Pictures From Hopper ~ Neil Campbell

This collection of short stories draws on the work of American painter Edward Hopper. The stories are short and full of life - adultery, marriage, alcoholism, violence and humour. It's hard to resist the urge to find the paintings that correspond (or partially correspond) with the story titles and 'read' them together (I didn't resist the urge - I went with it and very much enjoyed myself). Campbell's stories are deftly executed snapshots of life. 'Sun on Prospect Street' takes a beautifully visualised and unsentimental look at friendship as the reader follows Leo and Joe past the glue factory, the railway, the canal and onto the playing fields where their football skills and loyalty are tested. 'Piccadilly Gardens' is a bleak, carefully observed story about loneliness, secrets and petty cruelties inflicted by people who have no hope, while 'Vigilante Man' is a compelling monologue from a father: 'I'm a rational man. I just wanted to protect my family.' In very few words, Campbell creates a real sense of place and space. Even the shortest of these stories benefit from his 'understated but penetrating vision'.

Read an interview with Neil Campbell here.
Read 'Cars and Rock's here.
Read a sample of the collection here.

Starlings ~ Erinna Mettler

Starlings, described as a 'daisy-chain novel,' offers the reader an almost bird's eye view of Brighton, sweeping and swooping from story to story, character to character. The opening story 'The View to the West Pier' races towards an deeply disturbing climax as Andy, a recently released paedophile, encounters siblings Oscar and Arabella at the park. 'Pebble-dashed' is a story about secrets and seeing, as photographer Alistair fails to notice what's right under his nose. In 'Editor' Louise, Jerry's beautiful neighbour becomes the most important person in his life, while 'Snip' is a story about a fateful train journey that takes place the night before Drew's vasectomy. Mettler writes well, her prose is fluent and compelling, and this collection of linked stories is a fascinating exploration of city life.

Visit Erinna Mettler's website here.
Read a review of Starlings here.
Read 'Underneath' here.

Household Worms ~ Stanley Donwood

There is something old-fashioned about this beautiful little book - the creamy paper, the soft, corrugated cover - it's a book that needs to be touched. The cover illustration is perfect for the slightly odd, surreal and out of kilter narratives that characterise the collection. There are forty one stories, some are quite traditional in length and structure, others, like the two sentence 'Day Dream' are tiny. The opening story 'Wage Packet' is a desperate, yet hilarious account of working in a restaurant kitchen manning the waste disposal machine, affectionately known as The Pig. Many of the stories are fragmentary; 'Lachrymose' contains a recipe for Tear Wine. An unusual alternative to football is proffered in 'Sky Sports,' while 'Romance' takes the form of an overheard conversation. There is also a tremendous sense of fun in this collection - as is seen on page 94 which contains just five words: 'Nothing seemed to be happening.'

Read a review here.
Read an interview with Donwood here.

Everyone's Just So, So Special ~ Robert Shearman

The stories in this unique collection are linked by a crazy and entertaining historical rant (which may require a magnifying glass to read). It often feels as if the history/timeline and the italicized story which is nestled within it is an elaborate joke (I'm pretty sure that it is), but then a particularly searing observation or unnerving comment will illustrate something about the desire we all have to be remembered, to be special, and the reader is suddenly wrong-footed into contemplation. Notable stories are 'Cold Snap,' a frightening and funny take on Santa, 'Restoration,' a beautiful and inventive story about history and memory, 'Without You, I Wouldn't Be Alive' guaranteed to make book lovers' hearts sing, 'Endangered Species,' and 'Acronyms' which I promise will make you crave a BLT made in exactly the way described. It's hard to capture the work of a writer whose stories are 'as light as souffles and nourishing as steak' (Jack Dann) but I attempted it in a longer review which I wrote last year.

Watch Rob reading at the launch.

Read a review here.

Read Rob's most recent work here. 

The Keys of Babylon ~ Robert Minhinnick

Set in China, Wales, the U.S, Albania, Mexico and London, this collection of linked stories explores migration. The collection is divided into two sections, the first shows characters searching for better lives, the second revisits the characters on the 13th August allowing the reader to discover what has happened to them. The first story 'At a Dictator's Grave' follows Mic from Albania to Kings Cross - 'the centre of the world' - where he remembers his past in the Champagne Bar at St. Pancras Station with a prostitute, Li. Later, in the second half of the book the reader revisits Mic in his hostel to see him looking for Li while in terrible danger during the night. 'In Those Days There Were Lions in Iraq' introduces the reader to disenfranchised environmental campaigner, Mascen whose acquaintance, Mohammed, reveals how he was able to 'rescue' various items from a Baghdad Museum and use the proceeds to build a new life in Poole, Dorset. The return to Mascen's story is more hopeful than Mic's but it is still laced with sadness. It's hard to do justice to almost three hundred pages of meticulously researched, exquisitely written prose in a couple of hundred words.

