A guest review from Jayne White
When I was a student I was an avid reader of short stories. I used to comb
the college and faculty libraries for them, especially when I was supposed to
be reading poetry. After graduation when I was buying all my books I went over
to novels and stayed there. Even four years of running short story writing
workshops for my local college didn't tempt me back.
However, since I became a kindle reader 18 months ago and a more frequent
train traveller, I've found myself rediscovering my love of short stories. I started
with the ones included in the various collected works I bought when I got my
first kindle and then moved on to explore more modern day anthologies, kindle
singles, Galley Beggar Press singles and a few self-published works.
So much for my personal story, but I think I'm part of a growing trend.
Kindle singles went on sale in the UK in December 2012 with 250 titles. Nine
months later there are over 10,000 titles and around a third are categorised as
short stories. This 2013 anthology is the third edited by Nicholas Royle for
Salt Publishing. In his introduction to the 2011 collection he talked about the
growing range of opportunities for short story publication despite the lack of
interest from most of the larger publishing houses.
Mr Royle explains that he reads a wide range of review copies of anthologies
and magazines containing hundreds of short stories over the course of a year in
order to select the best 20 stories for the anthology. This isn't a collection
determined by a committee; it's one man's choice. However, thankfully Nicholas
Royle has broad tastes. The twenty stories cover a wide range of styles and subject
matter and there isn't a weak story amongst them. In his introduction to the
2011 collection he stated that he'd 'rather be left with questions than
answers' and there are several stories that fall into that category. However,
I'm quite drawn to tidy resolutions and there are some of those too.
When I was thinking of buying the book I was reassured to see Alison Moore,
Nikesh Shukla and Ross Raisin listed as I've enjoyed other works by them, but
reading the author biographies, all of them are established, some as short
story specialists and others as novelists and dramatists also.
I'm going to come straight out and admit that I enjoyed the book very much.
I read it in a single afternoon, keeping hold of it when I went to boil the
kettle. I kept thinking I'd found the best story, only to be forced to
reconsider a couple of stories later. It almost seems unfair to pick out some
stories over the others, but the following really stood out for me:
The Swimmer in the Desert - Alex Preston: A soldier in Afghanistan is
keeping watch alone and the distant water he can see from his tower evokes such
powerful memories that he is overwhelmed by them. The description of place,
thought and memory are remarkable.
Doctors - Anneliese Macintosh: This is the story of a successful student
who quits her boring job in a shop to go back and do a PhD. The story is told
in the second person and at first I was a little worried that it might be too
'exercise-y' to be a rewarding experience for the reader. However, the
observations ring so true for anyone who has found that education wasn't
necessarily the key to a better life, that it really wasn't a problem. I also
like the fact that it acknowledges modern technology. I can get a bit
distracted trying to picture 'when' a story is if there are no clues.
Voyage - Adam Lively: Sartre said ' Hell is other people'. Hell for Joseph
Stalin is a dinner on an ocean liner with Franco and Mussolini where he can't
get a word in edgeways and his collar is too tight.
Eleanor - The End Notes - David Rose: I think this story may have been
inspired by the real life story of Joyce Hatto and William Barrington-Coupe. A
recording engineer produces successful recordings of his violinist wife and as
her health fails in later years he patches her recordings to an ever increasing
degree.
So, given that all these stories appeared in the same year; are there any
common themes to draw out?
I observed three themes that linked some of the stories. The first of these
was 'change'; Alison Moore's story features a battered wife returning to her
childhood home; Ross Raisin's story is about a teenage footballer who has to
relocate and fit into a new team; Jackie Kay's character is on her way home
after her last day at work and she now needs to incorporate her new
circumstances into her complex self-image.
The second theme I noticed was 'mental health / decline'. Jackie Kay's
character had worked in a nursing home. James Wall's story is about an elderly
couple where the wife is caring for her husband who is sliding into dementia.
Laura Del-Rivo gives us the thoughts of the angry old academic in the park.
The third theme is 'family relationships /breakdown'. In Charles Lambert's
story Helen can see only her husband's flaws after the abortion she now
regrets. Adam Marek's and MJ Hyland's stories both feature father son
relationships with an absent mother. In Robert Shearman's story Mrs Timothy
quickly dispenses with her husband when they differ in opinion on child
rearing.
One theme that I might have predicted I would find in a collection of
stories from 2012 is austerity / poverty. It's not on the radar in this
collection though. Whether that means that we're not fictionalising it or that
we're not doing it well, I'm not sure. If there are any good ones out there,
please feel free to recommend.
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