Newest Short Stories Reviews
Ford County by John Grisham
When I think of John Grisham I tend to think firstly of lawyers. Well, actually, I think of Tom Cruise first to be honest, and then the whole lawyer thing. I expect surprising twists and long, detailed plots. This collection, however, is a book of short stories so has to work differently. There isn't room within a short story for a lengthy, twisting plot, and so Grisham has to rely on other skills to make them work. My feeling was that some do and some don't. Set in America's Deep South all the stories revolve around a rather mixed bag of characters from Ford County, with the ever-present lawyers but also gamblers, murderers, con artists, drunks and scoundrels. Full review...
A Darker Shade of Blue by John Harvey
There are eighteen short stories covering the East Midlands, those parts of London you'd generally really rather avoid and rural East Anglia. You'll see broken families, revenge killings, prostitution and drugs. There's corruption – not unusual when you have an overstretched police force and underpaid men and women staffing it. And then there are the people who, in spite of everything, fight for justice. Full review...
Tales of Freedom by Ben Okri
Tales of Freedom is a book of two halves, with a short story entitled Comic Destiny taking up the majority of the book. Comic Destiny is made up of a series of short pieces that follow on from each other and are probably best described as being closer to prose poetry than anything else. Full review...
Love Me Tender by Jane Feaver
A woman remembers her dead husband playing Love Me Tender (the song made famous by Elvis Presley) on his tenor horn. She is in a daze, feeling the grief of the bereaved widow she is, the betrayal of the deceived wife, and the guilt of having murdered him. The title story of this collection is all the more moving and startling because of its understated style, and what is not said as well as what is. Full review...
Between the Assassinations by Aravind Adiga
Between the Assassinations is a collection of short stories set in the fictional South Indian town of Kittur, which is almost certainly Mangalore (where the Adiga grew up). But the plight of the residents can be found in any Indian city - which I imagine is Adiga's point of setting it in a fictional location. The twelve stories are vaguely interlinked (there are some recurring characters) but for the most part the stories stand alone. The time period is set between the assassinations of Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, although like the location, the time period and the assassinations of the title have little bearing on the events themselves. Full review...
Sum: Tales from the Afterlives by David Eagleman
For some reason I find myself unable to start this review. So I'll mention this book starts with the end, and see where we go from there. Of course, that's the key – this book does just that – starts with the end of our human life here on Earth (or wherever you happen to be reading this) and posits forty possibilities of what happens thereafter, in the hereafter. It's not so much 'Five People You Meet in Heaven' as 'Forty Heavens you Might Meet People In'. Full review...
It's Beginning To Hurt by James Lasdun
It's Beginning to Hurt is a collection of sixteen short stories, all bound together by the theme of hurt in various forms. It is James Lasdun's third collection of short stories and, chances are, if you are a fan of the short story then you will have read something by him before. Full review...
The Theory of Light and Matter by Andrew Porter
Both the book cover and its title are enticing, quirky, eye-catching. Personally, I'm a fan of most things American including American fiction, so I couldn't wait to start reading. I was not disappointed. Porter introduces us to characters, many of whom would probably be described as deeply flawed. He shares the darker side of modern-day American life with the reader - which is far from the bright lights of glitzy New York or the sun-drenched beaches of California. You could say that this is all about real life. To underline his point, Porter's characters are mostly local folks (to use a favourite American word) shuffling through life as best they can. Full review...
If it is Your Life by James Kelman
If This Is Your Life is not so much a collection of short stories as a collection of pieces of creative writing. Kelman doesn't really do 'stories'. In nineteen pieces of writing of varying length from just a single page to more lengthy pieces, such as the story that gives its title to this collection, Kelman writes (mostly) about people on the edge of society. He addresses issues such as class, politics, gender, age and ill health. Full review...
Zombie: An Anthology of the Undead by Christopher Golden (Editor)
Anyone who enjoys a good horror story and likes zombie films will love this book, which is a collection of nineteen short stories by a variety of authors. I have to admit that I have only heard of one of the authors before - Mike Carey, who writes the Felix Castor novels - but I am not an avid reader of the genre and don't doubt that the authors will be known to readers more familiar with it. Despite this unfamiliarity, I thoroughly enjoyed most of the stories, with just one or two seemingly not up to scratch. Full review...
