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[[Category:New Reviews|Short Stories]]
[[Category:Short Stories|*]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Burnt Tongues: An Anthology of Transgressive Short StoriesGuadalupe Nettel and Rosalind Harvey (Translator)|authortitle=Chuck Palahniuk, Dennis Widmyer and Richard ThomasThe Accidentals|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Saying certain things out loud just don’t sound right. Some things are so disturbing or politically incorrect that you are best off leaving them inside your headThis collection was truly enchanting in all senses of the word: spellbinding with its fantastical, or better yet not thinking magical elements and charming in its gentle portrayal of them at allnature and human relationships. When these words are spoken they could lead Guadalupe Nettel writes intelligently and precisely, her stories structured by a wisdom that appears to the sensation of Burnt Tongue; an aftereffect of knowing what you said was wrong. Are you prepared want to enter teach us something about the world of Transgressive Fiction that aims to disturb, alienate, disgust and question?.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178329552X</amazonuk>1804271470
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The Best British Short Stories 2014Mariana Enriquez|authortitle=Nicholas Royle (editor)A Sunny Place for Shady People
|rating=5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I’m a keen reader 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 disused refrigerators due to an urban planning mishap, an overcrowded homeless shelter and I like a massive tomecrime-ridden neighbourhood where safety meetings are routine - all within Argentina. But every The circumstances of her characters are so often, I drift plausible that the supernatural or otherworldly horror which seeps into these spaces adopts a mode of finding it hard to settle to anything and at such times, I like to read short stories. I also enjoy them when I’m horribly busy and don’t have the time to read much moresimilarly tangible texture.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1907773673</amazonuk>1803511230
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Any Other MouthFyodor Dostoyevsky|authortitle=Anneliese MackintoshWhite Nights|rating=45
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=With a title like ''Any Other Mouth''As always in Dostoyevsky, you know from the outset that this character work is, shall we say, a rather niche book. It’s not all about orifices, thoughsublime. Partially autobiographical, this One is the messy, ludicrous, wildly entertaining story of never left wondering what a girl who’s just a little bit different. Ok, make that a lot differentcharacter is thinking or feeling because Dostoyevsky lays bare their innermost dispositions and temperaments with remarkable clarity.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908754575</amazonuk>0241619785
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=AllTomorrowsFutureCover
|title=All Tomorrow's Futures: Fictions that Disrupt
|author=Benjamin Greenaway and Stephen Oram (Editors)
|rating=5
|genre=Science Fiction
|summary=''Opening up new ways of thinking about the shape of things to 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 my lifetime. I've kept up reasonably well with what's advantageous to me but I'm left with the feeling that it's all getting away from me. Some of it is - frankly - quite frightening. Of 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 the latest conspiracy theorist. I needed people I knew I could trust and who could deliver information in a way I could understand.}}{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B0CDZRGT1M|title=RevengeSuper Short Stories: Flash Fiction|author=Yoko Ogawa and Stephen Snyder (translator)Mark C Wallfisch|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=A woman waits for ''Got a long time at a village bakeryminute to be amused, her mind only on the strawberry shortcakes she wants to buyentertained, and the strange reasons that make the purchase so important to heror challenged?''''These 100 stories are super short. A boy None is invited by a girl at school to more than 300 words. You can read one in a posh French restaurant – with strawberry shortcakes on the menu – in order for him to provide moral support as she meets her estranged father for the first timeflash. Nearby, a woman enjoys an unusual relationship with her elderly landlady, who keeps finding unusually-shaped carrots in her vegetable garden''''Some are funny. A man reflects on an unusual relationship with a writer who for a couple of years at least was a step-mum to him, even as she went dotty in talking to herselfSome are poignant. Unusual relationships, vegetables, motives – and strawberry shortcakes – All are prevalent in this fascinating look at a sunlit yet dark world, which makes for a superlatively clever readshort.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099553937</amazonuk>}}''
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=The ListenerRachel Harrison|authortitle=Tove JanssonBad Dolls|rating=54
