Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Saturday, 8 October 2016

''The Best British Short Stories 2016", Nicholas Royle (ed) (Salt 2016)

Royle's introduction shows that the net's been cast wide, though maybe he was sent stuff as much as he hunted it down. Some familiar authors are here (Alex Preston, David Gaffney, Graham Mort, Stuart Evers, Janice Galloway, etc) and a few magazines/publishers I've heard of (Picador, Confingo, Brittle Star, Lighthouse, Seren, Ambit) but many of the outlets are new to me ("The Ofi Press Magazine", "HOME Publications", "Anglo Files", "Flight Press") and many established magazines and writers don't appear.

Cutting to the chase -

  • Claire-Louise Bennett - Too long for what it is
  • Neil Campbell - No
  • Crista Ermiya - No, except for the final page
  • Stuart Evers - Yes. I've not read it before, though I've explored similar themes.
  • Trevor Fevin - No
  • David Gaffney - Yes
  • Janice Galloway - Yes. Big issues dealt with successfully
  • Jessie Greengrass - No
  • Kate Hendry - Maybe, but it's not enough. I can't see it being in the US equivalent anthology
  • Thomas McMullan - Yes. Perhaps my favourite
  • Graham Mort - Yes
  • Ian Parkinson - Yes. Features a character called Nicholas Boyle
  • Tony Peake - Definitely no
  • Alex Preston - No. I thought from the start that the might be ghosts, which even if wrong took some of the fun away
  • Leone Ross - No
  • John Saul - Yes
  • Colette Sensier - Maybe. I think I've seen the old people and MMORPGs combination before
  • Robert Sheppard - No
  • DJ Taylor - No
  • Greg Thorpe - Maybe
  • Mark Valentine - No

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