Loves Me, Loves Me Not by Katie Fforde (Editor) and Sue Moorcroft (Editor)
What a feast is presented in these forty stories from well-loved and prolific romantic authors, celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Romantic Novelists' Association. In a Who's Who of the genre, there are writers from every age group, including one or two who might even have been founder members of the RNA, back in 1960. My advice is to sip through the stories slowly, rather than gobbling them up quickly and suffering from indigestion. Full review...
Cut on the Bias by Stephanie Tillotson
If Cut on the Bias is in your local bookshop, you will surely be won over by the feisty cover. Stories about women and their clothes are about identity, so what better start to a set of short stories than a fashion statement cover featuring the bags in which said clothes arrive home? Full review...
Collected Stories by Janice Galloway
In this collection, stories are taken from two previous volumes, Blood and Where You Find It. The forty-two snap shots of life are mainly of women and young girls, struggling with emotions, sometimes realized and sometimes not. In all, there seems to be an underlying link of isolation and truth. The settings are varied, from a visit to the dentist to the place known as home, to a walk in the evening. We have a peek into the deepest darkest corners of everyday relationships, with lovers, partners and most of all ourselves. Full review...
The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
Even though it was written over sixty years ago, The Lottery, coming in at fewer than 3,500 words still has the power to shock. When it first appeared in the The New Yorker in 1948 it caused many outraged readers to cancel their subscriptions such was the devastating nature of the story. Time may have lessened sensibilities over the latter half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first but The Lottery, like many of the other stories in this timely reissue, still packs a mighty punch. Full review...
Tales of Death and Dementia by Edgar Allan Poe and Gris Grimly
Wow! What a wonderful combination: Edgar Allan Poe, master of the gothic horror short story, and Gris Grimly, outstanding illustrator, known for his work with Neil Gaiman. Poe's Tales of Death and Dementia are shown off at their very best in this edition. Full review...
None of the Cadillacs was Pink by William Bedford
I chose this book because of its superb title – the last and best memoir in a collection of sixteen stories. These Humberside and Lincolnshire stories have a background beat of Fifties' music that sets them firmly in an exciting, disturbing time for young people everywhere, not least for the author and his friends, as old ways of living made way for new along the East Coast of England. Full review...
Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down by Clive Cussler (editor)
If you enjoy thrillers or short stories then you might find this book a treat. If you enjoy them both then it's a treasure trove. Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down is edited by best-selling author Clive Cussler (although none of his work is included) and includes work by some authors who are the top of their game. There are twenty three stories in all, each about twenty pages long and they're perfect for those moments when you just want to dip into something short and satisfying. Full review...
Minor Miracles by Will Eisner
This short story collection starts with two appetisers before getting on with two main courses, but as with the best meals even the smallest dishes can have the most depth. We start with the entire life cycle - rise, fall, rise, fall - of a hobo feeding pigeons in the park. Obviously he hasn't been doing that all his years - he's been keeping his dignity intact, with a huge amount of chutzpah and more. Next, a smart Alec defeats the older kids on the stoop with a bit of canny street wisdom. Full review...
The Complete Novellas by Agnes Owens
Who is Agnes Owens? A Scottish author who portrays working class life from the nineteen forties and fifties. Now an octogenarian, apparently Agnes Owens started writing at the age of 58. Here are five previously published stories collected into one new edition, a companion volume to her short stories, published in 2008. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Full review...
Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall by Kazuo Ishiguro
A jobbing guitarist from an Eastern European country, playing in Venice, is given a most singular gig by an ageing, passing crooner. An old friend of a couple at loggerheads stays in their flat, but enters a nightmare world of comedy, doing greater and greater wrongs to cover his first transgression. A younger couple running a cafe employ a friend to help out, despite his wish to hide in the hills and compose new songs for his not-very illustrious career. Full review...
Love and Obstacles by Aleksandar Hemon
We start with the young narrator away from home, and in Africa, due to his diplomat father. He's left behind home, a potential girlfriend, and more, but finds company with an older, chancer character and his junkie girlfriend, and their pot, drinks and 70s rock. Closer to his roots, but still a young man abroad, the second story sees him travelling across his homeland on an errand - to deliver payment for the biggest chest freezer his father could find. But poems, losing his virginity, keeping his money, and various other fantasies might just put a cooler on that unusual task... Full review...
