[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
[[Category:Short Stories|*]]__NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Colm ToibinGuadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)|title=The Empty FamilyAccidentals
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=In his first book since This collection was truly enchanting in all senses of the pitch-perfect [[Brooklyn by Colm Toibin|Brooklyn]]word: spellbinding with its fantastical, Colm Toibin once more examines the great Irish theme of exile magical elements and homecoming charming in his new collection its gentle portrayal of short stories, 'The Empty Family'nature and human relationships. As the title suggestsGuadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and precisely, many of her stories structured by a wisdom that appears to want to teach us something about the stories also revolve around family relationships, and their sweet and sour Natureworld.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0670918172</amazonuk>1804271470
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Kurt VonnegutMariana Enriquez|title=Look at the BirdieA Sunny Place for Shady People|rating=45
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Kurt Vonnegut died a couple Mariana Enriquez writes horror that is disturbingly real, achieving this uncanny familiarity by basing her paranormal plots on gritty realities: her settings include an abandoned field full of years ago after disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and a sci fi writing career spanning over fifty years; he was wellcrime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine -known for his humanist viewsall within Argentina. This collection The circumstances of unpublished short stories shows Vonnegut at his dark best, his theme, individuals out for themselves in an uncaring society. A colleague at The Bookbag [[Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut|recently wrote]] that Kurt Vonnegut's early writing is his strongest. If her characters are so plausible that is so, then this collection, illustrated with cartoons by the author, will be good news for his many fanssupernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a similarly tangible texture.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099548852</amazonuk>1803511230
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Ryunosuke AkutagawaFyodor Dostoyevsky|title=The Beautiful and the GrotesqueWhite Nights|rating=45
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=The authorAs always in Dostoyevsky, the tongue-twisting Akutagawa is 'hailed as one of the greatest short story writers in world literature' says the back book cover. I was truly impressed and very keen to get reading. The front cover is both eye-catching and colourful, there's no doubt that this book character work is about Japansublime. There One is never left wondering what a comprehensive Introduction with its lovely title ''A Sprig Of Wild Orange'' written by the translator. And straight away I got a strong sense of his enthusiasm for the short stories to follow. It character is a good lead-in as it informs the reader of the gulf which exists between Western thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and Japanese values (a gulf as big as it gets, apparently) and of the conservative nature of the Japanese peopletemperaments with remarkable clarity.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0871401924</amazonuk>0241619785
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lydia DavisAllTomorrowsFutureCover|title=The Collected Short Stories of Lydia DavisAll Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Short StoriesScience Fiction|summary=As you might expect with short stories, the themes are as varied as 'The Fears of Mrs Orlando' to 'Mothers' and Opening up new ways of course, I have my own particular favourites. Most thinking about the shape of these short stories cover a couple of pages, but others are merely a sentence or two. And, for me, the less on the page, the more impart the words usually have. In short (no pun intended) there would seem things to be something for everyone in these 700+ pagescome.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>024114504X</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Kelly Link|title=Pretty Monsters|rating=3|genre=Fantasy|summary=It goes without sayingI've heard it said that 'technology' is what happens after you're eighteen. Well, but the greatest thing about fantasy fiction is I must confess that one can go anywhere with it, and do anythingthere have been more than a few decades of technology in my lifetime. So a young man can easily try and dig his girlfriend I've kept up and retrieve some poetry he romantically reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with her the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - only to have a hairy evening as a resultquite frightening. There can be a psychic link between a young ladOf course, called Onion I could research the possibilities and doomed to die in a terrorist attack, the probabilities and his cousin while she works as slave in an odd community of wizardsend up down rabbit holes without really understanding whether I'm reading someone who knows what they're talking about or the latest conspiracy theorist. Several worlds can be accessed through an elderly woman's handbag, for better or worseI needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847677843</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=A L KennedyB0CDZRGT1M|title=What BecomesSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Mark C Wallfisch|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=You're three stories into this collection and two people have cut their hands open preparing food - 'Got a man with love drooping away from his marriageminute to be amused, making soupentertained, and another, a greengrocer, preparing stock and thinking about his own relationshipor challenged?''''These 100 stories are super short. But there None is no pattern to thatmore than 300 words. Four stories You can read one in and there have been two bursts of non-sequitur comedy. Why your fruit might be ruined by stray fingers, and the thoughts of a woman in a flotation tank, remembering Doctor Who, locked parental doors - and the urban myths of gerbilsflash. But there's still no pattern - and that's the point of these combined stories''Some are funny. Some are poignant. Life and all of its emotions does not live to ruleAll are short.