Read a review of the collection here.
Read about Minhinnick's work here.

Smoked Meat ~ Rowena Macdonald

This collection has been described as, 'Deliciously erotic and hugely readable, with some wonderful moments of illumination.' Smoked Meat is set in Montreal and Macdonald takes the reader on a journey through the seedier side of the city, exploring the interlinked relationships and secrets of those who live there. The first story, 'Brian, McMurphy & Sally Too' tells the story of long time friends Brian and McMurphy who grew up in Gimli, 'a deadbeat town on the outskirts of Winnipeg where the biggest thrills were shooting up horse tranquilisers and playing chicken on the railroad track.' Their friendship is jeopardised when McMurphy falls in love with irritating life model, Sally. The reader recognises familiar characters as they continue to crop up in a variety of stories; 'Down to 'Rue Beaudry' tells the story of Henry who is unfaithful to his girlfriend with a man he meets in a sauna. The story is followed by 'Slow Burn' which offers neighbour child Esme's perspective on Henry's infidelity, and Henry's girlfriend Corinna's story is further explored in 'Double Take.' The exploration of character from differing viewpoints gives Macdonald's collection a real sense of place and community.

Read an interview with Rowena Macdonald here.
Read a review of Smoked Meat here.

This is the Quickest Way Down ~ Charles Christian

This is the Quickest Way Down is a collection of dystopian, sci-fi, urban gothic and dark fantasy short fiction, as suggested by its striking cover. The opening story 'Waiting for my Mocha to Cool' is a fragmentary narrative, stuffed with pithy character descriptions and entertaining observations: 'the most clinical, obsessed, workaholic, emotionally sterile, empty, unlived-in woman to have ever walked the planet;' 'he gets his nose so far up people's arses he should change his name to Pinnochio.' In 'Already Gone' three men steal a car with unexpected consequences and in 'More Important than Baby Stenick' the reader experiences a slice of life in a present-day dystopia. The title story 'This is the Quickest Way Down' sees 'cute chick' Kali surprise the tipsy narrator while in 'Confessions of a Teenage Ghost Hunter' it's the reader who is surprised. This is a pacy collection, full of surprises and contrasts.

Read the title story here.
Read a review of the collection here.
Visit Charles Christian's website here. 

Last Fling ~ Sue Gee

This collection is novelist Sue Gee's first and these stories have been described as, 'affectionate portrayals of eccentricity' mixing 'toughness and sharp social comedy with heartbreaking valediction.' Gee's prose is elegant and restrained. The opening story, 'In Bratislava' explores the loneliness of a man whose wife has left him. It is a quiet, sad story in which what is not said is often more important that what is said: 'You make me feel -' the man tells the waitress he meets on a lonely business trip. The title story has an irresistible beginning: 'Last Fling. Musical F, 60, ill and unlikely to recover, seeks tall, kind, clever man for loving companionship in whatever time is left.' Fran wants 'one last go' but changes her mind following a course of chemotherapy. The story is beautifully written and exquisitely sad; full of regret and loss, but illuminated by the tenderness of the relationship between Fran and her sister, Steff. Shena MacKay claims that Gee writes with 'heartbreaking valediction in stories dealing with illness and loss' and this is certainly true.

Listen to 'Back' here.
Read a review of 'Last Fling here.
Download a PDF extract of the book here.

Campfire Chillers ~ Dave Jeffery

In Campfire Chillers the Scoutmaster tells a series of thirteen dark tales. 'The Grave' is a story of retribution and violence, laced with gory humour and gruesome details: 'As his mouth hung open, the grass in front of the headstone ballooned for a few seconds before erupting like a festering, green, hairy zit, spewing earth and disgorging blind, crawling creatures onto the ground.' In 'Rock Face' a fissure in a mountain isn't what it seems, in 'New Boy' an unfamiliar boy scout waits for young Robert Moyles to notice him and in 'Cold Compass' an exercise on Dartmoor goes horribly wrong for two Adventure Scouts. These stories are grisly and macabre. The Scoutmaster tells stories in which 'the great outdoors have never been so chilling.'

Visit Dave Jeffery's website.
Read an interview with Dave Jeffery here.

The Silver Wind ~ Nina Allan

The stories in this collection are linked and the characters reappear in interweaving narratives. The first story, 'Time's Chariot' is an uncomfortable story featuring a dysfunctional family with an absent father, a disinterested mother, a benevolent uncle and a pair of incestuous siblings. The story centres around two life-changing events; Martin's birthday gift of a Longines watch and the death of his sister, Dora. These events are subtly linked when Dora confesses, 'Clocks make me nervous sometimes... They remind me of how little time we have left.' The collection has been described as 'a disturbing meditation on time.'

Read a story by Allan here.
Read a review here.