The Best British Short Stories 2014

The Best British Short Stories 2014

by NicholasRoyle (Editor)

Synopsis

`There is no more carefully chosen yet eclectic anthology series in existence in Britain today' - Susan Haigh, The Short Review

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 best of the bunch to reprint all in one volume.

Featuring: Elizabeth Baines, David Constantine, Ailsa Cox, Claire Dean, Stuart Evers, Jonathan Gibbs, Jay Griffiths, David Grubb, M John Harrison, Vicki Jarrett, Richard Knight, Philip Langeskov, Sian Melangell Dafydd, Anna Metcalfe, Louise Palfreyman, Christopher Priest, Joanne Rush, Mick Scully, Joanna Walsh and Adam Wilmington.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Publisher: Salt Publishing
Published: 18 Jul 2014

ISBN 10: 1907773673
ISBN 13: 9781907773679

Media Reviews

Slip this lightweight but nourishing anthology into your holiday bag. Editor Royle has selected 20 published stories from British writers. His own (excellent) taste means that little explosions of weirdness or transcendence often erupt amid much well-observed everyday life.

-- Boyd Tonkin * The Independent *

It's so good that it's hard to believe that there was no equivalent during the 17 years since Giles Gordon and David Hughes's Best English Short Stories ceased publication in 1994. The first selection makes a very good beginning ... Highly Recommended.

-- Kate Saunders

Let's hope this series becomes an annual fixture.

-- Chris Power * The Guardian *

There is no more carefully chosen yet eclectic anthology series in existence in Britain today, and, what's more, I would advise anyone embarking on this year's stories to first cast an eye over Royle's fascinating introduction, in which he explains as much about the stories he didn't choose, but which almost made it into the anthology, as he does about the stories he does include.

