The book contains the winners of the Grist Short Story 2010 competition (though it's subtitled "The best new fiction 2012") plus some other stories, 26 in all, 2 to 12 pages long. Authors include Alexei Sayle, people who've never had a story published before, and people who've been in many publications (including a Univ of Plymouth "short Fiction" competition winner).
2 of the first 3 include letters. Several involve unhappy couples and/or increasingly isolated men. Non-fantasy, non-SF.
I liked Ben Cheetham's "A Perfectly Ordinary Man" (bedwetting and the Holocaust) and Holly Oreschnick's "The Man Who Never grew Up" (fairy tale mannerisms + child molestation). Neither of the ideas were new but they were well executed. "Backwards" and "Imitating Catherine Walker" had a good plots, but didn't quite make it. Rosie Jones' "Our Candyfloss Beach" took aesthetic risks. I think it worked. I wasn't keen on "Sometimes I Think If I Start Crying Then I Ain't Gonna stop", "My Hard Luck, "Elvis and the neighbours", and "Chicken in a cold climate".
No comments:
Post a Comment