Wireless by Charles Stross
In his introduction, Stross explains that one of the reasons he likes writing shorts stories is because they are the ideal format in which to focus on a particular concept of the future and play around with it. It doesn't matter so much if the idea doesn't ultimately work because neither the reader nor the author has invested in it the way they would in a novel. Wireless then, is something of an experiment. Stross employs many different styles, tackles many different subjects and is very skilful at creating mood. His stories are a strange blend of the technical and the archaic. Full review...
Ox-Tales: Air by Oxfam
Four books of short stories each taking (rather loosely on occasions) as a theme one of the elements: Earth, Fire, Water, and this book Air, sold in aid of Oxfam but not about Oxfam's work. The writers, many household names, have given their work for free and at least 50p from the sale of each new book goes to Oxfam. That's not entirely the point though, is it? You want to know if the book is worth buying. Full review...
Ox-Tales: Earth by Oxfam
Published in aid of Oxfam work, Ox-Tales comprise of four books featuring original stories donated to the project by a variety of writers.
The framework for the books is provided by the four elements of the classical philosophy. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem and ends with a short article highlighting Oxfam's work in a key area (fire – conflict and war, water – sanitation and clean water, earth – agriculture and air – climate change). Full review...
Reheated Cabbage by Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh's choice of title for this collection of short stories may serve to warn some unwary readers of its unpalatable nature. To the uninitiated, its stream of unrestrained swearing, drug taking, sex and casual violence could come as a shock. His fans though, will no doubt lap it up. Full review...
Ox-Tales: Fire by Oxfam
Published in aid of Oxfam work, Ox-Tales comprise of four books featuring original stories donated to the project by a variety of writers.
The framework for the books is provided by the four elements of the classical philosophy. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem and ends with a short article highlighting Oxfam's work in a key area (fire – conflict and war, water – sanitation and clean water, earth – agriculture and air – climate change). Full review...
Bears of England by Mick Jackson
As you know, England has had a chequered history when it comes to her bears. From the days when we only knew them as horrors making bumping noises - among many others - in the night, we have learnt more, and used them more. Therefore we have this short little book, detailing some of the more remarkable instances of Anglo-bear relations, from the days of bear-baiting, to them being shot at when they escaped the circus, to when they were employed in subaquatic labour in the days before SCUBA gear... Full review...
Aside Arthur Conan Doyle: Twenty Original Tales By Bertram Fletcher Robinson by Paul R Spiring (Editor)
The shortlived Bertram Fletcher Robinson is sadly little more than a footnote in British literature. His fame rests largely on having contributed to, and helped to inspire, a couple of Sherlock Holmes stories – and, if you believe the conspiracy theorists, having been bumped off by Conan Doyle for threatening to claim authorship of one of them and denounce Doyle as a fraud. (Don't go there). Full review...
Graphic Classics, Volume 17: Science Fiction Classics by H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle
So, an introduction. The Graphic Classics collection is a series whereby the best in genre fiction, from sources both highly likely and remarkably unexpected, is collected and dressed up for us in graphic novel form. This seventeenth edition, a belated best-of sci-fi volume, is their first foray into full colour, and is headlined by a version of The War of the Worlds. The supporting material ranges from a one-page strip to thirty-page stories. Full review...
Eye Classics: Nevermore - A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories by Edgar Allen Poe, Various, Dan Whitehead (Editor)
So, if I were to mention someone who was born 200 years ago this season, and who changed the world with their writing, who would you think of first? Charles Darwin, probably. But those of a slightly different bent might just have mentioned someone else - someone at the forefront of all things arcane, horrific and thrilling when it comes to fiction. Someone who lost his birth and foster mother both to tuberculosis before he was ever twenty. Someone who had most unusual circumstances surrounding his death, to best Agatha Christie vanishing for a while, and most of the detectives in the fiction he helped inspire. Someone called Edgar Allan Poe. Full review...
The Breathing by Mary-Ann Constantine
Mary-Ann Constantine's book is a bit like a piece of embroidery: painstakingly slow, sewn with different threads, but the result is a beautiful picture by an accomplished hand. It is a book of short stories, very different and quite ambiguous, describing the lives of people - and an elephant - of a certain location (or a few) in Wales. Full review...
Demo: v. 1 by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan
It's not every young disaffected teenager that will respond to the withdrawal of her medication so explosively. It's not every young disaffected teenager that runs through empty landscapes because she is too scared to speak to anyone – for quite the reasons we see here. Not every family patches itself back together over a funeral in the fashion the third story gives us. Full review...
