Changes

[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Tove JanssonGuadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)|title= Letters From KlaraThe Accidentals|rating= 4.5|genre= Literary FictionShort Stories|summary= Famed This collection was truly enchanting in the UK for her creation all senses of the Moomin familyword: spellbinding with its fantastical, Jansson is rather belatedly beginning to gather the richly deserved esteem for her adult writings. For that I offer my heart-felt thanks to publishers ''Sort magical elements and charming in its gentle portrayal of books'' nature and Thomas Teal, who has been responsible for most of the translationshuman relationships. Receiving this oneGuadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and precisely, two things strike: firstly I somehow seem her stories structured by a wisdom that appears to have missed one of the series, and secondly there'll come a time sooner rather than later when there'll be no more want to be had. The former will be rectified, teach us something about the latter is a sad thoughtworld.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908745614</amazonuk>1804271470

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Lee ChildMariana Enriquez|title= No Middle NameA Sunny Place for Shady People|rating= 45|genre= Crime Short Stories|summary= There is a theory, to which those who regularly read my reviews will know I sometimes subscribe, which says Mariana Enriquez writes horror that the short story's heyday has passed and it has now put itself out to grass. This is particularly true, some say, and I have been known to concurdisturbingly real, of the crime and thriller genres. Tosh! I can only apologise to all authors involved and own up: I simply haven't been paying attention. Not even to shorter offerings my achieving this uncanny familiarity by favourite authors. Sobasing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: big thanks her settings include an abandoned field full of disused refrigerators due to Lee Child an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and publishers Bantam Press for putting me straight with ''No Middle Name'' : a collection of short stories about my favourite lattercrime-day, Americanridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine -style, Robin Hood by all within Argentina. The circumstances of her characters are so plausible that the name of ''Jack Reacher''supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0593079019</amazonuk>1803511230

{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=A Fanfare of TalesFyodor Dostoyevsky|authortitle=Patrick C ReidyWhite Nights|rating=45

|summary=I love short storiesAs always in Dostoyevsky, so I'm always happy when a new collection arrives for reviewthe character work is sublime. ''A Fanfare of Tales'' by Patrick C Reidy promises me ''One is never left wondering what a compilation of short stories that highlight the adventures of diverse characters as each encounters unforeseen challenges''character is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity. I like this premise. So how does the book shape up? |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1524665983</amazonuk>0241619785

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Peter O'Donnell and Enric Badia RomeroAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=Children of LuciferAll Tomorrow's Futures: Modesty BlaiseFictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=3.5|genre=Graphic Novels Science Fiction|summary=Out ''Opening up new ways of ninety-five diverse comic strip stories, thinking about the publication shape of this book leaves just the last three yet things to be presented come.'' I've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, I must confess that there have been more than a few decades of technology in these fabulous large format paperbacksmy lifetime. So if you haven’t yet met I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the sassy brunette with her curves and her great crime-solving mind, and feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of course with her Willie, this it is the last-butfrankly -one chance for you to do soquite frightening. And if you have any interest in quick little action talesOf course, 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 even dated kitsch, for both apply here, then you should eagerly be on board…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178329860X</amazonuk>the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Martin Edwards (editor)B0CDZRGT1M|title= Miraculous Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics)Super Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Mark C Wallfisch|rating= 4.5|genre= CrimeShort Stories|summary=Consider the following scenario: ''Got a policeman hears someone screaming and runs minute to a house on a particular streetbe amused, number 13entertained, from where the noise or challenged?''''These 100 stories are super short. None is emanatingmore than 300 words. When he peeps through the letterbox he discovers You can read one in a flash.''''Some are funny. Some are poignant. All are short.'' Question: how do you review flash fiction? How do you give a flavour of a dead man 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 hallway with flash fictions in a knife in his throat. He goes to fetch help, book of them? I don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn't a fixed definition of flash fiction but upon returningthat for this collection, finds that the street does not have author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a number 13 and that the body and the room he saw have both mysteriously vanished.three hundred word limit.That's about a single page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712356738</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Michael R LaneRachel Harrison|title= UFOs and GOD: A Collection of Short StoriesBad Dolls|rating= 4|genre= Short Stories|summary=From stories It's been some time since I've read any horror. I had a couple of young people caught up in misspent teen years reading Stephen King, borrowing the books from a Robin Hood style operation gone wrong, boy I fancied at school and scaring myself half silly with them to a believer in God having her faith shaken by the arrival point that I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of aliensthe vampires outside! Don't worry - this short story collection isn't like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, author Michael R Lane has compiled a collection of fascinating and clever short stories here. From farm I didn't have to urbanread it during daylight hours only! But it is creepy, and I found most of that feeling came from World War II to the Digital Agefact that these are stories about women, the places and timesliving normal lives, people and events that at least in ''UFOs and God'' spotlight part, the tender underbelly of the human condition in all its glory horrors arises from very normal situations such as a breakup, trying a new dieting app, going to a hen party and despair on these varied stages of fictiona coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>163491712X</amazonuk>1803363932

