Short Stories 2018
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Elsewhere, Home
by Leila Aboulela
New short story collection from the Sudanese-born writer now resident in Scotland. With settings from Africa, the Middle East and Britain, these stories reveal the lives of those lost between cultures.
Telegram Books, £8.99, 2nd July 2018, 9781846592119
Training School For Negro Girls
by Camille Acker
Collection of short stories set in Washington DC across different decades and different neighbourhoods, following women who must navigate an uncertain path.
Feminist Press at The City University of New York, £14.99, 11th October 2018, 9781936932375
Friday Black
by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Debut collection of short stories that tackle instances of racism and cultural unrest in contemporary America. Roxane Gay is a fan: “Marvel at the intelligence of each of these stories and what they reveal about racism, capitalism, complacency and their insidious reach.”…
Riverrun, £12.99, 23rd October 2018, 9781787476011
The Sea Beast Takes a Lover
by Michael Andreasen
Debut collection of short stories about moral and metaphysical metamorphoses includes a lovesick kraken that slowly drags the object of its desire, a ship of sailors, into the sea. A romp through the lunatic and surreal, says Head of Zeus.
Head of Zeus, £18.99, 8th March 2018, 9781786696632 hbk
The Sea Beast Takes a Lover
by Michael Andreasen
A collection of fantastical tales about physical and moral metamorphoses.
Head of Zeus, £8.99, 4th October 2018, 9781788545990 pbk
The Abyss and Other Stories
by Leonid Andreyev
Fifteen short stories by Andreyev, including some not previously translated into English.
Alma Classics, £8.99, 26th April 2018, 9781847497239
How to Love a Jamaican: Stories
by Alexia Arthurs
I really enjoyed this gorgeous collection of short stories from Jamaican-American author Arthurs, which move between Jamaica and the US. Particularly affecting is “Mash Up Love”, where a successful elder son still strives to impress his mother although his deadbeat brother is seen as the prodigal son, and “Bad Behaviour”, where a wild Brooklyn teenager is sent back to Jamaica to live with her grandmother. Zadie Smith is also a fan: “In these kaleidoscopic stories of Jamaica and its diaspora we hear many voices at once: some cultivated, some simple, some wickedly funny, some deeply melancholic. All of them convince and sing. All of them shine.”…
Picador, £14.99, 9th August 2018, 9781509883592
The Accusation: Forbidden Stories From Inside North Korea
by Bandi
Fantastic cover for this collection of short stories from an anonymous North Korean dissident. The author, known as Bandi, which means firefly, has based his stories in fact, from the mother who draws the curtains on huge posters of Stalin and Kim Jong-il to stop her toddler crying, and finds her family instantly disgraced, to the competitive displays of mourning following the death of Kim Il-sung. The Accusation has sold over 10,000 copies, according to Serpent’s Tail, which is calling Bandi the Solzhenitsyn of North Korea. “Spare, direct, unflinching and bitterly angry,” said the Observer….
Serpent’s Tail, £8.99, 4th January 2018, 9781781257555
For a Little While
by Rick Bass
A collection of short stories from the award-winning author. The Spectator said “praise to Pushkin Press for introducing us to an astonishing literary voice” in its review; Pushkin points out that it launched Edith Pearlman in the UK in 2013 with her collection Binocular Vision, which it says has sold over 12,000 copies to date….
Pushkin Press, £12.99, 4th January 2018, 9781782273066
Evening in Paradise: More Stories
by Lucia Berlin
Following the posthumous success of 2015’s A Manual for Cleaning Women, this is a “careful selection” from Lucia Berlin’s remaining stories. She died in 2004….
Picador, £14.99, 30th October 2018, 9781509882298
The Relive Box and Other Stories
by T. C. Boyle
A new collection from Boyle, focusing on humanity’s relationship with nature….
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, £8.99, 18th October 2018, 9781408890103
The Beginning of the World in the Middle of the Night
by Jen Campbell
A collection of modern fairy tales from the author of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops.
