UK Short Stories 2018

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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

 

The Sea Beast Takes a Lover

by Michael Andreasen

 

Dbut 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

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

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

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

 

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: 2016

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

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

Florida

by Lauren Groff

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

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 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

 

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

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

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

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

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 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

Mothers

by Chris Power 

 

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

 

Pure Hollywood

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

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

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

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

 

The Sing of the Shore

by Lucy Wood

 

More short stories steeped in the Cornish landscape from the acclaimed author of Diving Belles and Other Stories. “She has an instinct for the inner meanings of myths that echoes the great Angela Carter. Superb”-the Times….

Fourth Estate Ltd, £14.99, 19th March 2018, 9780008193393

Sour Heart

by Jenny Zhang

Excellent cover for this collection of short stories focused on a group of immigrants in 1990s New York City. Zhang has an unmistakable voice and the stories are all bitingly brilliant, but my favourite is the first, “We Love You Crispina”, in which we get to know the waspish, loving, lonely little girl growing up in poverty, Christina. This is the first book from Lena Dunham’s new Lenny imprint in the US; “We expect there to be huge hype around the book, and for Dunham to use her influence to help publicise it,” says Bloomsbury. “Relegate anything else you’re reading-there is no other book to be seen with now,” said the Times….

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, £8.99, 3rd May 2018, 9781408892374