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[[Category:General Fiction|*]]
[[Category:New Reviews|General Fiction]] __NOTOC__<!-- Remove -->
{{newreview
|author=Chuck Palahniuk
|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 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>
}}
{{newreview
|author=Nick Bantock
|summary=Sometime in the not-too-distant future, a devastating virus has decimated the population of the UK, striking humans and animals alike and leaving Britain in a state of quarantine for decades. Most of the survivors have been left infertile and the majority of people have relocated to Brighton, where they rely on airdops from surrounding nations in order to survive. Farming is impossible, as weather conditions are harsh and extreme, including tornadoes, floods and blizzards. Not everyone chooses to live in Brighton though. In a block of flats in Birmingham live the resourceful Polanski Family: Popi, Moth, Roza, Boris, Delphine and Lucia. Moth and Popi prefer solitude and isolation and their make-do-and-mend philosophy has ensured their survival in this unconventional environment.
|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1444736477</amazonuk>
}}