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>009949406X</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Tove Jansson|title=Travelling Light|rating=5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=In her home country of Finland – and no doubt throughout much 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 rest flash fictions in a book of Europe which is not quite so sniffy about foreign literature as Britain tends to be – Jansson is generally recognised as an author them? I don't know! Perhaps we could start by explaining that there really isn't a fixed definition of talent, skill, verve and wit flash fiction but that extended far beyond the Moomin Troll stories for which she is best known in this countrycollection, author Mark C Wallfisch has gone for a three hundred word limit. Those childrenThat's books were first published in England sixty years ago and have remained in print ever since (as well as being adapted for just about every other medium going), and a joy they are too, but it is only recently that we have been granted the pleasures of reading her fiction for adultssingle page in your average paperback.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095489958X</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|author=John GrishamRachel Harrison|title=Ford CountyBad Dolls
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=When It's been some time since I think of John Grisham I tend to think firstly of lawyers've read any horror. Well, actually, I think had a couple of Tom Cruise first to be honestmisspent teen years reading Stephen King, borrowing the books from a boy I fancied at school and then scaring myself half silly with them to the whole lawyer thing. point that I expect surprising twists and long, detailed plots. This collection, however, is a book couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for fear of short stories so has to work differently. the vampires outside! There isnDon't room within a worry - this short story for a lengthy, twisting plotcollection isn't like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, and so Grisham has to rely on other skills I didn't have to make them work. read it during daylight hours only! My But it is creepy, and I found most of that feeling was came from the fact that some do these are stories about women, living normal lives, and some don't. Set that at least in America's Deep South all part, the stories revolve around horrors arises from very normal situations such as a rather mixed bag of characters from Ford Countybreakup, with the ever-present lawyers but also gamblerstrying a new dieting app, murderers, con artists, drunks going to a hen party and scoundrelsa coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0099545780</amazonuk>1803363932
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=John HarveyB0CCCVRSGX|title=A Darker Shade of BlueStories 2|author=Richard F Walker|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=There are eighteen This is Richard F Walker's second volume of 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 There are thirteen in all and drugsI took something from each of them. Thereisn's corruption – not unusual when you have an overstretched police force and underpaid men and women staffing itt a single one that doesn't deserve to be among the others or brings down the overall quality. And then there are the people whoIt can be tricky to review short stories without giving too much away, in spite of everything, fight for justiceso I'll just pick two to talk about and I think they give a general flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099548232</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Ben Okri1739593901|title=Tales of Freedom22 Ideas About The Future|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Science Fiction|summary=Tales of Freedom is a book ''Our future will be more complex than we expected. Instead of two halvesflying cars, we got night-vision killer drones and automated elderly care 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 geolocation surveillance bracelets to prose poetry than anything elsetrack grandma.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846041597</amazonuk>}}''
{{newreview|author=Jane Feaver|title=Love Me Tender|rating=4I've got a couple of confessions to make.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=A woman remembers her dead husband playing Love Me Tender ( I'm not keen on short stories as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the song made famous by Elvis Presley) on his tenor hornbook. She is in There's got to be a daze, feeling very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the grief of technology which takes centre stage along with the bereaved widow she is, the betrayal of world-building. It's human beings who fascinate me: the deceived wife, technology and the guilt of having murdered himworld scape are purely incidental. The title story So, what did I think of this collection is all the more moving and startling because a book of its understated styletwenty-two science fiction short stories? Well, and what is not said as well as what isI loved it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099521288</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aravind AdigaB09XZMCDVF|title=Between the AssassinationsStories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Richard F Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''Between A news vendor is crying out the Assassinations'' is a collection of short stories set headlines in the fictional South Indian town middle 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 night; a wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his imagination; a fictional location. The twelve stories are vaguely interlinked (there are some recurring characters) but stickler for the most part the stories stand alone. The correct grammar goes back in time period is set between to correct an iconic quote; a volunteer teacher proves the assassinations of Indira Gandhi ideal person to have around in 1984 and a lawless village; the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991, although like new boy on the locationpub football team is very useful with his feet, the time period and the assassinations of the title have little bearing on the events themselves.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1848871236</amazonuk>}}awfully familiar…''