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Rick BassB0CCCVRSGX|title= For a Little WhileStories 2|author=Richard F Walker|rating= 4|genre= Short Stories|summary=This is Richard F Walker's second volume of short stories. There are thirteen in all and I took something from each of them. There isn'For t a Little Whilesingle one that doesn't deserve to be among the others or brings down the overall quality. It can be tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, so I' is ll just pick two to talk about and I think they give a collection general flavour.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=1739593901|title=22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)|rating=5|genre=Science Fiction|summary=''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of twentyflying cars, we got night-five vision killer drones and automated elderly care with geolocation surveillance bracelets to track grandma.'' I've got a couple of confessions to make. I'm not keen on short stories from Rick Bassas I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. As someone previously unacquainted with Bass There' work this new collection was s got to be a wonderful introduction very compelling hook to his quirky, unusual style keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which focuses on stripped back, simple fables featuring often mundane situations, mysterious characters and magical experiencestakes centre stage along with the world-building. The characters in each tale are beautifully crafted 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 are dreamy? Well, loose narratives covering everything from love to death to choices made and chances takenI loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782273042</amazonuk>

{{newreview <!-- remove 25/1 -->Frontpage|isbn=B09XZMCDVF|title=A Collection of Short Stories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Gillian Fletcher-EdwardsRichard F Walker

|summary=Marged Evans allowed ''A news vendor is crying out the headlines in the middle of the night; a break-up wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his imagination; a lover stickler for correct grammar goes back in time to affect everything in her life. Osian wanted correct an iconic quote; a volunteer teacher proves the ideal person to invest have around in a lawless village; the present but Marged loved new boy on the past. Since they drifted apartpub football team is very useful with his feet, Margedand awfully familiar…''s life  This collection of thirteen short stories by Richard F Walker has been carefula lot to offer the eclectic reader. Tying them together is the idea that remarkable and strange, orderedeven miraculous, unadventurousthings can happen to ordinary people. But then Osian sends her a Christmas card and everything changesAnd that ordinary doesn't mean boring or uninteresting. ''Marged Evans'' is the first Form and longest in tone varies so this collection little treasury of short stories from Gillian Fletcher-Edwards. Itfiction is never boring and you're never quite sure what's almost a novella and its initially slow pace sets off quite the masterclass in how one event can throw everything into unexpected - but lovely - chaoscoming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1524662445</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Sybil Marshall and John Lawrence1737030942|title= The Book of English Folk TalesBag O'Goodies|author=Jolly Walker Bittick|rating= 4

|summary= From ghosts to witchesSometimes, to giants you deserve a treat and fairies, mine was Jolly Walker Bittick's ''Bag O'The Book of English Folk TalesGoodies'' is . I first encountered his writing about a fascinating collection of stories retold year ago, when I read his [[Cape Henry House by social historian and folklorist Sybil Marshall. Out Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], a rollicking tale of print what happens when five young men find a base for over three decadestheir partying. Right now, I didn't want a full-length novel, so I turned to this beautiful new clothbound edition is complete with wood engraved illustrations by John Lawrence anthology of verse and short stories. Bittick's writing has matured - and is sure to capture the attention so have his characters. Well... most of a new generation of lovers of folklore.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1468313177</amazonuk>them!