Two Roads, £9.99, 10th July 2018, 9781473653559
The Graybar Hotel
by Curtis Dawkins
A collection of short stories from a debut writer currently serving a life sentence in Michigan’s prison system. “Not only moving and genuine, but genuinely important; one that, without resorting to shock tactics, powerfully conveys the perverse inhumanity of mass incarceration,” said the Guardian. Canongate says that Dawkins has directed the money from publication into an education fund for his children, but the State of Michigan is suing him to pay for his incarceration….
Canongate Books Ltd, £9.99, 5th July 2018, 9781786891136
Things We Lost in the Fire
by Mariana Enriquez
A collection of “Argentine Gothic” short stories, called “slim but phenomenal” by Vanity Fair….
Portobello Books Ltd, £8.99, 4th October 2018, 9781846276361
Fresh Complaint
by Jeffrey Eugenides
The Virgin Suicides author’s first collection of short stories explores characters in the middle of emergencies, both personal and national. This was an Observer book of the year pick….
Fourth Estate Ltd, £8.99, 24th September 2018, 9780008243807
The Dinner Party
by Joshua Ferris
A collection of short stories from the author of Then We Came To the End, which was longlisted for the Guardian first book award.
Penguin Books Ltd, £8.99, 5th April 2018, 9780241979983
How the Light Gets in
by Clare Fisher
A collection of very short stories exploring the spaces between light and dark and how we find our way from one to the other. Her debut novel, All the Good Things, was published by Viking in 2017.
Influx Press, £9.99, 7th June 2018, 9781910312124
I’d Die for You: And Other Lost Stories
by Scott F. Fitzgerald
A collection of the last remaining unpublished short stories by F Scott Fitzgerald.
Scribner UK, £9.99, 10th April 2018, 9781471164736
Freeman’s Power
by John Freeman
Latest instalment of the literary anthology is concerned with power in all its forms. Contributors include Margaret Atwood, Aminatta Forna, Ben Okri, Leila Slimani and Elif Shafak.
Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, £10.99, 18th October 2018, 9781611854992
Mythos: A Retelling of the Myths of Ancient Greece
by Stephen Fry
Fry’s retelling of the ancient Greek myths, which my mother reliably informs me is brilliant, and the Telegraph says is “the best thing he’s written since his superb first novel”. Lovely paperback cover, and likely to appeal to the audience which snapped up Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology (34,000 hardback TCM, according to Penguin) and Philip Pullman’s Grimm Tales (160,000 across all editions, says Penguin). The audiobook, which I’ve been listening to, is of course delightful as well….
Penguin Books Ltd, £8.99, 26th July 2018, 9781405934138
The Beggar and Other Stories
by Gaito Gazdanov
Translated for the first time, the best short stories by the “modernist master” Gazdanov (1903-71) which explore the senselessness of life, the nature of fate and the richness of the inner life….
Pushkin Press, £12.00, 28th March 2018, 9781782274018
The Cuban Club
by Barry Gifford
A coming-of-age story told as 64 linked tales, set in Chicago in the 1950s and ’60s….
Seven Stories Press,U.S., £10.99, 16th August 2018, 9781609808600
Fierce Fairytales: & Other Stories to Stir Your Soul
by Nikita Gill
Fairytales retold with a feminist slant from the “instapoet” (320,000 followers on Instagram) and author of Wild Embers….
Trapeze, £12.99, 6th September 2018, 9781409181590
Second collection of short stories from the acclaimed novelist (Fates and Furies was named by Barack Obama as his favourite book of 2015), set in the Sunshine State where storms, snakes and sinkholes lurk at the edge of everyday life, but greater threats are of a psychological nature.
William Heinemann Ltd, £14.99, 5th June 2018, 9781785151880
Bad Dreams and Other Stories
by Tessa Hadley
A new collection of stories from the author of The Past and The London Train.
