing character devil's evil ends. He's out to places we wouldn’t expect prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-esteem is very fragile. This is no small-scale operation, either - the creativity of all keeps the character fresh from story devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to storyHell.|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 is the product of a current academic interest in cross-cultural translation. Francisco Guillen Serés is a Catalan professor of Art History from Aragon. A Russophile, he has travelled widely Move to collect stories from those writing during the past hundred years of Russian history. These 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 [[Newest Spirituality and engagingly. They form an informative tapestry of Soviet and post-Soviet life, moving back in time with the older, earlier writers like Bergchenko, 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 space. All aspects are impressively recounted.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>085705158X</amazonuk>}}Religion Reviews]]