From an old regional theatre on the English coast to a Hollywood sound stage, an odd audition in London, by way of a sad and lonely hotel that attracts a series of strange residents. And much else too. Here are reflections on the nature of truth, how fiction and childish verse can impact reality, and the dangers inherent in retreating from that reality. Photographs and hauntings. Loss and longing. Just how lucky is it being lucky. Strange revenges and even stranger curses....

“A prodigiously imaginative collection.”—New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice“Dazzling tales from a master of the fantastic.”—Washington Post Book WorldFragile Things is a sterling collection of exceptional tales from Neil Gaiman, multiple award-winning (the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Newberry, and Eisner Awards, to name just a few), #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Graveyard Book, Anansi Boys, Coraline, ...

WINNER OF THE 2018 BRITISH FANTASY SOCIETY AWARD FOR BEST ANTHOLOGY. Includes Josh Malerman's 'House of the Head' as seen in Creepshow. An electrifying anthology of new horror stories by award-winning masters of the genre, including Josh Malerman, Ramsey Campbell, Alison Littlewood and Christopher Golden. FEAR COMES IN MANY FORMS The horror genre's greatest living practitioners drag our darkest fears kicking and screaming into the light in this collection of nineteen brand-new stories. In ...

The nation's favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its seventh year.Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or more accurately, by its title. This critically acclaimed 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...

'A masterful collection' MAXINE PEAKE'Astonishing and long overdue, you really need to read this’ ALAN MOORE**'**An absolute treat' ADAM S. LESLIEUnleash the dark and delirious with this electrifying anthology of folk horror from some of Britain's most iconic working-class voicesA phonograph cylinder that plays on a loop for eternity, casting out ghostly spectres of violence; a centuries-old s...

A hilarious and empowering perimenopausal Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, about Clover Hendry, 46, and the day she decides to stop keeping the plates spinning, say F@#! it all, and finally get hers.Today is not the day to mess with Clover Hendry.Clover hasn’t said “No” a day in her life. Until today. Normally a woman who tips her hairdresser even when the cut is hideous, is endlessly patient with her horrendous mother, and says yes every time he...

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...

What happens when mirth turns to murder? When the screams are not from joy, but flesh-ripping pain? Dead Funny: Encore is the second helping of monstrous tales from the brightest lights in UK comedy.Award winners Robin Ince and Johnny Mains team up for this second exploration of the relationship between comedy and horror, the dark follow up to 2014's smash hit debut, Dead Funny.Featuring stories by: James Acaster, Clare Ferguson Walker, Toby Hadoke, Natali...

Featuring:Sarah Hall, Lucy Wood, Lisa Blower, Lavinia Greenlaw and Lionel Shriver.Edgar Allan Poe once claimed the greatest literary works were those that could be read ’in one sitting’. ‘Brevity must be in direct ratio of the intensity of the intended effect,’ he argued, once the effect has been established, of course.The stories shortlisted for the BBC National Short Story Award 2013 all use brevity with striking results, whether presenting a comp...

This daring and dazzling debut shines a light on the unsung heroes of our communities: the carers. Jay is devoted to the care of her teenage twins who view the world as differently as it views them. Frank is sweet, sensitive and bullied, while whip-smart Teddy needs an iPad to speak. With an absent husband and battling a nightmare bureaucracy, Jay leans heavily on Keep, her lifelong half-real friend. But in the corner of her eye lurks her mother, and a childhood Jay knows she can't ever ou...

To celebrate 50 years of publishing in Aotearoa New Zealand, this anthology brings together 50 enthralling stories from some of the country’s finest writers. From established authors to new, emerging names, these stories track the changing styles, voices and preoccupations explored through the short story over the past five decades. Read – and celebrate!

‘A natural storyteller with a Sedaris-like eye for black humour. There are sharp splinters of comic relief … compelling and nuanced.” Edel Coffey, Irish TimesQuick-witted, charismatic and generous; angry, vicious and hurt; in pubs all over Cork City, Noelle McCarthy's mother Carol rages against her life and everything she has lost. Soon after leaving college, in the early years of the millennium, Noelle flees. Even on the other side of the world, with fame...