‘Consider This: Moments In My Writing Life After Which Everything Was Different‘ (which from this moment on will be referred to as Consider This) is not just a book it is an investment. Chuck Palahniuk has produced a fabulous book about writing craft, which as a fan of Palahniuk I’m thrilled with, but as a
I picked up Grand Union in the hope that I would be blown away by the powerhouse that is Zadie Smith, and so I was very excited to learn that this was her first and much awaited short story collection. Zadie Smith is an astonishingly great writer, there is no shadow of doubt in that
It’s been a busy year again here at STORGY and I’ve been reading everything and everything yet again – from the big hitting publishers to the brave publishing of Independent Presses (which are putting out some astonishing works of late) to some self published works. Not to mention the hundreds of short stories I’ve read
Flare and Falter is a humorous and light-hearted short story collection, occasionally bordering on the absurd. Conley gives us a delightful glimpse into the inner workings of his creative talents, creating bizarre worlds, plot lines that move in every which way, and relatable characters, in these short pieces that leave us questioning our own society.
It’s a neat little ritual, thinking about the best books I’ve read over the last year. It’s also hard to whittle it down to a manageable list. It’s also hard to remember what I’ve read half the time. With that in mind, perhaps the list then writes itself – if I can remember it, then
A surprisingly exciting novel, Duncan M. Hamilton’s first instalment of the Dragonslayer trilogy is an enjoyable read, full of strong characters and a fully engaged plot. The reader is immediately sucked into the fantasy environment, in a world that isn’t too far removed from our own. Multiple plot-lines and viewpoints give the novel that added
When I was 14, I had this massive crush on my friend Ana from my art class. She was a couple of years older, and as effortlessly cool as I was effortlessly awkward. She lived this bohemian life in a hippieish Parisian flat with her mum and brother (who I also had a massive crush
Lost Voices was a real treasure to discover and read. Every story that I read just made me a prisoner and I knew I was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome as I never wanted to leave its pages. From the front-page cover to the last page of this book, I felt at home. The cover image
Kirsty Logan has, with Things We Say In The Dark astutely given a voice to the fears, anxieties and troublesome ideas that we so often utter in the silence of the darkness, what we scream into the void when we believe no one is watching or listening (many of these stories focusing on women and their fears).
I’m always admirative of authors that can bring entire worlds, depict insanely convincing characters and trigger numerous emotions with only a few words, a few strokes of the pen. Barbara Byar is one of those authors. In Some Days Are Better Than Ours, she takes us through the tragic lives of numerous characters – families