{{newreview|author=David Eagleman|title=Sum: Tales from This collection of thirteen short stories by Richard F Walker has a lot to offer the Afterlives|rating=4.5|genre=Literary Fiction|summary=For some reason I find myself unable to start this revieweclectic reader. So I'll mention this book starts with Tying them together is the endidea that remarkable and strange, even miraculous, and see where we go from therethings can happen to ordinary people. Of course, And thatordinary doesn's the key – t mean boring or uninteresting. Form and tone varies so this book does just that – starts with the end little treasury of our human life here on Earth (or wherever short fiction is never boring and you happen to be reading this) and posits forty possibilities of 're never quite sure 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'coming next.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847674283</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James Lasdun1737030942|title=ItBag O's Beginning To HurtGoodies|author=Jolly Walker Bittick|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesAnthologies|summary=ItSometimes, you deserve a treat and mine was Jolly Walker Bittick's Beginning to Hurt is ''Bag O'Goodies''. I first encountered his writing about a collection of sixteen short storiesyear ago, all bound together when I read his [[Cape Henry House by the theme Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], a rollicking tale of hurt in various formswhat happens when five young men find a base for their partying. It is James Lasdun Right now, I didn's third collection t want a full-length novel, so I turned to this anthology of verse and short stories . Bittick's writing has matured - and, chances are, if you are a fan of the short story then you will so have read something by him beforehis characters. Well...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099512327</amazonuk>most of them!
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew Porter1529418100|title=The Theory of Light Bruno's Challenge and MatterOther Dordogne Tales|author=Martin Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Both I'm not usually a fan of short stories - I find it all too easy to put the book cover down between stories and its title are enticing, quirky, eyeforget to pick it up again -catching. Personally, but I'm am a fan of most things American including American fiction, Martin Walker's [[Martin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|Bruno Courreges Mysteries]] so the temptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that I couldndidn't wait to start readingeven try. I was not disappointed. Porter introduces us For those new to charactersthe series, 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 there's an excellent introduction that this is will tell you all you need to know about real life. To underline his point, Porterwho's characters are mostly local folks (who and the background to use a favourite American word) shuffling through life as best they canwhy Bruno is in St Denis.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>022408982X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=James KelmanB08NF79QXT|title=If it is Your LifeCherry Blossom Boutique|author=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 Liberty 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=But Never For Lunch
|author=Sandra Aragona
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=''If This Is Your Life'' is not so much a collection of short stories as 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 pieces carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of creative writingbus timetables and paying his own gas bills. Kelman doesn'' You don't really get many better opening sentences than that, do you? We first met His Excellency and The Ambassador'stories'. In nineteen pieces of writing of varying length from just a single page s Wife in [[Sorting the Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|Sorting the Priorities]] and we learned what it was like to more lengthy pieces, such as be moved around countries like accompanying baggage by the Italian Government but the story that gives its title time has come for HE to retires and for Sandra Aragona to this collection, Kelman writes (mostly) about people on the edge become The Wife of societyFormer Ambassador... They have left The Career and settled in Rome. He addresses issues such as class Well 'settled' rather overstates the situation and their dog, politicsBeagle, genderhas no intention of slowing down any time soon, age despite being sixteen and ill healthdeaf.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0241142423</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Christopher Golden (Editor)B08CHJLNBS|title=Zombie: An Anthology of the UndeadCapturing Emilia|author=Brooke Adams|rating=53|genre=HorrorWomen's Fiction|summary=Anyone who enjoys He's Charles Devereaux, thirty-eight and a good horror story and likes zombie films will love this bookpartner at Wickham Jones, which is a collection of nineteen short stories by a variety of authorsthe Mayfair letting agents. I have to admit that I have only heard of one of She's Emilia, twenty-nine, librarian and archivist in the authors before - heritage library next door. Emilia has read [[:Category:Mike CareyThe Secret by Rhonda Byrne|Mike CareyThe Secret]]but she's moved on from new age books like that, who writes the which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to something a little deeper. Charles is more of a [[The Naming of the Beasts (Felix Castor) Personal by Mike CareyLee Child|Felix CastorJack Reacher]] novels - man himself, but I am not an avid reader of the genre and don, above all, he't doubt s shocked that the authors will be known to readers more familiar with itEmilia reads ''The Guardian''. Despite They're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this unfamiliarity, I thoroughly enjoyed most woman out of the stories, with just one or two seemingly his mind? She's not up his usual type at all: it's obvious to scratchhis friends.