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2022

Out There ~ Kate Folk

DESCRIPTION: A fleet of fake men called ‘blots’ is unleashed onto the dating apps of San Francisco, intent upon conning vulnerable women out of their data, in the exquisite title story Out There. Companion story Big Sur focuses on the reality of the blots’ personal experiences. A sculptor, trapped in a skyscraper restaurant when a […]

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2022

Behind a Broken Smile ~ Penny Jones

DESCRIPTION: “It’s only for two weeks. I parrot my mum’s words. I’m safe here, there’s nothing to fear, it’s just me and my nan. A chance to bond again after all those years. It’s not as if my dad is going to pop round for tea, that I’ll go downstairs and find him sat at his […]

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2022

Mammals, I Think We Are Called ~ Giselle Leeb

DESCRIPTION: Ambitious and playful, darkly humorous and imaginative, these strikingly original stories move effortlessly between the realistic and the fantastical, as their outsider characters explore what it’s like to be human in the twenty-first century. Whether about our relationship with the environment and animals, technology, social media, loneliness, or the enormity of time, they reflect […]

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2022

Connective Tissue ~ Jane Fraser

DESCRIPTION: This collection of short fiction aims to define the sometimes indefinable and to give voice to those struggling to make sense of what life throws at them. There are those who travel in a continuous loop on London’s underground and those who dance at night with the departed. A woman confronts herself in a […]

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2022

My Pen is the Wing of a Bird ~ Untold

DESCRIPTION:  A woman’s fortitude saves her village from disaster. A teenager explores their identity in a moment of quiet. A petition writer reflects on his life as a dog lies nursing her puppies. A tormented girl tries to find love through a horrific act. A headmaster makes his way to work, treading the fine line […]

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2022

Hearts and Bones ~ Niamh Mulvey

DESCRIPTION: Hearts and Bones is a book about relationships. It explores what love does to us, and how we survive it. A young woman learns to wield her power, leaving casualties in her wake, while a man from a small town finds solace in a strange new hobby. A watchful child feels a breaking point approach […]

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2022

Joyful, Joyful ed. by Dapo Adeola

DESCRIPTION: A colour-illustrated collection of stories and poems celebrating joy, showcasing 40 talented Black writers and artists from across the world. Curated by British Book Awards Illustrator of the Year Dapo Adeola, with a foreword by the acclaimed Patrice Lawrence. Joyful, Joyful is a book to sing about! A large hardback packed full of illustrations, Joyful, Joyful: Stories […]

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2022

The Man Who Loved Kuras ~ Brian Howell

DESCRIPTION: Howell’s much-celebrated stories interweave elements of the commonplace with darkness, subterfuge and sheer weirdness, all realised with natural narrative flair. In this striking new collection, we see Howell explore a wide range of cultures, including Hawaii, Portugal and Japan, alongside these are period tales, and sinister and sexual encounters, all related with a cool […]

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2022

The Haunting of Hajji Hotak ~ Jamil Jan Kochai

DESCRIPTION: Pen/Hemingway finalist Jamil Jan Kochai ​breathes life into his contemporary Afghan characters, moving between modern-day Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora in America. In these arresting stories verging on both comedy and tragedy, often starring young characters whose bravado is matched by their tenderness, Kochai once again captures “a singular, resonant voice, an American teenager […]

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2022

Heartbroke ~ Chelsea Bieker

DESCRIPTION: United by the stark and sprawling landscapes of California’s Central Valley, the characters of Heartbroke boil with reckless desire. A woman steals a baby from a shelter in an attempt to recoup her own lost motherhood. A phone-sex operator sees divine opportunity when a lavender-eyed cowboy walks into her life. A mother and a son selling […]