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Until very recently Jansson was probably only known in It's been some time since I've read any horror. I had a couple of misspent teen years reading Stephen King, borrowing the books from a boy I fancied at school and scaring myself half silly with them to the English-speaking world point that I couldn't shut my bedroom curtains at night for her Moomin stories. fear of the vampires outside! Then along came Don't worry - this short story collection isn'Sort oft like that! It doesn't have those jump scares, and I didn' books and their wonderful translators, foremost among them: Thomas Teal. t have to read it during daylight hours only! And we started to understand what But it was is creepy, and I found most of that feeling came from the fact that these are stories about women, living normal lives, and that at least in part, the woman…horrors arises from very normal situations such as a breakup, trying a new dieting app, going to a hen party and a coping with grief.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1908745363</amazonuk>1803363932
}}
{{newreview <!-- 19/5 -->Frontpage|authorisbn=Lightfall Literary Agency (Editor)B0CCCVRSGX|title=The Obsidian Poplar and Other Stories2|author=Richard F Walker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I'll confess that I was a little nervous about ''The Obsidian Poplar and Other Stories''. ThereThis is Richard F Walker's a common misconception that second volume of short stories . There are easy - thirteen in all and I took something run off quickly before the author gets on with doing the proper job from each of a full-length work, but the truth is rather differentthem. A short story has none of the luxuries of There isn't a longer work: plot development has single one that doesn't deserve to be done quickly, characters have to come off among the others or brings down the page. Every word must earn its keepoverall quality. A book It can be written - a tricky to review short story must be stories without giving too much away, so I''crafted''. But what made me particularly nervous here was that all the authors are students - ll just pick two to talk about and the editor was convinced that there are ten of them who are good enough to be included in the bookI think they give a general flavour.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00JH1B94E</amazonuk>
}}
{{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 flying cars, we got night-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 as I find it easy to read a few stories and then forget to return to the book. There's got to be a very compelling hook to keep me engaged. Then there's science fiction: far too often it's the technology which takes centre stage along with the world-building. 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? Well, I loved it. }}{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrea Camilleri, Carlo Lucarelli and Giancarlo De CataldoB09XZMCDVF|title=JudgesStories: 13 tantalising tales|author=Richard F Walker|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=I'll confess that it was 'A news vendor is crying out the headlines in the name middle of [[:Category:Andrea Camilleri|Andrea Camilleri]] which brought me to this book. I'm the night; a long-time fan of wheelchair user loses touch with reality when he tries walking around in his Inspector Montalbano series and imagination; a recent reading of stickler for correct grammar goes back in time to correct an iconic quote; a spin-off [[Montalbano's First Case by Andrea Camilleri|novella]] had proved volunteer teacher proves the ideal person to me that have around in a lawless village; the new boy on the concise nature of pub football team is very useful with his full-length novels was no fluke. In ''Judgesfeet, and awfully familiar…'' we had another novella - worth buying for its own sake - and the bonus of two more stories from better-than-decent Italian authors. All that was needed was a glass of wine and a comfortable chair. Did the book live up to expectation?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0857052977</amazonuk>}}
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1737030942|title=Stories of World War OneBag O'Goodies|author=Tony BradmanJolly Walker Bittick|rating=54|genre=TeensAnthologies|summary=World War OneSometimes, or the Great War as it you deserve a treat and mine was known at the timeJolly Walker Bittick's ''Bag O'Goodies''. I first encountered his writing about a year ago, when I read his [[Cape Henry House by Jolly Walker Bittick|Cape Henry House]], was a cataclysmic war. Millions died and life was changed forever for the survivors - for the women rollicking tale of Britain, and what happens when five young men find a base for the working classes and ruling classes aliketheir partying. 2014 is the centenary of its outbreak and the redoubtable Tony Bradman has gathered together Right now, I didn't want a dozen of our best writers for young people full-length novel, so I turned to create an this anthology of verse and short stories to commemorate the anniversary.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1408330350</amazonuk> Bittick's writing has matured - and so have his characters. Well... most of them!