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0749952539</amazonuk> And given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, why does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-starter, isn't it?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|author=Katie Fforde (Editor) Marie O'Regan and Sue Moorcroft Paul Kane (Editoreditors)|title=Loves Me, Loves Me NotCursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short StoriesFantasy|summary=What a feast is presented in these forty stories from well-loved Curses. They're there throughout tales of faery and prolific romantic authorsother fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this, or not to be able to do that. Children can be cursed, celebrating as can princesses on the fiftieth anniversary verge of the Romantic Novelists' Associationmarrying, and older people too. In It seems in a Whoway there's Who no escaping it. Which is why the theme of this book of the genre, short stories is such a standout – we may well think we know all 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 slowlyknow about this accursed character, that demonised place, rather than gobbling them up quickly and suffering from indigestionthat other bewitched person. We'd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>0778303373</amazonuk>1789091500
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Stephanie TillotsonStibbe_Xmas|title=Cut on the BiasAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short StoriesHumour|summary=If ''Cut Christmas – the time of traditional trauma. You only have to think about the turkey for that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the Biasdownstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the hair-dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all having to make sure it' is in your local bookshop, s suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that you will surely be won over by the feisty cover. Stories about women can go and their clothes are about identityvisit it, so what better start and get too friendly with it to want to eat it. Christmas, though, is of course also a time of great boons. It's cash in hand for a set lot of short stories than plump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a fashion statement cover featuring godsend for postmen with all the bags thank-you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that your parents made you write out in which said clothes arrive homelong-hand as a child, and as for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1906784132</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Janice Galloway0954899520|title=Collected StoriesA Winter Book|author=Tove Jansson
|rating=5
|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=In this collectionTove Jansson's worldwide fame lasts on the Moomin books, stories are taken from two previous volumeswritten in the 1940s and later becoming television characters of the simplicity, Blood naivety and Where You Find Itsheer 'goodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. The forty-two snap shots of life are mainly of women and young girlsSimple drawings, struggling with emotionssimple stories, sometimes realized and sometimes notsimple goodness. In all, there seems to be an underlying link What is often forgotten outside of isolation and truth. The settings are varied, from her native Finland is that she was a visit to the dentist to the place known serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as home, to children…and that she had a walk in feeling for the evening. We have a peek into natural world and the deepest darkest corners simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of everyday relationships, with lovers, partners and most of all ourselveshow the world might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099540398</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Shirley Jackson1911115847|title=The Lottery and Other StoriesNights of the Creaking Bed|author=Toni Kan|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesLiterary Fiction|summary=Even though it was written over sixty years ago, The Lottery, coming in at fewer than 3,500 words still has ''Nights of the power to shockCreaking Bed'' is a collection of short stories by Toni Kan. 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 series of the story. Time may have lessened sensibilities over the latter half stories tell of the twentieth century lives and the beginning lusts of an assortment of the twenty first but The Lotterycharacters living in and around Lagos, Nigeria. Nigeria, in this collection, like many is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the other shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories in this timely reissue, still packs to achieve a mighty punchglimmer of hope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141191430</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Edgar Allan Poe and Gris Grimly1529014484|title=Tales of Death and DementiaExhalation |author=Ted Chiang
|rating=5
|genre=Graphic NovelsScience Fiction|summary=Wow! What 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 wonderful combination: Edgar Allan Poe, master science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the gothic horror short story, and Gris Grimly, outstanding illustrator, known for his [[The Dangerous Alphabet work by Neil Gaiman and Gris Grimly|work with Neil Gaiman]]Ted Chiang. Poe's ''Tales of Death and DementiaIf you haven'' are shown off at their very best in t then take this editionopportunity to do so now. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847386474</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=William Bedford1794467440|title=None of the Cadillacs was PinkWatchwords |author=Philip Neal
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I chose this book because of its superb title – the last and best memoir in a This satisfying collection of sixteen stories. These Humberside and Lincolnshire short stories have has a background beat of Fifties' music that sets them firmly in an exciting, disturbing time for young people everywhere, not provenance at least for as beguiling as the author and his friends, as old ways provenance of living made way for new along the East Coast of Englandantique watches that inspired it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904529445</amazonuk>}}