Vintage, £8.99, 25th January 2018, 9781784704049
Madame Zero
by Sarah Hall
A collection of short stories from an author who has twice been shortlisted for the Booker.
Faber & Faber, £8.99, 5th July 2018, 9780571290024
How Are You Going To Save Yourself
by J M Holmes
Debut short story collection about being young, black and male in modern America, which explores the lives of four friends from Rhode Island: Rydell (Rye), Lazarus (Dub), Rakim (Rolls) and Giovanni (G).
Sceptre, £14.99, 9th August 2018, 9781473677715
Days of Awe
by A.M. Homes
The first book from the fearless A M Homes since her 2013 Women’s Prize-winning novel May We Be Forgiven, this features 13 stories each “exposing the uneasy heart of 21st-century America”….
Granta Books, £14.99, 27th June 2018, 9781847083258
The Dark Dark
by Samantha Hunt
First collection of short stories from the author of The Seas and The Invention of Everything Else blends the literary and the fantastic: girls turning into women, women turning into deer and people becoming ghosts.BookScan
Corsair, £9.99, 6th September 2018, 9781472154255
Sleep No More: Six Murderous Tales
by P. D. James
These six murderous short stories from the late P D James will be supported by a new website and a consumer advertising campaign, says Faber.
Faber & Faber, £7.99, 4th October 2018, 9780571339884
At the End of the Century: The stories of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
A collection of stories from the Booker-winning author of Heat and Dust.
Abacus, £12.99, 30th October 2018, 9781408709535
The Last Wolf & Herman
by Laszlo Krasznahorkai
The Man Booker International Prize-winner’s two novellas, The Last Wolf and Herman, are collected here….
Tuskar Rock, £8.99, 4th January 2018, 9781781258149
Certain American States
by Catherine Lacey
Debut short story collection from the wonderful Lacey, author of Nobody is Ever Missing and The Answers and one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists. Features 12 stories about love, loss and longing….
Granta Books, £12.99, 6th September 2018, 9781783782208
Virgin: and Other Stories
by April Ayers Lawson
The winner of the 2011 Plimpton Prize for Fiction’s first story collection, which the Sunday Times’ Culture section said was “lit by the sheer intelligence of her writing and her X-ray eye for the inner dynamics of relationships”….
Granta Books, £8.99, 4th January 2018, 9781847085610
Back Talk
by Danielle Lazarin
Debut collection of short stories from the New York-based writer about women’s unexpressed desires, and the unexpected ways they resurface. “Digs deep into the lives of women, telling complex stories of loss, hope and joy,” found Publishers Weekly….
Blackfriars, £8.99, 17th May 2018, 9780349134628
Dancing On the Outskirts
by Shena Mackay
A collection of stories from the award-winning Scottish author.
Virago Press Ltd, £9.99, 30th October 2018, 9780349007052
All the Beloved Ghosts
by Alison Macleod
A collection of short stories from the Booker-longlisted author of Unexploded.
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, £8.99, 8th March 2018, 9781408863787
Queer Africa: New and Collected Fiction
by Karen Martin
Collection of 22 LGBTQ short stories from Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, Botswana, Sierra Leone, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Includes “Jambula Tree” by Monica Arak de Nyeko, the first and only lesbian story to win the Caine Prize for African Writing….
New Internationalist Publications Ltd, £8.99, 16th August 2018, 9781780264639
A Small Fiction
by James Miller
Illustrated collection of 150 tiny stories, each told in 140 characters or less.
Unbound, £14.99, 18th October 2018, 9781783526871
Identity: New Short Fiction from Africa
by Helen Moffett
Short stories from across the continent and the diaspora.
New Internationalist Publications Ltd, £8.99, 12th July 2018, 9781780264592
Homesick For Another World
by Ottessa Moshfegh
First collection of short stories from the Booker-shortlisted author of Eileen, called “razor-sharp” by Zadie Smith….
