The House of Fiction Has Many Windows: Ashley Stokes on Unthology

The Unthology series has been a reliable guide to the state of short fiction for the past four years. Featuring work from up and coming writers alongside more established names, recent editions have included contributions from the likes of Rodge Glass, Carys Bray, Jenni Fagan and Angela Readman amongst many others. The latest installment, Unthology 7, is possibly the best yet, with stories exploring the perils of modern life from recession to Twitterstorms. Here, Unthology co-editor Ashley Stokes discusses the philosophy of the series and the state of the modern short story.

When did you begin working on Unthology, and what was the original inspiration?

I had the idea for Unthology quite soon after Robin started working on Unthank Books, though he came up with the name. First off we thought we’d like a regular sampler to showcase the other work of Unthank novelists but soon realised that we wouldn’t have a deep enough river to dredge even if the house published fifteen books a year. As soon as we decided that we should still have a short fiction component to the list, we immediately thought that we’d like to give at least some space to writing that wasn’t necessarily web-friendly, i.e., longer and maybe more formally inventive. Unthology was always intended to be a playful place for an eclectic range of fiction.

How has Unthology progressed between the first edition and the latest one (Unthology 7)?

After the first two Unthologies it definitely seemed to gather momentum, with more submissions from a more diverse spread of writers. Reviewers started to pick up on what we were doing as editors as well as appraising the fiction. Unthology 3 was a bit of a turning point, I think, in that it was here that we really began to hone the way in which we ordered and presented the work, creating runs and moods within the anthology. It’s also true that the design has developed since Unthology 4, after which we went for a more pocket-sized format. Even so, despite having many, many more submissions that when we launched the idea of Unthology 1 in 2010, we’re still pretty consistent and insistent in providing a venue for a span of disparate work that amounts to some kind of whole.

What have been the highlights for you so far, and what have been the biggest challenges?

There have been so many highlights beyond the feeling that we’re continually honing the look and feel of the series. One upside would be that through Unthology we’ve met so many wonderful and generous writers and it’s been exciting to be in their company. The Project U launch parties we had for Unthologies 4 and 6 stick in my mind in particular. It’s also been a privilege to work with writers of the caliber of Elizabeth Baines, David Rose, AJ Ashworth, Angela Readman and Jonathan Pinnock as well as others we’ve given a push to, like Gordon Collins, Marc Jones and Tim Sykes. And it has been nice to see writers like Angela, whose fiction we published before anyone else, go on to win a Costa and have a collection published by And Other Stories. The greatest challenge, as ever, comes from indifference, that the overwhelming majority of people who read regularly, let alone people in general, don’t engage with the short story. For all sorts of reasons, the short story seems perfect for exploring how we live now, yet they play to largely empty houses.

How do you & Robin divide the editorial work?

I do most of the preliminary reading and reduce the submissions pile into a smaller one composed of stories I think we should definitely consider and ones I think that we might. We both read these stories and then have a meeting to discuss. If we both don’t like something, it doesn’t go in. We have differing tastes, so it makes for a creative collaboration. At the end of this, sometimes we have enough stories we like for one book, sometimes two. After this, we set about ordering the stories in what we think is the most evocative and suggestive way.

What makes a short story right for you? Is there a particular quality you look for?

We were talking about this at the London Short Story Festival and generally concluded that we’re looking for stories that mesh voice and subject into something only the individual writer could have dreamed up. We do like stories that take a few risks and we don’t like to think that we have a house style that can be anticipated. We’re not looking for one theme or effect when we consider a story. We’re trying to respond to what writers want to do or explore. Surprise yourself and you will surprise us.

If you could sum up the ethos of Unthology in one phrase, what would it be?

The house of fiction has many windows.

It seems as though the internet has opened new doors for the short story, after a period in which they had become relatively unfashionable - have you noticed any changes in the perception of the short story since you began work on Unthology?

I think so. Even though the ‘market’ is a very small one, there’s a lot of enthusiasm for the form, and quite a few blazing cheerleaders waving the flag for the short story. I tend to think that the continued survival of the short story beyond a means of assessment on Creative Writing MAs, in this country at least, can be attributed to the fact that writers themselves didn’t want it to die out. The Internet has been crucial here. There seem to be far more small presses who will accept collections now and there are more prizes. The contribution of publishers like Salt and Coma and champions like Nicholas Royle and Tania Hershman shouldn’t be underestimated.

How much work does each version of Unthology take for each of you? How many submissions would you normally receive?

    

It’s a lot of work. Reading the submissions can take me weeks and submissions arrive every day. When we made the selection for Unthology 1 we had 30 submissions, many from people I’d asked. For Unthology 8 and 9 we had 350. Then there’s the editorial board, which can take a few weeks and a couple of meetings to finalise (and we live in different cities so meetings have to be arranged). The book then needs to be designed, proofed, promoted and launched. It’s all worth it in the end but it is a lot of unpaid work.

What do you both do when you're not editing Unthology?

Between us we manage Unthank Books and the Unthank School in our spare time, but otherwise Robin is a literary agent and I am a writer, copywriter, editor and creative writing lecturer.

What are your hopes for Unthology's future?

That she keeps out of trouble, stays healthy, doesn’t mix with the wrong crowd, remains true to herself and is always a gracious host and dazzling company.