{{newreview|author=Clive Cussler (editor) |title=Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=If you enjoy thrillers or short stories then you might find this book Philip Neal lost a watch. It was a watch he was fond of and had been told was like a treat1930s Cartier. If you enjoy them both then Instead of mourning its loss, he began to collect vintage watches that resembled it. And that's how he became a treasure trovewatch collector. ''Thriller 2: Stories You Just Can't Put Down'' is edited by best-selling author [[:Category:Clive Cussler|Clive Cussler]] (although none An eBay purchase led him to the Antique Watch Company watch repairers in Clerkenwell. The eBay purchase was a fake, but the friendship that grew between the buyer and the repairer of his work is included) watches was not and includes work by some authors who are the top seed of their game. There are twenty three stories in all, each about twenty pages long and they're perfect an idea for those moments when you just want to dip into something short and satisfyinga book was born.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0778303209</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Will Eisner 1529006031|title=Minor MiraclesReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors
|rating=4.5
|genre=Graphic Novels
|summary=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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0393328147</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Agnes Owens
|title=The Complete Novellas
|rating=5
|genre=Literary Fiction
|summary=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.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846971373</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Kazuo Ishiguro
|title=Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall
|rating=3.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=A jobbing guitarist from an Eastern European countryIn following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, playing when the first book she was in [[Alice's Adventures in Venice, is given a most singular gig Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by an ageingLewis Carroll and Anthony Browne|hit 150 years of age]], passing croonerI found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. An old friend The wacky-for-the-sake-of -it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more as a couple 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 loggerheads stays in the core from a tangent, that show the benefits of the oblique glance. I've always preferred coming to an author's output through their flatleast obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, but enters and it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner's short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a nightmare world of comedyhunch, doing greater and greater wrongs to cover his first transgressionfor obvious reasons). A younger couple running a cafe employ a friend For another thing, there was every reason to help outexpect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, despite his wish to hide surely pieces written with that love in the hills and compose new songs mind could only provide for his not-very illustrious career.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>057124498X</amazonuk>success after success?
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aleksandar Hemon 1846974658|title=Love and ObstaclesThe Long Path To Wisdom|author=Jan-Philipp Sendker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=We start with On my travels around the young narrator away from homeworld, I have a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, and in Africawhile I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the next person, due to his diplomat father. Hewhat I'm really looking for is the 'local's left behind home– the cookbook maybe, a potential girlfriend, and morethe maps definitely, but finds company with an older, chancer character and his junkie girlfriend, and their pot, drinks and 70s rockabove all: the folk tales. Closer If I ever get to his rootsBurma, but still a young man abroad, the second story sees him travelling across his homeland on an errand - I won't need to deliver payment for the biggest chest freezer his father could find. But poemshunt, losing his virginity, keeping his money, and various other fantasies might just put a cooler on that unusual task..I can read before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0330464434</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Charles Stross B077969HN8|title=Wireless|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1841497711</amazonuk>}} {{newreviewAlternative Medicine|author=Oxfam|title=Ox-Tales: AirLaura Solomon|rating=3.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=Four books of short stories each taking (rather loosely on occasions) as a theme one of the elements: [[Ox-Tales: Earth by Oxfam|Earth]], [[Ox-Tales: Fire by Oxfam|Fire]], [[Ox-Tales: Water by Oxfam|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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682614</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Oxfam |title=Ox-Tales: Earth|rating=34.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Published Laura Solomon's publisher describes the short stories in aid ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a twist of surrealism''. I'm rather glad that I didn't see this until ''after'' I'd finished reading as I'm not normally a fan of Oxfam workeither, Ox-Tales comprise of four books featuring original stories donated but I've come to two conclusions about the book: what the project by a variety of writerspublisher says is correct - and I really enjoyed it. The framework for comedy is not ''too'' black and the books surrealism is provided by the four elements gentle and perhaps best described as a twist or flick of the classical philosophyreality when you were least expecting it. