There’s a spider in the bathroom, I tell him. It’s six feet tall, I say. I wake him up and tell him to save me. I pee a few times a night and can’t imagine slipping into the cold bathroom alone, facing this spider head-on. It’s frigid here in Siberia. Outside, nothing can live for
1. He reads labels. Even perfume labels. Rides the double-decker buses so he can watch from above. I poke at the halo around his shorts with my wayward finger. “You have strange ideas, Mary-of-the mushroom-teas,” he says, mussing up my hair, not noticing the finger, like, at all. 2. His eyes dilate when he
Tim Major has published numerous science fiction and horror short stories in magazines including Interzone; three novels, including Snakeskins, which was published this year to critical acclaim; and the novella Caius and Mitch, which is reprinted here in House Lights. This is his first short story collection. Most of the stories in this collection have
I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of Nancy Stohlman up until a few weeks ago, you see I’m quite new to flash fiction, so I’m playing catch-up all the time, discovering new and brilliant voices daily. But a few weeks ago I had the chance to attend the Flash Fiction Festival in Bristol and
Well I am a huge fan of Max Porter, his writing to me is always a joy to read as he has such a hold over the written word with his prose being quite poetic, with each word fighting for its right to be included in the storytelling, and the deftly constructed prose he offers
Well to say I was confused at the beginning, is an understatement. The first chapter is repeated three times offering three different explanations of the same event!! I won’t explain why; as it all becomes clear. This is a detective novel but by no means does it follow any traditional story line. It is exceptionally
Well, what do we have here then? An anthology…by women! How preposterous…it shouldn’t be allowed! That my friends is why Boudicca Press exist and why they are so very special. They’ve blasted out of the gate and are tearing up the track with this delightfully put together anthology, featuring, you guessed it, a full female
‘Unveiled’ is an intriguing collection, most nominally [though not totally] because of its origins. Where the majority of collections are usually built from submissions or tied together with past published work, ‘Unveiled’ is a product of the Unthank School – a literary school/writing community that provides a range of writing courses to a whole host
The beauty of The Shadow Booth is that, though we’ve been blessed with Volume 1, and indeed Volume 2, there’s no telling what we’ll find inside a third time round. ‘There’s a strange canvas structure propped against the wall, a hand-made sign scrawled on a scrap of cardboard. Enter the Shadow Booth, it says, and you
I loved this book so much it warmed my cockles and chilled my bones all in one go. It made me laugh and cry. I booked marked passages I wanted to quote and ended up with 73 post-it notes sprouting from the wonderful We Live In The Dead End, written by Simon Webster. Loneliness, loss,