Vintage, £9.99, 11th January 2018, 9781784701505
I Am Heathcliff
by Kate Mosse
Sixteen stories inspired by Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. Contributors include Joanna Cannon, Juno Dawson, Louise Doughty, Erin Kelly, Lisa McInerney and Nikesh Shukla….
The Borough Press, £12.99, 23rd July 2018, 9780008257439
The Refugees
by Viet Thanh Nguyen
A short-story collection from the Pulitzer-winning author of The Sympathizers.
Corsair, £8.99, 11th January 2018, 9781472153784
The Cake Tree in the Ruins
by Akiyuki Nosaka
Short stories based on the author’s own experience as a child in wartime. In 1945 he watched the Allied bombing of Kobe kill his adoptive parents and then witnessed his sister starve to death in the aftermath. All the stories are set on the day of Japan’s unconditional surrender, 15th August 1945….
Pushkin Press, £12.00, 25th July 2018, 9781782274186
Good Trouble
by Joseph O’Neill
The first collection of short stories from the author of Neverland “explores the maddening and insecure space between defined and undefined, between belonging and not belonging” as characters are forced to discover exactly who are they are, and who they can never quite be….
Fourth Estate Ltd, £12.99, 21st May 2018, 9780008283995
The Burning Ground
by Adam O’Riordan
The award-winning poet’s dbut short-story collection, called “wonderfully lyrical and bittersweet” by the Observer….
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, £8.99, 11th January 2018, 9781408864791
Dis Mem Ber
by Joyce Carol Oates
Seven disquieting stories from the prolific and brilliant Oates. “As usual with Oates, it is horribly readable, but driven by something disturbingly like genuine misanthropy,” found the Sunday Times….
Head of Zeus, £7.99, 11th January 2018, 9781786693990
The Merry Spinster: Tales of everyday horror
by Mallory Ortberg
Collection of “darkly mischievous” stories based on classic folk stories and fairytales, but with a feminist spin. They blur the lines between fantasy, magical realism, horror and comedy….
Corsair, £14.99, 4th October 2018, 9781472154118
First collection of short stories from the literary critic is peopled by men and women who find themselves at crossroads or dead ends and whose stories “lay bare the emotional and psychic damage of life, love and abandonment”, says Faber….
Faber & Faber, £10.00, 1st March 2018, 9780571339686
Hits and Misses
by Simon Rich
The multi-talented screenwriter and show-runner returns with a sharp collection of short stories inspired by his Hollywood career from a bitter tell-all by a horse who made a man famous and then got left behind, to a film critic forced to live in the movies he cruelly damned.
Serpent’s Tail, £10.99, 26th July 2018, 9781781259054
Best British Short Stories 2018
by Nicholas Royle
Annual guide to the short story, now in its eighth year, from British writers whether based in the UK or elsewhere.
Salt Publishing, £9.99, 15th July 2018, 9781784631369
Trajectory: A short story collection
by Richard Russo
A short story collection from the Pulitzer-winning novelist.
Allen & Unwin, £8.99, 6th September 2018, 9781760297220
Pure Hollywood
by Christine Schutt
Hailed by George Saunders as “truly gifted”, this marks the UK launch of an American short story writer. Ottessa Moshfegh is also a fan….
And Other Stories, £8.99, 10th May 2018, 9781911508243
The World to Come: Stories
by Jim Shepard
The first collection of stories by the acclaimed American writer to be published in the UK.
Riverrun, £9.99, 26th July 2018, 9781786485069
Property: A Collection
by Lionel Shriver
I am huge fan of Shriver’s writing, which is sharp and ascerbic yet always entertaining; she can make you laugh and wince at the same time. This is her first collection of short stories, all on the broad theme of ownership. My favourite story is “The Standing Chandelier”-which was published as a standalone hardback novella in November 2017-in which a friendship between two former lovers is finally severed by the wedding gift of a bizarre sculpture. “Domestic Terrorism” tells of the lengths a married couple go to in order to try and shift their indolent thirtysomething son, who is very resistant to the idea of leaving the family home.