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Shirley McKay1529418100|title=1588: A Calendar of Crime (A Hew Cullan Mystery)|rating=4.5|genre=Crime (Historical)|summary=A lot of crime happens in St Andrews during 1588 and therefore in the life of law lecturer and local investigator Hew Cullen too. As we travel through the year with him, his recently wedded English wife Frances, doctor brother in law Giles and his sister Meg, the wise woman, we also encounter some of his most interesting cases. In fact thereBruno's one to match each of the year's big festivals: Candlemas, Whitsun, Lammas, Martinmas Challenge and Yule.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846973635</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewOther Dordogne Tales|author=Mary Telford and Louise Verity|title=SinsMartin Walker

|summary=Is there enough new to say about the seven deadly sins? WeI've seen them m not usually a fan of short stories - I find it all shown too easy to us, from school age put the book down between stories and forget to pick it up again - but I am a fan of Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the temptation to the movie read ''Bruno'Se7ens Challenge'', which we sincerely hope was NOT shown hard to anyone at school age. We can each recount them all, having been long familiar with them, even if we probably canresist and I'm rather glad that I didn't pin down when they were actually set in stone without helpeven try. Similarly, is there anything For those new in the world of fairy tale? We know the tropes - characters identified by their status or gender (the woman, the husband), a clear set of rules to obey, and a moral as strong as, if not stronger than, the formulae involved. Wellseries, this volume demands we decide the answer there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to those questions as being positive ones, and if itknow about who's not always definitive in who and the writing here that there background to why Bruno is something new, rest assured there will be something in the imagery that will definitely strike one as fresh.St Denis..|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1843516624</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08NF79QXT|title=Cherry Blossom Boutique|author=Carys Bray Brooke Adams|rating=3|genre=Women's Fiction|summary=Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's nominated for - and wins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. She's delighted and the two people she's brought with her to the event couldn't be more pleased. Sonja, her mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can see where Liberty got her looks from. Jessica's thirty-four and Liberty's best friend: they've known each other since university and othersLiberty adores Jessica's husband, Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for one thing: she misses having a man in her life.}}{{Frontpage|isbn=B08KKQ85FN|title=How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on LoveBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona|rating=3.54

|summary=This Sceptre collection does not have as simple ''If a woman approaching the menopause can be likened to a remit as it might appear; these are no straightforward love stories. InsteadRottweiler in lipstick, they each take one aspect an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the company of love – often one carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of bus timetables and paying his own gas bills.'' You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's Wife in [[Sorting the ancient Greek classifications – Priorities: Ambassadress and provide a whole new way 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 thinking about itFormer Ambassador... They have left The Career and settled in Rome. After all Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their dog, Beagle, the heart holds a lot has no intention of metaphorical weightslowing down any time soon, despite being sixteen and deaf.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473649420</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Helen SimpsonB08CHJLNBS|title=CockfostersCapturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams|rating=3.5|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=This was He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a belated reunion for mepartner at Wickham Jones, having been introduced to the authorMayfair letting agents. She's snappy short story collections courtesy Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the very first one while at uniheritage library next door. MindEmilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The Secret]] but she's moved on from new age books like that, it was a much more gentle and placid reunion than the one that starts this book – Julie and Philippa have had a shop-bought curry togetherwhich leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, but have had to forsake something a cultural chat for a trip haring along the London Underground chasing after a pair of glasses one of them left behindlittle deeper. The piece Charles is definitely about the subject more of ageing – about time passed and what might be remaining ahead – a [[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, but you soon discover , above all, he's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''. They're obviously not only do at all the pieces here have titles that are unadorned place namescompatible, but they so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all concern that very theme: it's obvious to his friends. Can anyoneAnd given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, let alone Helen Simpsonwhy does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-starter, sustain such a vaguely morbid topic over a full collectionisn't it?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>178470198X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author=David BecklerMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|title= The Road More TravelledCursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales of those seeking refuge|rating= 4.5|genre= Short StoriesFantasy|summary= Curses. They''The Road More Travelled'' is an anthology re there throughout tales of short stories - faery and one poem - written in response other fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, or not to be able to the refugee crisis do that. Children can be cursed, as it exploded across our TV screens and newspapers throughout 2015. To can princesses on the horror verge of the authorsmarrying, the language used by many was aggressive and dehumanising, describing this mass of desperate older people as too. It seems in a swarm or a hordeway there's no escaping it. The Which is why the theme of this book of short stories together form is such a response standout – we may well think we know all there is to know about this otheringaccursed character, that demonised place, and that other bewitched person. We'd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0993147224</amazonuk>1789091500