-- Susan Haigh * The Short Review *
Author Bio
Nicholas Royle was born in Manchester in 1963. He is the author of seven novels, including: Counterparts, Saxophone Dreams, and First Novel, and a short story collection, Mortality. He has edited sixteen anthologies, including A Book of Two Halves and Neonlit: Time Out Book of New Writing. He lives between London and Manchester and teaches creative writing at MMU. Elizabeth Baines was born in South Wales and lives in Manchester. She has been a teacher and is an occasional actor as well as the prize-winning author of plays for radio and stage, and of two novels, The Birth Machine and Body Cuts. Her award-winning short stories have been published widely in magazines and anthologies. Her first story collection, Balancing on the Edge of the World, was published by Salt in 2007. A novel, Too Many Magpies, will come from Salt in November 2009. David Constantine, born 1944 in Salford, has published several volumes of poetry, a novel and four collections of short stories - Back at the Spike (1994), Under the Dam (2005), The Shieling (2009) and Tea at the Midland (2012). He is an editor and translator of Holderlin, Goethe, Kleist and Brecht. He was the winner of the 2010 BBC National Short Story Award and the 2013 Frank O'Connor Award. Ailsa Cox, Reader in creative writing and English at Edge Hill University, is a writer and critic with a special interest in the short story. She is the the author of Writing Short Stories (Routledge), Alice Munro (Northcote House) and The Real Louise and Other Stories (Headland). Sian Melangell Dafydd is the author of Y Trydydd Peth (The Third Thing), which won the 2009 National Eisteddfod Literature Medal. She is the co-editor of the literature review Taliesin and www.yneuadd.com and writes in both Welsh and English. Claire Dean's short stories have been published in The Best British Short Stories 2011, Still, Shadows & Tall Trees, Patricide, A cappella Zoo and as chapbooks by Nightjar Press. Many of these stories, including 'Glass, Bricks, Dust', appeared under the name Claire Massey. An illustrated collection of fairy tales will be published by Unsettling Wonder in 2014. She lives in Lancashire with her two young sons. Stuart Evers is the author of two short story collections, Ten Stories About Smoking and Your Father Sends His Love, and a novel, If This is Home. He lives in London with his family. Jonathan Gibbs was born in 1972 and lives in London. His debut novel, Randall, is published by Galley Beggar Press, and was longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2015. His short fiction has appeared in Lighthouse, The South Circular, Allnighter (Pulp Faction), Gorse and The Best British Short Stories 2014, and has been shortlisted for the White Review Short Story Prize. He blogs at tinycamels.wordpress.com. Jay Griffiths is the author of A Love Letter From a Stray Moon, a short novel about Frida Kahlo. Her non-fiction includes Wild: An Elemental Journey and Kith: The Riddle of the Childscape. She won the Barnes and Noble 'Discover' award for the best first-time author in the USA, and has been shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and a World Book Day award, and is the winner of the inaugural Orion Book Award. David Grubb writes novels, short stories and poems. His most recent poetry collection, Box, was published by Like This Press in 2012. Previous poetry collections have been published by Salt, Shearsman, and Stride. He was a winner in the 2012/13 Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition with a sequence, 'Ways of Looking'. M John Harrison was born in 1945. His novel Climbers won the Boardman Tasker Prize in 1989. His most recent novel is Empty Space. He lives in the Midlands. Vicki Jarrett is a novelist and short story writer from Edinburgh. Her first novel, Nothing is Heavy, was published in 2012. Her short fiction has been widely published, broadcast by Radio 4, Radio Scotland and Radio Somerset, and shortlisted for the Manchester Fiction Prize and the Bridport Prize. She is working on a short story collection and a second novel. Richard Knight was born in 1966 and lives in Greenfield near Manchester. His first published work was in Arc Short Stories in 1997, followed by stories in Brace (Comma Press) and The Possibility of Bears (Biscuit). His short story 'Atlantic Flats' was broadcast on Radio 4 in 2009 and he was shortlisted for the Fish Prize in 2010. Richard has also published three children's novels and is currently writing his first novel for adults. Philip Langeskov was born in Copenhagen in 1976. In 2008, he received the David Higham Award. He has an MA in Creative Writing and a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing, both from UEA. His stories have appeared in various places, including Bad Idea Magazine, Five Dials, Warwick Review and The Best British Short Stories 2011. Anna Metcalfe was born in Westphalia in 1987. Her work has been published in Elbow Room, Lighthouse and Tender Journal. She lives in Norwich. 'Number Three' was shortlisted for the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award. Louise Palfreyman works as an editor and copywriter in Birmingham. Her short fiction has been published by The View From Here and the London School of Liberal Arts. She is part of a thriving community of writers called PowWow. The group meets weekly at a local pub and holds an annual literary festival. Christopher Priest is the author of thirteen novels and four short story collections. His 1995 novel The Prestige was filmed by Christopher Nolan and his latest novel is The Adjacent (2013). He lives on the south coast. Joanne Rush lives in London, where she divides her time between writing and teaching. She holds a PhD from Cambridge University in Renaissance literature and she travels frequently to the Balkans, this year to work with the non-profit theatre company Youth Bridge Global. Her current project is a novel about modern Bosnia. 'Guests' is her first published short story. Mick Scully lives and works in Birmingham. In 2007 Tindal Street Press published his short story collection Little Moscow. His first novel, The Norway Room, was published in 2014, also by Tindal Street Press. Joanna Walsh has had work published by Granta, Dalkey, Salt, Gorse and others. Her collection, Fractals, was published by 3:AM Press in 2013. Hotel is forthcoming from Bloomsbury, and Vertigo (selected stories) from the Dorothy Project. She reviews books for a number of publications including the Guardian, New Statesman and The Nation. She is fiction editor at 3:AM Magazine, and runs @read_women. She is a member of the London Institute of Pataphysics, and also works as an illustrator. Adam Wilmington is a writer, poet and songwriter born and raised in Wigan. He is currently completing a degree at the University of Nottingham. 'It' was the winning story in the 2013 Manchester Fiction Prize, worth GBP10,000.