The Last Bachelor by Jay McInerney
I enjoyed these short stories by Jay McInerney as if they were a box of expensive, dark chocolates. Some centres were nut hard, while the rich ganache in others left a bittersweet aftertaste. The seven deadly sins provided distinctive tastes of American success, as I nibbled my way through twelve sophisticated stories. Mmm. Full review...
Killer Year by Lee Child (Editor)
This collection of seventeen short stories in the crime genre is by a group of new, young American writers who have all been mentored by more established writers such as Lee Child, Joe R Lansdale and Ken Bruen. Although it is a little uneven in quality it does represent an effort to promote the work of younger writers in a world where it can be hard to make a break-through into mainstream publishing. The short story is a specialised medium and the crime genre short story has two prejudices to fight - if you don't read short stories you are even less likely to read short stories of a particular genre. But whereas mainstream fiction might have its diehard factions, I feel the crime aficionado may well be less uptight and crime novel lovers might read this collection in the hope of finding the next Harlan Coben or Laura Lippman. Full review...
The White Road by Tania Hershman
A female café owner situated in a very strange place breaks the mundane routine with a very strange act. A female loses sight of her life's goals due to having a husband and children, and finds a strange way of reconnecting with her interests. And females on first dates do strange things – to levers in zero-G, and with pottery. Full review...
The Museum of Doctor Moses by Joyce Carol Oates
In a one-sentence rush, we get an entire short story, starring various joggers, that proves above all else that words can kill. It's a moral bluntly put, and as an opener to the volume puts us instantly on a nervous edge. We might not be in for the happiest read, we think, before turning to the second story, which is called Suicide Watch. Full review...
Dark Alchemy: Magical Tales from Masters of Modern Fantasy by Gardner Dozois (Editor), Jack Dann (Editor)
I'm always in two minds about short story collections. On the one hand it's a bit of a risk – there could be one or two really good stories and a load of rubbish. But, the great thing about them is they can introduce you to writers you might never have read otherwise. While you probably wouldn't be prepared to invest time and money into a book you aren't sure you'll like, spending half an hour or so reading a short story won't leave you feeling too robbed if you don't enjoy it. Full review...
Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff
Tobias Wolff's short stories offer few easy solutions. His troubled characters face choices they are ill-equipped to make. You do not go to Wolff for a satisfying, tidy tale, neatly wrapped, or for an entertaining twist. Full review...
Jung's People by Kay Green
These short stories offer fantasy, sci-fi, historical and contemporary angles on human personality. Kay Green used Jung's writing on dreams to delve into her own subconscious and has come up with an eclectic mix of stories. A crisp commentator's voice observes life through different lenses and perspectives. I often felt that I was trapped in a nest of boxes with the characters, not quite sure which way was out. My interest hooked, I delved into the fifteen stories and enjoyed their surprising twists and multiple layers as characters discover their tragic destiny within whatever happens to be the chance setting of their lives. I'll just give you a flavour of three of them. Full review...
Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock
Welcome to Knockemstiff, a quiet little town in Ohio, USA. Wait, I take it back. You are not welcome. Strangers do not come to Knockemstiff. Unless you are lost of course, like that Californian photographer woman, who took random pictures and could not believe the town was for real: so poor, so lost, so abandoned. Come to think of it, the people of Knockemstiff would be more than happy to leave the place themselves. It is just that they never have the chance, or never quite make it. Full review...
Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
I have been a fan of Kurt Vonnegut since the early 1970s. I still have the old paperbacks – Mother Night, Cat's Cradle, Slaughterhouse 5. There was something about his style, and especially about the things he had to say, that was refreshing and new. But he began to go off the boil, or fell out of style, and I stopped reading his books around about the time I stopped buying Crosby, Stills and Nash LPs. For me, Breakfast of Champions was both the last decent book he wrote, and the first of the stream of below-par books that followed. I just checked my bookcase – Slapstick in 1976 was the last Vonnegut book I bought, and the ancient bookmark stuffed midway through shows I never managed to finish it. And I had problems trying to finish his 'new' collection, too. Full review...
Caravan Thieves by Gerard Woodward
Gerard Woodward is a much short-listed novelist & poet: the Whitbread First Novel Award (2001), Man Booker Prize (2004), T S Eliot Prize (2005). If it hasn't been already, I can well see this collection being equally short-listed for whatever the 'short-story' equivalent is. (Is there even a major prize for short stories?) Full review...