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Ransom RiggsStibbe_Xmas|title= Tales of the PeculiarAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe|rating= 4.5|genre= TeensHumour|summary= A fork-tongued princess. A boy who can control Christmas – the currents time of the seatraditional trauma. Cannibals who feast on You only have to think about the limbs of turkey for that – once upon a village of peculiars. These are just a few of time it was leaving it sat on the brilliant stories downstairs loo to be found in ''Tales of defrost overnight, and if that failed the Peculiarhair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all having to make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you can go and visit it, all and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of which hold mystical information about the peculiar world - course also a place familiar to many time of us since its first introduction by Ransom Riggs in [[Miss Peregrinegreat boons. It's Home cash in hand for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs|Miss Peregrine's Home a lot of plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for Peculiar Children]]. The stories postmen with all the thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in this collection explore peculiar history long-hand as a child, and folklore in a wonderfully imaginative wayas for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and also include some beautiful illustrations to accompany each sell them any other time of the tales.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141373407</amazonuk>year?

{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=I'll Be Home For ChristmasA Winter Book|author=Benjamin Zephaniah and OthersTove Jansson

|genre=TeensLiterary Fiction|summary=Publisher Little Tiger and homelessness charity Crisis have got together and produced ''ITove Jansson'll Be Home For Christmas'' - an anthology of short stories from some of the most popular writers s worldwide fame lasts on the UK YA scene. The stories are connected by Moomin books, written in the theme 1940s and later becoming television characters of home. What does home mean to you? Is it your house, the physical place where you live? Is it your family? Your friends? Home can mean different things to different peoplesimplicity, cannaivety and sheer 't it? The book opens with a powerful poem by Bookbag favouritegoodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. Simple drawings, simple stories, Benjamin Zephaniahsimple goodness. The following stories are disparate - some telling tales What is often forgotten outside of hardship her native Finland is that she was a serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as children…and that she had a feeling for the natural world and fear, some warming the cockles simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of your heart. But all of them are about ''home''how the world might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847157726</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Rebecca Schiff1911115847|title= The Nights of the Creaking Bed Moved|author=Toni Kan|rating= 54|genre= Short Stories Literary Fiction|summary= Rebecca Schiff's 'Nights of the Creaking Bed'' is a collection of short stories was a revelationby Toni Kan. It has everything I want from a collection: humour, (often The series of stories tell of the black variety), heartbreaking sadness, lives and moments lusts of shocking clarity. These stories feel like the revealing an assortment of the inner workings of a young American woman's psychecharacters living in and around Lagos, Nigeria. In factNigeria, in the last short piecethis collection, entitled ''Write What You Know'', it feels that the narrator/author is telling us imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the experiences which have led to this collection. ''I only know about parent death shadows and sluttiness', she tells us. She goes on to talk about her knowledge of Jewish people who are assimilated, liberal killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and sexual guilt, and I think it is no exaggeration to say passion that allows these are the underlying themes cynical stories to practically all achieve a glimmer of the stories herehope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>147363184X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Simon Van Booy1529014484|title= Tales of Accidental GeniusExhalation |author=Ted Chiang|rating= 5|genre= Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=A diverseOver the past twenty-eight years, haunting and humorous collection of Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories have won twenty-seven major science fiction, Simon Van Booy offers awards so if you are a collection science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of stories highlighting how human genius can emerge through acts of compassionthe work by Ted Chiang. With characters ranging from an eccentric film director, an aging Cockney bodyguard, the teenage child of Nigerian immigrants, a divorced amateur magician and a Beijing street vendor, If you haven''Tales of Accidental Genius'' takes the reader on many, incredible journeys, and conveys more in a few pages