Maud lives in a constant state of befuddlement. Undrunk cups of tea litter her halls; she navigates her way through life with little scraps of paper; she forgets what she’s doing sometimes; and her daughter seems permanently exasperated with her. At 82 years old and suffering with the beginning stages of dementia, she only has three real constants – that she could probably do with another slice of toast, that she’d quite like to know the best place to plant marrows, and that her best […]
A snapshot of a family unit in crisis, a peek behind the Ikea curtain and the idea of pristine Scandinavian life.
Max and Katriina Paul have been married for over thirty years and have settled into some semblance of a comfortable routine. Professor of sociology and one-time media darling on the subject of sex, Max, spends his evenings trawling forums looking for his name; while his wife is entirely wrapped up in her work, filled with a fervent self-belief. Their daughters Helen and Eva couldn’t be more different; with Helen being quietly married with two children of her own, and Eva in-between careers, relationships and more […]
Neil Gaiman treats us to another assortment of strange and haunting stories in his third collection.
Neil has produced some of my favourite short story collections over the years. He always has a knack for giving the reader a wide selection of tales that vary in style, genre and mood while still retaining the hallmarks that make Gaiman, well, Gaiman. And this collection is no different. In his introduction, Gaiman claims these shorts are far too random and unconnected to form an effective collection – but I’d beg to disagree. Several small connections hide beneath the surface, as little threads spider […]
An evocative and thoughtful story about culture and nostalgia in a virus-ravaged world.
Kirsten is a young actor in a group known as the Travelling Symphony, a motley group of actors and musicians who travel the countryside from town to town presenting Shakespeare in horse-drawn carts. Unusually though, this isn’t a quaint seventeenth-century tale, but a thoughtful story about the state of the world following the outbreak of a virulent flu virus. Starting with actor Arthur Leander’s heart attack on stage in a Toronto theatre, we hop around from the time before the outbreak and head up to […]
A thoughtful and kinetic deconstruction of superhero motifs, filtered through the touching story of a veteran’s attempt to be a father.
Lester Ferris is a lonely and dutiful former soldier sent to the small volcanic island of Mancreu somewhere in the Arabian Sea to act as the British consul. Scarred by his tour in Afghanistan, he has been sent somewhere a little calmer, where his role will mostly consist of being friendly towards the locals, policing the area for petty crimes and turning a blind eye towards the ominous fleet of ships hanging around the harbour. For Mancreu is not an ordinary island. Left in a […]
A hilarious and surreal glimpse into the world of the Man Booker prize, as seen through the eyes of a drunken fantasist.
Francis Plug is an aspiring author with a slightly worrying thought. He’s spotted writers being pulled out of their comfort zones and yanked out onto large stages, blinking and nervous. In order to prepare for his inevitable win, he’s decided to meet as many Man Booker winners as possible, distilling their wisdom into a primer for any novelist wanting to know how to deal with the public. Each author is given their own chapter; with Plug describing the surroundings, drinking as much as he can, […]
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