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529418100|title=Something Like HappyBruno's Challenge and Other Dordogne Tales|author=John BurnsideMartin Walker|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=How do you pick a name for I'm not usually a fan of short story collection? It seems stories - I find it all too easy to me put the ''...book down between stories and other stories'' addforget to pick it up again -on is like picking but I am a favourite child, a promotion fan of one portion of the content above the rest. Martin Walker's [[:Category:John BurnsideMartin Walker's Commissar Bruno Courreges Mysteries in Chronological Order|John BurnsideBruno Courreges Mysteries]] has got a title story here, but such is so the mood of the book temptation to read ''Bruno's Challenge'' was hard to resist and I'm rather glad that he seems I didn't even try. For those new to have nailed the matterseries, there's an excellent introduction that will tell you all you need to know about who's who and picked the most apposite name. ''Something Like Happy'' could background to why Bruno is in a way be the title for practically every piece hereSt Denis.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099575590</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08NF79QXT|title=Brief Loves That Live ForeverCherry Blossom Boutique|author=Andrei MakineBrooke Adams|rating=4.53|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=Our unnamed narrator is inspired to think back through his life on Thirty-one-year old Liberty Rossini has had her shop, the girls Cherry Blossom Boutique, for just six months when she's nominated for - and women he has been in love wins - the Retail Best Newcomer Award. She's delighted and the two people she's brought with, partly because of a time spent with an associate – a time marked by a seemingly most unremarkable encounter with a further woman – whom he deemed had never been lovedher to the event couldn't be more pleased. The associateSonja, her mother, is an ex-model and Brazilian: you can seewhere 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, had spent half his adult life in Soviet camps Charles and their four-year-old daughter, Ava. Life would be perfect for Liberty if it wasn't for political instruction – our narrator himself was an orphan one thing: she misses having a man in the 1960s' Soviet Unionher life. This snappy volume takes us through episodes in several lives at different points during and since the second half of communist rule – and finally explains the import of that unremarkable encounter…|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780870493</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Elizabeth HaynesB08KKQ85FN|title=Promises to Keep: A Short StoryBut Never For Lunch|author=Sandra Aragona
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Jo is haunted by ''If a woman approaching the death of menopause can be likened to a teenage asylum seeker whilst Rottweiler in police custody lipstick, an Ambassador nearing retirement resembles a pampered peacock about to be released into the company of carrion crows or, more to the point, about to discover the real world of bus timetables and she only hangs on to her fragile sanity by runningpaying his own gas bills. '' You don't get many better opening sentences than that, do you? Whilst sheWe first met His Excellency and The Ambassador's out Wife in [[Sorting the woods (where she'd been warned that she ''really'' shouldn't go) she discovered a young boy living rough Priorities: Ambassadress and Beagle Survive Diplomacy by Sandra Aragona|Sorting the Priorities]] and she knew that she had 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 do everything in her power retires and for Sandra Aragona to keep him safebecome The Wife of Former Ambassador.. There were complications. Her partner was DS Sam Hollands who had a direct involvement with asylum seekers - They have left The Career and the boy living rough settled in Rome. Well 'settled' rather overstates the woods was the younger brother situation and their dog, Beagle, has no intention of the dead teenager. Sam wanted to get her relationship with Jo back onto an even keelslowing down any time soon, but one night she returned from work to find a stranger in her housedespite being sixteen and deaf.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>B00I9GXP2M</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=B08CHJLNBS|title=The Rental Heart and other FairytalesCapturing Emilia|author=Kirsty LoganBrooke Adams|rating=3.5|genre=Short StoriesWomen's Fiction|summary=To start withHe's Charles Devereaux, are these stories strictly fairytales? On the evidence of this collection, it is thirty-eight and a partner at times a distinction that seems open to debateWickham Jones, a category that lies waiting for definitionthe Mayfair letting agents. But at the same timeShe's Emilia, such is the genretwenty-switching (nine, librarian and at times gender-switching), that it is a subtitle that serves better than mostarchivist in the heritage library next door. Emilia has read [[The Secret by Rhonda Byrne|The title story examines a lifeSecret]] but she's romantic history via a twist moved on the idea from new age books like that we give our heart away , which leave you dependent on someone else's philosophies, to every lover – what do we have when they are gone and something a new one takes their place? little deeper. Elsewhere, Charles is more of a landed lady takes advantage of her servant[[Personal by Lee Child|Jack Reacher]] man himself, and another cultured madam hires a clockwork companion to shrug off the suitorsbut, with obviousabove all, narratively logical resultshe's shocked that Emilia reads ''The Guardian''. A medical worker and her pregnant partner share a caravan togetherThey're obviously not at all compatible, so why can Charles not get this woman out of his mind? She's not his usual type at all the while knowing a different circumstance might be closer than first thought: it's obvious to his friends. We have the beginnings of love livesAnd given that Emilia regularly feels repulsed by Charles's superficiality, the end of hatredwhy does she feel drawn to him? The relationship's obviously a non-starter, and the end of the world in these pages.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773754</amazonuk>isn't it?