"The Time Out Book of London Short Stories" by Maria Lexton (ed) (Penguin, 1993)

• Clive Barker - No
• Nicola Barker - Better. Parts are ok.
• Ronan Bennett - OK. Set in a prison. The self-sabotage isn't well enough motivated.
• Anne Billson - Yes. Charlie "saves" women. 12 lived with him in Croydon, far enough from the dangers of London - there you could stand "on the edge, and peer into it without falling in". They do tasks for him (cheering up Tube users, etc) competing for his affection, until there's a little rebellion.
• Glyn Brown - No
• Julie Burchill - No. Some good one-liners but some bad ones too.
• Gordon Burn - Ok. A bit too long. Interesting ending
• Jonathan Carroll - No
• Christopher Fowler - Nearly. The "woman = London" idea saves it
• Neil Gaiman - No
• Steve Grant – Yes. Anecdote and observation ok. Would have liked more in Beryl’s voice
• Robert Grossmith - Yes. Frida and Desmond have ops to become hermaphrodites (Frida's idea. Desmond's not keen). Other people have ops so they can have sex with themselves. A drug lets babies be hermaphrodites from birth. Frida added more penises. Then society decides enough is enough - people aren't having kids any more because sex is too interesting. They revert and Frida suggests they start a family - he using an exo-womb.
• Charles Higson - Ok. Multi-PoV. Starts well.
• Nick Hornby - Yes.
• John McVicar - No. I don't like the proportions of the info/story mix
• Hilary Mantel - Yes, as a character study
• John Milne - Yes. A private investigator has a job
• Kim Newman - Best so far. A Blitz Spirit craze has taken over London, so much so that reality seems to be changing.
• Lawrence Norfolk - Ok. Clever.
• Christopher Petit - Ok. A spoof bio of a Soho writer/drunker
• Will Self - Yes. I've read this before. In LA, cafe staff are wannabe actors. In London they're novelists.
• Adam Thorpe - Don't think I understood it
• Mark Timlin - No twist?
• Lisa Tuttle - Twist doesn't work for me
• Nigel Watts - The ending isn't enough to save the piece