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem and ends with a short article highlighting Oxfam's work Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in a key area ([[Ox-Tales: Fire by Oxfam|fire]] – conflict and war, [[Ox-Tales: Water by Oxfam|water]] – sanitation and clean water, earth – agriculture and air – climate change)the nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682584</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Irvine Welsh 9386897504|title=Reheated CabbageTales of Love and Disability|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Irvine WelshI's choice ve always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of title skill and talent to write a short story which holds the reader and keeps them coming back for this collection more. There are far too many collections of short stories may serve which are all too easy to warn some unwary readers put down and forget after you've read a couple of its unpalatable naturepieces. To the uninitiated, its stream I've recently read a couple of unrestrained swearingnovellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and [[Hell's Unveiling by Laura Solomon|Hell's Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, drug taking, sex and casual violence so I was intrigued to see what she could come as a shockdo with an even shorter form. His fans though, will no doubt lap it up.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0224080555</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Oxfam 1986586898|title=Ox-TalesGoing To The Last: FireShort Stories About Horse Racing|author=K D Knight|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Published In the opening story, a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but comes away with cash in aid of Oxfam work, Oxhis pocket -Tales comprise and his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the problem of four books featuring original stories donated whether or not to run his horse in the Gold Cup when the project by a variety of writersground is against him. My favourite was ''The framework for Story of H'', the books story of Foinavon. H is provided by depicted as a kind horse who only wanted to please people. After changing hands on various occasions he came to the four elements yard of John Kempton. H (or Foinavon) was entered in the classical philosophy. Each collection starts with Vikram Seth's elemental poem Grand National and ends with considered a short article highlighting Oxfam's work in no-hoper. In one of the most dramatic runnings of the race, a key area (fire – conflict and warpile-up occurred at the 23rd fence. Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, water – sanitation cleared the fence and clean watergalloped to the line, earth – agriculture and air – climate change)winning the race at odds of 100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846682592</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Mick Jackson9386897296|title=Bears of EnglandHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon
|rating=3.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=As you know, England has had a chequered history when it comes A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and I was delighted by the opportunity to her bears. From the days when we only knew them as horrors making bumping noises - among many others - in read the nightsequel, we have learnt more, and used them more''Hell's Unveiling''. Therefore we have this short little book, detailing some It's probably not much of the more remarkable instances of Anglo-bear relations, from the days of bear-baiting, a spoiler to them being shot at when they escaped say that Marsha bested the circusdevil in ''Marsha's Deal'', to when they were employed in subaquatic labour in but the days before SCUBA gear...|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571242405</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Paul R Spiring (Editor)|title=Aside Arthur Conan Doyle: Twenty Original Tales By Bertram Fletcher Robinson|rating=4.5|genre=Short Stories|summary=The shortlived Bertram Fletcher Robinson devil is sadly little more than a footnote in British literaturenot one to take defeat lying down. His fame rests largely He's out to wage war on having contributed to, Planet Earth 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 particularly on Marsha (who's thought of one of them and denounce Doyle as a fraud. (Don't go theregoody two shoes' in Hell).|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1904312527</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle |title=Graphic ClassicsAlthough a strong person, Volume 17: Science Fiction Classics|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=So, an introductionshe's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. The Graphic Classics collection Daniel is framed for a series whereby the best in genre fiction, from sources both highly likely crime he didn't commit and remarkably unexpected, is collected sent to juvenile detention and dressed up for us in graphic novel formrefused permission to return to live with Marsha. This seventeenth editionThen, of course, a belated bestthere are all the other children who are not only targeted but -worst of sciall -fi volumesubverted to the devil's evil ends. He's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, is their first foray into full colour, and self-esteem is headlined by a version of The War of the Worldsvery fragile. The supporting material ranges from This is no small-scale operation, either - the devil has set up a one-page strip training complex on earth, complete with an elevator to thirty-page storiesHell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0978791975</amazonuk>
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{{newreview|author=Edgar Allen Poe, Various, Dan Whitehead (Editor) |title=Eye Classics: Nevermore - A Graphic Novel Anthology of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories|rating=4|genre=Graphic Novels |summary=So, if I were Move to mention someone who was born 200 years ago this season, [[Newest Spirituality 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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0955285682</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Mary-Ann Constantine|title=The Breathing|rating=4|genre=Short Stories|summary=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.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0954088182</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan |title=Demo: v. 1|rating=5|genre=Graphic Novels|summary=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. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>184576921X</amazonuk>}}Religion Reviews]]