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|titleauthor=Further Encounters of Sherlock HolmesMarie O'Regan and Paul Kane (editors)|authortitle=George Mann (Editor)Cursed: An Anthology of Dark Fairy Tales|rating=4.5|genre=Short StoriesFantasy|summary=Hot on the heels of [[Encounters of Sherlock Holmes by George Mann (Editor)|Encounters of Sherlock Holmes]] comes another collection of brand-new Curses. They're there throughout tales written by some of the brightest creative minds from the genres of science fiction faery and crime. In other fantastical folk – people being cursed to do this anthology, Holmes and Watson are pitched headlong into twelve different mysterious scenarios and invited or not to be able to unravel secrets and unmask villains as only they know howdo that. During their adventures they come face to face with a mountain monsterChildren can be cursed, take a murderous boat tripas can princesses on the verge of marrying, meet Moriarty’s siblings and even indulge older people too. It seems in a little space travelway there's no escaping it. The game Which is afoot!why the theme of this book of short stories is such a standout – we may well think we know all there is to know about this accursed character, that demonised place, and that other bewitched person. We'd be very wrong.|amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>178116004X</amazonuk>1789091500
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Rose (writer of short stories)Stibbe_Xmas|title=Posthumous StoriesAn Almost Perfect Christmas|author=Nina Stibbe
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short StoriesHumour|summary=These sixteen short stories have one thing in common: lives, and plenty Christmas – the time of themtraditional trauma. We jump from the earthy banter of a road crew building speed humps You only have to an interview pre-broadcast of a classical piece where the interviewer isn't getting think about the kind of answers turkey for which he hopes. On that – once upon a time it was leaving it sat on the way we meet downstairs loo to defrost overnight, and if that failed the leasthair-mentioned Beatle, visit a world where people are paid dryer shoved inside it treatment was your next best bet. Nowadays it's all having to read for the many make sure it's suitably free-range and organic – but not too organic that don't you can go and visit it, and the man trying get too friendly with it to remember his father through art want to name but eat it. Christmas, though, is of course also a fewtime of great boons. For good measure there are It's cash in hand for a couple lot of Kafkaplump people who can hire red suits and beards, it was always a godsend for postmen with all the thank-esque experiments you letters to aunties you saw twice a decade that also work your parents made you write out in long-hand as a child, and as ripping good yarns.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1907773576</amazonuk>for the makers of Meltis Newberry Fruits – well, did they even try and sell them any other time of the year?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=0954899520|title=Doctor Who: 11 Doctors, 11 StoriesA Winter Book|author=Eoin Colfer, Michael Scott and othersTove Jansson
|rating=5
|genre=Confident ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=ItTove Jansson's basic knowledge that Doctor Who has changed a lot since first being seen fifty years ago – and I don't mean worldwide fame lasts on the title characterMoomin books, but the nature of written in the programme. It has gone from black 1940s and white, and cheaply produced, and declared disposable, to being an essential part later becoming television characters of the BBC, full-gloss digitalsimplicity, naivety and accessed in all manner of wayssheer 'goodness' that would later produce flowerpot men or teletubbies. So with the celebratory programme still ringing in our ears, and leaving people pressing a red button to see a programme about three DoctorsSimple drawings, ersimple stories, pressing simple goodness. What is often forgotten outside of her native Finland is that she was a red button, we turn to other aspects of the birthday bonanza. Such serious writer…that she wrote for adults as well as this book, which has also mutated in its much shorter lifespan, from being children…and that she had a loose collection of eleven short e-book novellas written by feeling for the blazing lights of YA writing, to a huge natural world and brilliant paperback collecting everything within one set the simple life that not only informed those child-like trolls but went far beyond any fantasy of covershow the world might be.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0141348941</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1911115847|title=Of Lions and Unicorns: A Lifetime Nights of Tales from the Master StorytellerCreaking Bed|author=Michael MorpurgoToni Kan
|rating=4
|genre=Confident ReadersLiterary Fiction|summary=''Of Lions and UnicornsNights of the Creaking Bed'' is a collection of short stories by Toni Kan. The series of stories tell of the lives and extracts from Morpurgo’s most popular bookslusts of an assortment of characters living in and around Lagos, Nigeria. The book is split into five sectionsNigeria, which focus on recurring themes in his writingthis collection, is imbued with its very own heart of darkness. Danger stalks the shadows and people are killed for nothing more than a wrong look. Kan writes with a vitality and passion that allows these cynical stories to achieve a glimmer of hope.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007395353</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1529014484|title=Rags and BonesExhalation |author=Melissa Marr and Tim Pratt (Editors)Ted Chiang|rating=4.5|genre=AnthologiesScience Fiction|summary=Some of today's top authors have come together to retell classic tales Over the past twenty- from fairy eight years, Ted Chiang has published fifteen science fiction short stories, these magnificent stories to Victorianhave won twenty-era seven major science fictionawards so if you are a science fiction fan it is likely that you have already come across some of the work by Ted Chiang. As usual with If you haven't then take this kind of anthology, it's a fairly hit-or-miss affair, but the hits here are opportunity to do so strong that they're well worth picking up the book fornow. Trust me; your imagination will be grateful. |amazonuk=<amazonuk>1472210522</amazonuk>
}}
{{Frontpage
|isbn=1794467440
|title=Watchwords
|author=Philip Neal
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This satisfying collection of short stories has a provenance at least as beguiling as the provenance of the antique watches that inspired it.
