14 stories my authors who amongst them have published 15 books and have been short-listed numerous times in Bridport competitions, etc. At a launch, Ashley Stokes said that though no theme was set, one emerged - fight or flight.
- "A moment could last them forever" (Daniel Carpenter). The main character does spiritualist readings for clients. She's successful, though not a believer. She gets them to prepare by making maps of where they've recently been, and choosing possessions of the deceased. Maps become a theme.
- "Confessions of an irresolute ethnic writer" (Elaine Chiew). An earnest writer is visited by Garuda, a bird-like creature from Buddhist/Hindu mythology - "having lived in Phnom Penh, Miami, Beijing, Norwich and now Birmingham, I am that Ethnic Writer who has the diaspora all mixed within me, like salami or sausages.". I liked it.
- "One for the ditch" (Brian Coughlan). A drunk looks after another drunk.
- "Ursa Major" (KM Elkes). A couple in the States who want a child stay in a cabin for a night. They're scared by a bear on the other side of the river. Later they try IVF, after which he has flashbacks about the clinic and the bear. When Jack tries a quickie with the barmaid at the gym he has to fake his climax. After the failure of their 3rd IVF treatment he decides to return to the cabin and kill the bear. As he's aiming the gun, "Jack knew, with a quiet sudden understanding, why the bear had stopped. It was a female and somewhere amongst the trees there was likely to be a cub". So he doesn't kill it.
- "Household gods" (Tracy Fells). Mo Khan, born and bred in Brighton, has a mother who's had a stroke. When he was 9 his father died. Since then, Mo's been thinking about worshiping more than one god. He's married to Aisha, who was flown over from Pakistan and still hardly speaks English. Her newly born daughter's in intensive care. It's not his daughter - they've never spelt together. At the hospital he overhears what she's been saying about him, how she had a perfect marriage lined up back home. The baby survives, and Aisha (who knows more English than Mo thought) stays
- "Tenth Circle" (Liam Hogan) Dante's trying to get an early draft of his trilogy published. He's given marketing advice by a publisher. Comedy!
- "End Times" (Maxim Loskutoff). The narrator drives his girlfriend and her wounded coyote through Utah looking for a sympathetic vet she knows. Lots of description. There's tension between the couple.
- "Take away the sun" (Mark Mayes). The main character's recently been away 6 weeks. Alcohol re-hab. Back in his home-town, walking, he wonders whether to risk passing a pub. He passes the site of a recent suicide. He's tempted by a discarded beer bottle, he sees a vision. He recalls being told that alcohol "gives you wings but takes away the sky". He resists temptation.
- "Cafeteria" (Jay Merill). A child's mother sympathizes with a known prostitute. See the interview with the author. In "I followed suite but the boy did not move" (p.63) isn't there a typo?
- "Livestock" (Valerie O’Riordan) - Sal, a vet (early twenties, single mother), has an accident while trying to inseminate a cow. She's asked by the farmer's daughter for a lift. Turns out that she wants a lift to a hospital, and that she's having a miscarriage. Sal assumes it was induced but the girl wanted the baby. Sal gets her home, receiving no gratitude. She can't start her car and goes in search of the farmer for help. They're having a Halloween bonfire.
- "When Nature Calls" (Gareth E Rees). Two women, Maleeka and Rizzie (a Goth in her youth), live on a crumbling cliff-edge. Brian, a neighbour, is interested in Maleeka. He has a problem when he uses their toilet.
- "Rosa and Kelsey" (Kathryn Simmonds). Matthew and family have moved from London to the sticks. He finds it boring. While he's reluctantly, protectively looking after his little daughter in a park they meet another (apparently lower class) father, Ian, and daughter. The daughters enjoy playing together. To retrieve a ball Matthew has to undergo a physical challenge under the eyes of the others. Ian saves him after Matthew twists his ankle. Once Ian and daughter are gone, Matthew phones his wife for help. She says that if their daughter can make friends why can't he? In "he resents this yolk of restraining boredom" (p.7) isn't there a typo?
- "The best way to kill a butterfly" (Hannah Stevens). During a summer when butterflies are everywhere (so much so that games and hobbies develop around them) Tess has a miscarriage. When her husband thinks she tried to suffocate him in his sleep, he leaves, has a one-night stand with a woman he picks up from a circus. He asks to come back, but not before Tess sleeps with a neighbour she's not talked too before. My favourite so far.
- "Blowhole" (Tom Vowler). I read this in his collection. A colloquial monologue in the form of a letter to Mrs Stanley by Susie, a childless woman married to the domineering, somewhat lawless Preston.
I was impressed the most with the stories by Chiew, O'Riordan and Stevens (see her interview).
Other reviews
- Usma Malik (K.M Elkes’s stand-out Ursa Minor)
- skylightrain
- storgy
- Tom Carlisle
- Rupert Dastur