The Borough Press, £14.99, 19th April 2018, 9780008265229
You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories
by Curtis Sittenfeld
First collection of short stories from the author of Prep, American Wife, Sisterland and, most recently, Eligible, a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. In “The Nominee”, Hillary Clinton reveals her true feelings about a journalist who has interviewed her over the years. “The Prairie Wife” features a woman who recalls her youthful affair with a social media star, and a man exchanges secret emails with his brother’s wife in “Plausible Deniability”. Every story is a gem with the uniting theme of how even the cleverest people tend to misread others, and how much we all deceive ourselves….
Doubleday, £16.99, 3rd May 2018, 9780857525383
The Complete Short Stories
by Muriel Spark
An introduction from Janice Galloway for this collection of stories from Spark.
Canongate Canons, £14.99, 4th January 2018, 9781786890016
Turbulence
by David Szalay
Unfortunately no reading material was available in time for this preview but I was a huge fan of Szalay’s Man Booker-shortlisted All That Man Is. Alan Hollinghurst put it very well in the Guardian: “A revelation… Not only of a brilliantly inventive and observant writer… but of new possibilities for the novel as a form.” This is an original BBC Radio 4 commission and the stories will be broadcast on Radio 4 over 12 weeks between October and December this year. Twelve diverse protagonists circumnavigate the world in 12 journeys to see lovers and parents, children and siblings, or nobody at all….
Jonathan Cape Ltd, £9.99, 3rd December 2018, 9781787331167
Cornish Short Stories: A Collection of Contemporary Cornish Writing
by Emma Timpany
A collection of the best new writing in Cornwall, this will be launched at the St Ives Literary Festival.
The History Press Ltd, £12.00, 2nd April 2018, 9780750983556
Last Stories
by William Trevor
The last collection of 10 short stories from the inestimable William Trevor, of whom John Banville said: “He is one of the great short story writers, at his best the equal of Chekhov.” It will be published on what would have been Trevor’s 90th birthday (he died in 2016). Viking plans “a major publishing event” across the national media including BBC Radio 4’s “Book at Bedtime” with authors talking about their favourite William Trevor story….
Viking, £14.99, 24th May 2018, 9780241337769
Bogota 39: New Voices from Latin America
by Various
This anthology of short stories from the 39 best Latin American authors under 40 (from 15 different countries) is published in association with the Hay Festival.
Oneworld Publications, £12.99, 7th June 2018, 9781786073334
The Caine Prize for African Writing 2018
Various
Contains the five stories shortlisted in 2018 for Africa’s leading literary prize, plus stories written at the Caine Prize Writers’ Workshop. The winner will be announced on the day of publication….
New Internationalist Publications Ltd, £8.99, 2nd July 2018, 9781780264615
Tales from a Master’s Notebook: Stories Henry James Never Wrote
by Various
Writers including Colm Toibin and Rose Tremain have written stories inspired by ideas in Henry James’ notebooks….
Vintage Classics, £14.99, 5th April 2018, 9781784871475
Underground: Tales for London
by Various
Joanna Cannon, Matthew Plampin, Lionel Shriver and Louisa Young are among the contributors to this collection which features 12 stories about the 12 London Underground lines. Publication will follow serialisation in the Evening Standard.
The Borough Press, £12.99, 20th August 2018, 9780008300692
American Histories
by John Edgar Wideman
Latest collection from the author dubbed the “foremost chronicler of the urban African-American experience”. Canongate will publish selected backlist alongside as part of The Canons classics series: Writing to Save a Life, which won the Prix Femina Etranger in 2017, Philadelphia Fire and Brothers and Keepers….
Canongate Books Ltd, £15.99, 3rd May 2018, 9781786892027