than many authors would struggle t then take this opportunity to do in a whole novelso now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780749716</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Amnesty International1794467440|title= Here I StandWatchwords |author=Philip Neal|rating= 54|genre= TeensShort Stories|summary= Every so often Amnesty International gets together This satisfying collection of short stories has a number provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it. Philip Neal lost a watch. It was a watch he was fond of great authors and produces an anthology had been told was like a 1930s Cartier. Instead of writing. This timemourning its loss, they've done he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it for younger readers with ''Here I Stand''. Twenty-five contributions explore where we are with human rights in todayAnd that's society: how he became a watch collector. An eBay purchase led him to the sacrifices many made to win them; Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. The eBay purchase was a fake, but the sacrifices friendship that still need to be made to spread them; how, where grew between the buyer and why these rights are under attack the repairer of watches was not and how deep is the need to defend themseed of an idea for a book was born. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>140635838X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Anna Metcalfe|title= Blind Water Pass and other stories|rating= 5|genre= Short Stories|summary= Anna Metcalfe's debut collection of short stories is a treasure trove of language, cultures, and beautifully written prose. The stories are bound together with a loose theme of communication, or miscommunication, across characters and cultures, and the narrators of these stories are as different as human beings themselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473631815</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Wendy Brandmark|title= He Runs the Moon|rating= 3.5|genre= Short Stories |summary= This is the first time I had read any of Wendy Brandmark's fiction, and I was intrigued at the theme of the stories. She sets out writing short stories about different cities in the US, Denver, Bronx, New York, Cambridge and Boston, but also weaves in setting the stories in different eras. So we have a collection of stories ranging from the 1950's to the 1970's.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907320601</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author= Birgul Oguz|title= Hah|ratingisbn= 3|genre= Literary Fiction|summary= I was interested to receive this book for review as I knew it was written in a modern, interesting style, being effectively a collection of short stories, but appearing more in a novel structure. I was, however, rather disappointed with the book. Whilst it does have some very fine examples of prose writing within the stories, I felt disconnected from the narrator, who is the daughter of a recently deceased man who was involved in a Turkish military coup in 1980. There is therefore a lot of examples of the narrator relating the conversations they had shared regarding ''revolution'', and the way this had affected the daughter's upbringing and childhood. Another 'story' then delves into a seemingly disconnected wander through the town, whereby we see the narrator working at gutting fish, and talking about a man she finds repulsive, but who appears to be in love with her. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>9462380740</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Chuck Palahniuk1529006031|title=Make Something Up|rating=5|genre=Short Stories |summary=What are we to make of that subtitle-seeming writing on the front cover – ''stories you can't unread''? Does that not apply to all good fiction? Clearly it is here due to the reputation of the author, and the baggage his name brings to the page. We'd expect a dramatic approach from anything Palahniuk writes, and an added frisson, an extra layer, from which we might be forced to shrink back. But a lot of the contents don't quite go that far. Yes, things are dramatic, when society starts attaching defibrillators to itself, to create the perfect, simple, care- (''The Price is Right''-, and Kardashian-) free happiness. A man buys a horse for his daughter – but boy is it the wrong horse to buy. A man falls in love – yes, sometimes the plot summaries of these stories really are better off for being short (speaking of which, don't turn to the three-page entrant here as a taster, it'll put you off by dint of being, almost uniquely here, a nothing story). A call centre worker can't convince people he's on the level and even in their country – until someone starts riffing back Return to him. A housing estate report conveys bad regulation violations, but not as bad as the happenings at a 'Burning Man'-styled festival, in a very clever couple of tales. But many too are the instances where that extra step has been taken.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099587688</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewWonderland|author=Martin Edwards (editor)|title=Murder at the Manor: Country House Mysteries (British Library Crime Classics)Various Authors