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Kate Mosse1529006031|title=The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting TalesReturn to Wonderland|author=Various Authors
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This In following a young girl called Alice down the rabbit hole a few years ago, when the first book of 14 short stories she was in [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (150th Anniversary Edition) by Lewis Carroll and a short play is based on the ideaAnthony Browne|hit 150 years of hauntingage]], I found that I didn't really find too much favour with it. Sometimes The wacky-for-the haunting is the ghostly kind and sometimessomething psychologically deeper -sake-of-it did not gel, and I don't remember loving it more primalas a child. All But I would suggest I am the perfect audience for this book. I had every chance to enjoy these short stories drift tous that come at the core from different eras, both past and recent, but all have one thing incommon: they centre on a troubled person. For instance we meet Gastontangent, aFrench child who witnesses an odd event on that show the benefits of the beach just after losing hisparentsoblique glance. In the inevitably touching but beautiful ''Red Letter DayI'' wetravel ve always preferred coming to a French castle with a woman who has an appointment with the past.If you want something completely differentauthor's output through their least obvious, allegedly throw-away pieces, thereand it's the same with franchises – I'd more likely go for Bree Tanner'The Duet'' which drawsus into s short novella than the whole Twilight saga (although that remains just a fascinating dialogue and then hits us hunch, for obvious reasons). For another thing, there was every reason to expect some kind of greatness here – with Carroll much loved by millions, surely pieces written with a sting.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1409148041</amazonuk>that love in mind could only provide for success after success?
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1846974658|title=The Time Traveller's AlmanacLong Path To Wisdom|author=Anne VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer|rating=4|genre=Anthologies|summary=From H.G Wells to ''Doctor Who'', there is something about a good timeJan-travel story that has the power to ignite the imagination in a way unique to the genre. Perhaps it is due to the fact that when dealing with the subject of time travel, literally ''anything is possible''. Well, almost anything...apart from going back in time and killing your Grandfather, which we know would cause an almighty paradox and probably destroy the universe.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781853908</amazonuk>}} {{newreview|author=Diana Wells|title=Odes and Prose for Older WomenPhilipp Sendker
|rating=4
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=On my travels around the world, I am, of coursehave a tendency to end up in any bookshop that is selling English-language books, not an older woman and nether is Diana Wells. We were born in while I buy as many second-hand escapist tales as the same year and we are next person, what I'm really looking for is best described as the 'upper middle agedlocal'– the cookbook maybe, but - perhaps in anticipation of what is to come - Diana has collected together her writings on the subject and I read through them in two sittings (the break was enforced) and I laughed and criedmaps definitely, but above all: the wry smile of recognition never left my face from beginning to endfolk tales. There are about eighty five short stories and odes - with none more than a few pages long - writtenIf I ever get to Burma, we are told, from observationI won't need to hunt, experience or imagination and I can only conclude that Wells has led a very rich liferead before I go.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780356838</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreview|title=Sad Monsters|author=Frank LesserFrontpage|ratingisbn=4|genre=Humour|summary=If you thought you had it bad… Here is the chupacabra writing to the newspapers for better press – notices that don't universally mention his goat-sucking habits before his chess-playing, dancing or debating record. Here is a banshee struggling with high school life, knowing the end of everyone that comes across her path. Here is King Kong, being defended in court by a lawyer with a revelation to the jury about his bipolarity and how wrong it was to get his hopes up with a Broadway show in a strange city. Did you honestly think Godzilla enjoyed the way his life ended up?|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0285642324</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewB077969HN8|title=Dear LifeAlternative Medicine|author=Alice MunroLaura Solomon
