Category: Books

“Alligator and Other Stories” by Dima Alzayat for Picador (2020)

“Picador has acquired a collection of short stories from “really exciting talent” Dima Alzayat. Editor Ansa Khan Khattak bought UK and Commonwealth rights for Alligator and Other Stories from Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedmann. It is scheduled for publication in 2020.” (The Bookseller)

For Books’ Sake: Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes

Direct link: Animalia Paradoxa by Henrietta Rose-Innes
Link to buy the book from the publisher: Boiler House Press

“Cull” a novel by Tanvir Bush goes to press

From Unbound:

“Alex has a problem. Categorized as one of the disabled, dole-scrounging underclass, she is finding it hard to make ends meet. Now, in her part time placement at the local newspaper, she’s stumbled onto a troubling link between the disappearance of several homeless people, the new government Care and Protect Bill and the sinister extension of the Grassybanks residential home for the disabled, elderly and vulnerable. Can she afford the potential risk to herself and her wonderful guide dog Chris of further investigation?”

‘Laugh and weep! With wit, flair and imagination, Tanvir Bush unfolds the secret life of a nation on benefits. Our nation….’ Fay Weldon

Tanvir Bush’s short story “Rictus” about the meeting of modern medicine and faith healing in a rural clinic in Africa, featured in our own New Short Stories 10.

Salt Publishing: Best British Short Stories 2018

Unless you’re rich in both time and money, it’s unlikely you subscribe to all the journals featuring short stories and read all the collections in any given year, so this is a good way to get a “best of” selection and keep in touch. The 2013 edition contained a story that originated in our own New Short Stories anthology that year (“Curtains” by Charles Lambert.) Here’s a direct link to Best British Short Stories 2018.

Faber: Special short story editions to mark 90 years in publishing

The first of these extremely desirable individual short story editions, celebrating 90 years of publishing the best new writing, is due in January 2019 according to Faber & Faber on Twitter.

Listen: BBC National Short Story Award 2018 stories

See if you can choose the winning story, which will get £15,000 for its author. Here’s more about the short-listed stories and the competition (BBC). Men, knock before entering.

The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018 | PenguinRandomHouse.com

ABOUT THE O. HENRY PRIZE STORIES 2018
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018 contains twenty prize-winning stories chosen from thousands published in literary magazines over the previous year. The winning stories come from a mix of established writers and emerging voices, and are uniformly breathtaking.

via The O. Henry Prize Stories 2018 | PenguinRandomHouse.com

nss3 back cover detailLooks like the O. Henry Prize anthology includes a new short story by Jo Lloyd, whose story “Work” took the Willesden Herald short story competition first prize in 2009, as judged by Rana Dasgupta. You can read it in New Short Stories 3. The mesmerising opening line from “Work” is also featured on the back cover of the book (see image).

Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley – Pandora’s Looking-Glass

“The first novel from Kent-based American author, Peggy Riley, Amity and Sorrow is a mesmerising exploration of the tension between the familiar and the unknown, of extremes of faith and the lengths to which people can be caught up in the fantasies of others.”

via The Red Dirt Road as a dark Wizard of Oz: Amity and Sorrow by Peggy Riley – Pandora’s Looking-Glass

Peggy Riley’s poetic short story “Pearl” was included in Willesden Herald: New Short Stories 4.

2017 – New Short Stories 10

Contents

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New Short Stories 10

  • “Dark Song” by Roberta Dewa
  • “Art Zoo” by Paul J. Martin
  • “Swimming Lessons” by Douglas Hill
  • “Rictus” by Tanvir Bush
  • “Isa’s Pitch” by Maureen Cullen
  • “The Quarry” by Katherine Davey
  • “The Day John Lennon Died” by Raphael Falco
  • “A History of Fire” by Gerard McKeown
  • “Trespass” by Roland Miles
  • “The Fish that was not my Pa” by Meganrose Weddle

“Here are stories of abandonment, exhibitionism, spontaneous combustion, hysteria, people power, reincarnation, cuisine, race relations, orchidaceous tomfoolery and much more. They will take you to hot beaches and deserted nighttime streets, to disputed urban spaces, to an overheated and under-resourced emergency ward, behind the scenes at a fancy restaurant, and to the chill vicinity of deserted lakes and pools. Three are set in America, two in Africa, one each in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, London and darkest Sussex.”

With an introduction by 2017 judge, Lane Ashfeldt

backcover1
New Short Stories 10 back cover

Available from:

isbn: 978-0-9995277-2-6

Contributors

Continue reading “2017 – New Short Stories 10”

2016 – New Short Stories 9

Contents

  • “The Volcano” by Anna Lewis
  • “The Cliffs of Bandiagara” by Catherine McNamara
  • “Supersum” by Barbara Robinson
  • “Twisted” by Tracy Fells
  • “The Mayes County Christmas Gun Festival” by David Lewis
  • “Undercurrents” by Gina Challen
  • “Love and Hair” by Olga Zilberbourg
  • “Last Call at the Rialto” by Daniel Waugh
  • “Looking for Nathalie” by Susan Haigh
  • “All that Remains” by Rob Hawke

Unspeakable secrets, disappeared husbands, bisexual love triangles, revolutionary conspiracies and African odysseys: from Sixties Paris to San Francisco, Arundel to Latin America, poets, murderers, musicians, schoolkids and festive firearms fanciers stalk these pages, waiting to greet you.

With an introduction by 2016 judge, Katy Darby

Available from:

isbn: 978-0-9852133-7-4

Contributors

Continue reading “2016 – New Short Stories 9”