The nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its sixth year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This new series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor's brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking for the b...

"[W]orthy of being compared to Dickens's creations . . . First-class entertainment." - William F. Deeck,The Mystery Fancier"An exciting story told in a pleasant narrative style with considerable skill, and a whole portfolio of Dickensian characters, drawn against a rich background make The Slype an almost perfect piece of light fiction." - The Outlook"No one will care to hurry when he can spend his time in the company of such delightful people as the Dean, the Paper Wizard,...

Inspired by Giles Gordon and David Hughes's Best Short Stories series, which ran to ten volumes between 1986 and 1995, Best British Short Stories this year reaches its thirteenth volume.Best British Short Stories 2023 showcases an excellent and varied selection of stories, by British writers, first published during 2022 in magazines, journals, anthologies, collections, chapbooks and online.This new anthology contains stories by Alinah Azadeh, Davi...

"Mr. Parry brings it off brilliantly. It starts like a comedy, ends like a tragedy and runs like a nightmare from beginning to end." - New York Times"One of the few first-rate horror tales since The Hound of the Baskervilles was a pup." - Newsweek"Unconventional, witty, and well told, this strange and modern ghost story will appeal to those who like their literature on the different side." - Philadelphia Inquirer"One is carried along on a wave of admiring belief and...

The definitive showcase of the year's finest British short stories'Bravo to Salt's beacon of delight and intrigue – its annual collection of the UK's best short stories, from established and emerging voices.' —Duncan MinshullNow relaunched for a new era, Best British Short Stories returns with a bold new look and a renewed commitment to celebrating the art of the short story. As we enter our fifteenth volume, this much-loved annual collecti...

Tayler Kent flees London in a blinding snowstorm, hoping to escape the ghosts that haunt his home. Instead, he finds things may have gone from bad to worse when he crashes his car, breaks his ankle, and is forced to take refuge at a medieval monastery now inhabited by the eccentric Charles Hogarth, known as "The Master of the Macabre." As Kent's ankle heals, Hogarth entertains him with fine food, brandy, and a series of gruesome stories connected with an odd assortment of old rel...

THE WOODS - Michael KellyMichael Kelly reveals "The Woods' was written for an anthology seeking regional horror and ghost stories. I'd just read Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephant's'. Now, in no way am I comparing myself to Hemingway but I wanted to write a similarly brief tale, with only two main characters, and where the horror was off-stage. As well, the setting had to be distinctly Canadian. What, I thought, could be more Canadian than the frozen north and a...

Black Country - Joel Lane"'Black Country' is one of a sequence of weird crime stories set in the West Midlands that I've been working on for years," says Joel Lane. "A collection of them is forthcoming with the title Where Furnaces Burn. 'Black Country' is also a sequel to my earlier story 'The Lost District', which describes another narrator's experience of Clayheath."I'd like to thank The Nightingales and Gul Y. Davis, whose words influenced this s...

Ein Produkttest für ferngesteuerte Liebesspielzeuge in einem super-exklusiven Nachtclub am Valentinstag. Was soll da schon schiefgehen? Natürlich geht es nur um die Bezahlung und alles ist höchst professionell. Es hat rein gar nichts mit Frust wegen einem nicht vorhandenen Liebesleben zu tun. Auch Trotz spielt hier keinerlei Rolle. Und unerfüllte Sehnsüchte schon gar nicht. Ich bin Lily. Dies ist mein Valentinstag. Ich habe alles im Griff und es wird keine Überraschungen geben. Das wird ei...

Clara has found romance, adventure and love through the matrimonial columns. I could do the same, could I not?She was not yet betrothed to Cotter Finlay but Ella knew the time for him to ask her father for his permission was nigh.But Cotter Finlay cannot engage me if I am promised to another, can he? It was just as Clara said—if I am betrothed to another, breaking off such an engagement would look poorly upon my parents.It was in that moment that Elle made the decision...

As a companion volume to Come to the Table and Down in the River to Pray, this book completes a trilogy on the three "ordinances" of the Stone-Campbell Movement. A Gathered People is an in-depth biblical, historical, and theological study of the Christian assembly or Lord's Day. It examines Hebrew assemblies in the OT, Christian assemblies in the NT, the changing nature of assemblies in Christian history, and the assembly in the Stone-Campbell heritage. It concludes with a theological argu...

Valentinstag. Eine Frau und zwei Männer, die sich für sie interessieren. Wäre es ein Film, würde ich ihn mir ansehen und hoffen, dass sie beide bekommt. Aber es ist mein Leben und ich bin nicht so mutig oder dreist. Meiner Cousine mangelt es allerdings weder an Mut, noch an Frechheit. Nur eines hat sie nicht: Skrupel. Sie kann meine Wahl nicht für mich treffen, aber sie zwingt mich, nicht länger davor wegzulaufen. Statt den Abend mit ihr zu verbringen, stehe ich plötzlich den beiden Männer...