|genre=Crime (Historical)Short Stories|summary=I'm not big on short storiesIn following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, but two factors nudged me towards this when the first book. Firstly, itshe was in [[Alice's broadly golden age crime, one of my weaknesses Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and secondly, the editor is [[:Category:Martin EdwardsAnthony Browne|Martin Edwardshit 150 years of age]], a man whose knowledge I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. The wacky-for-the-sake-of golden age crime is probably unsurpassed -it did not gel, and heI don's done us proud, not only with his selectiont remember loving it more as a child. But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to enjoy these short stories that come at the core from a tangent, but with that show the half-page biographies benefits of the writers, which precede each storyoblique glance. ThereI's just enough there ve always preferred coming to allow you to place the an author 's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, and to direct you to other works if youit's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner're tempteds short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a hunch, for obvious reasons). It's an elegant selectionFor another thing, from the well known and the less well knownthere was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, all set surely pieces written with that love in and around the country house.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0712309934</amazonuk>mind could only provide for success after success?

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Joe Abercrombie1846974658|title=Sharp EndsThe Long Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker

|genre=FantasyShort Stories|summary=On my travels around the world, I often feel have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that short stories are an indulgence on is selling English-language books, and while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the part of the authornext person, they get to write down a lot of their ideas that donwhat I't m really fit into a larger storylooking for is the 'local' – the cookbook maybe, the maps definitely, but above all: the folk tales. The stop/start nature of them never sits well with me, just as If I am starting to ever get to know a character they are gone. One way of solving this would be Burma, I won't need to use characters that a fan will already know; perhaps explore the pasthunt, or the futureI can read before I go. That sounds great for a fan, but how do you do this whilst also catering for a new reader?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0575104678</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Sara TaylorB077969HN8|title=The ShoreAlternative Medicine|author=Laura Solomon

|summary=The first story we hear from Laura Solomon's publisher describes the Shore, short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a group twist of isolated islands off the coast of Virginia, is from Chloe, whosurrealism''s telling her sister about what she overheard in the store. SheI'm rather glad that I didn't see this until ''after'' I'd been there buying chicken necks so that they could go crabbing. Normally they used bacon rindsfinished reading as I'm not normally a fan of either, but theyI'd already eaten thoseve come to two conclusions about the book: what the publisher says is correct - and I really enjoyed it. Cabel Bloxom had been murdered and The comedy is not ''they done cut his thang clean offtoo''. The girls are motherless black and Chloe the surrealism is fiercely protective gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of her little sister Reneereality when you were least expecting it. She's the first of Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the strong women we'll encounter in these stories, which interlink to give a greater picturenicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009959188X</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mary Higgins Clark9386897504|title=Death Wears a Beauty MaskTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon

|summary=In 1972, Mary Higgins Clark began writing I've always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a novella entitled ''Death Wears great deal of skill and talent to write a Beauty Mask.'' She struggled with short story which holds the story reader and put it aside, where it lay forgotton keeps them coming back for several decadesmore. When the author rediscovered the manuscript amongst some old files, she decided that she liked it There are far too many collections of short stories which are all too easy to put down and was ready to complete the longforget after you've read a couple of pieces. I've recently read a couple of novellas by Laura Solomon -awaited ending. [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha'Death Wears a Beauty Masks Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell' joins some of her other works, both old s Unveiling]] and newenjoyed them, in so I was intrigued to see what she could do with an entertaining collection of short stories full of mystery and suspenseeven shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471143228</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Danielle McLaughlin1986586898|title=Dinosaurs on Other PlanetsGoing To The Last: Short Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight

|genre=Short Stories |summary=Seeing as this book is clearly a talented author hitting In the ground runningopening story, I will dispense a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with any major preamblecash in his pocket - and his wife. We start In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with a tale of a daughter affected by the emotions problem of her parents as they separate – and whether or not to run his horse in the influence of a certain school-teacher – from Gold Cup when the motherground is against him. My favourite was ''s point The Story of view. An ancient input shows how alien, and the modern day domesticity how regularH'', the isolation story of Foinavon. H is depicted as a woman can feel, as events are peppered by minor acts of destructionkind horse who only wanted to please people. But men can be alienated too – especially one, a reluctant guest at a party for children hosted by someone After changing hands on various occasions he once had an affair with – he feels came to the new form yard of this influence John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the light of another one he has had to try Grand National and abandonconsidered a no-hoper. 'All About Alice' – that's what In one of the most dramatic runnings of the title character wants to say but has nobody to speak it torace, but is it her – mida pile-40s and singleup occurred at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, living with her father – that is most removed from her dreams or her old friend and now child factorywho had been many lengths adrift, Marian? And we complete a lap of cleared the calendar with fence and galloped to the wintry tale of a man unable to tell his work superiors of line, winning the problems he faces race at home – a new home, recently built like so many one sees while driving round Irelandodds of 100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1473613701</amazonuk>

{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn= Christopher Fowler9386897296|title= Bryant and May - LondonHell's GloryUnveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating= 43.5|genre= CrimeShort Stories|summary=In the depths of the last A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Bryant and May – The Burning Man Marsha's Deal by Christopher FowlerLaura Solomon|B&M review I wroteMarsha's Deal]] and I said was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''. It's probably not much of a spoiler to say that Marsha bested the devil in ''Marsha's Deal'' Of course, itbut the devil is not one to take defeat lying down. He's unbelievableout to wage war on Planet Earth and particularly on Marsha (who's thought of as a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong person, farcicalshe's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. But then you donDaniel is framed for a crime he didn't come commit and sent to a Bryant juvenile detention and May story for realismrefused permission to return to live with Marsha. You come for absurdityThen, of course, there are all the other children who are not only targeted but - worst of all - subverted to the devil's evil ends. He'' Naturallys out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, I stand by that commenttheir self-esteem is very fragile. Fowler This is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has concocted his characters and has no shame in shunting them set up and down the time-line of British history as he sees fita training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to Hell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857523457</amazonuk>