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Alice Munro has made an art form Laura Solomon's publisher describes the short stories in ''Alternative Medicine'' as ''black comedy with a twist of short story writingsurrealism''. I'm rather glad that I didn't see this until ''after''Dear LifeI'd finished reading as I' is m not normally a collection fan of truly beautiful short storieseither, perfectly crafted in a way that leaves no wanting feeling, as is often an issue with short stories. Each of but I've come to two conclusions about the 14 stories contained within book: what the collection publisher says is just that; a story in its own rightcorrect - and I really enjoyed it. There The comedy is no getting caught up not ''too'' black and lost in style the surrealism is gentle and literary flare, but a cool prose, perhaps best described as a calmness twist or flick of tone and good strong storiesreality when you were least expecting it. Your comfort zones are going to be invaded in the nicest possible way.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099578638</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=9386897504|title=The Complete Short Stories: Volume TwoTales of Love and Disability|author=Roald DahlLaura Solomon|rating=54
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Having only recently read the first volume of this collection of all of Roald Dahl’s short stories I couldn’t help but think of the phrase ''too much ve always believed that less-able writers produce longer books: it takes a great deal of skill and talent to write a good thing'' although I have never really agreed with short story which holds the phrase (I could happily gorge on chocolate or whisky reader and keeps them coming back for days without the slightest regret) I am still pleased that this book provides yet more evidence . There are far too many collections of the inaccuracy short stories which are all too easy to put down and forget after you've read a couple of the expressionpieces. With stories as diverse as I've recently read a butler getting revenge on his employer couple of novellas by Laura Solomon - [[Marsha's Deal by Laura Solomon|Marsha's Deal]] and a baby being brought up on royal jelly [[Hell's Unveiling by a fanatical bee loverLaura Solomon|Hell's Unveiling]] and enjoyed them, these are tales of horror, humour, adventure, love and all out weirdnessso I was intrigued to see what she could do with an even shorter form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1405910119</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=1986586898|title=Tales from the Dead of NightGoing To The Last: Thirteen Classic Ghost Short StoriesAbout Horse Racing|author=Cecily Gayford (editor)K D Knight
|rating=4.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=This collection of classic ghost stories covers all kinds of chilling tales. There are physical ghostsIn the opening story, emotional ghosts, ghosts that are never seen a man whose wife has deserted him visits Sandown with little money but merely sensed, comes away with cash in his pocket - and even his wife. In ''A Grey Day'' an owner struggles with the problem of whether or not to run his horse in the odd entity that just seems ghostlyGold Cup when the ground is against him. My favourite was ''The Story of H'', even though it might be an ordinary everyday thing - but still makes you feel the story of Foinavon. H is depicted as if you’ve, well, seen a ghostkind horse who only wanted to please people. Each story is preceded with some information After changing hands on various occasions he came to the authoryard of John Kempton. The stories are from are from several different periods H (or Foinavon) was entered in the Grand National and considered a no-hoper. In one of the most dramatic runnings of the settings range from winter nights in England to sultry summers in Indiarace, a pile-up occurred at the 23rd fence. This combines Foinavon, who had been many lengths adrift, cleared the fence and galloped to make for an excellent overview the line, winning the race at odds of all kinds of spooky sagas100/1.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1781250944</amazonuk>
}}
{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Aimee Bender9386897296|title=The Color MasterHell's Unveiling|author=Laura Solomon|rating=43.5
|genre=Short Stories
|summary=Another parade of fascinating, unusual personalities and oddevents from the author of A little while ago I really enjoyed [[Willful Creatures Marsha's Deal by Aimee BenderLaura Solomon|WillfulCreaturesMarsha's Deal]]and I was delighted by the opportunity to read the sequel, ''Hell's Unveiling''. This time out [[:Category:Aimee Bender|Aimee]]introduces us It's probably not much of a spoiler to people like Hans say that Marsha bested the fake Nazidevil in ''Marsha's Deal'', young William but the devil is not one to take defeat lying down. He's out to whomall people look the same wage war on Planet Earth and Janet particularly on Marsha (who decides 's thought of as a 'goody two shoes' in Hell). Although a strong person, she's vulnerable where her foster children are concerned. Daniel is framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to spice up herlove-life juvenile detention and refused permission to return to live with detrimental resultsMarsha. Among Then, of course, there are all the other things we alsowitness a lesschildren who are not only targeted but - worst of all - subverted to the devil's evil ends. He's out to prey on their fears and weaknesses and as with many foster children, their self-thanesteem is very fragile. This is no small-altruistic antiscale operation, either -war demonstration and the devil has set up a training complex on earth, complete with an oddoccurrence in an orchard showing how odd an apple-only diet could makeuselevator to Hell.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0091953898</amazonuk>
}}
