Synopsis

“Hilary Mantel and Helen Simpson feature in the nation’s favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its fifth year …”

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.

Authors include Hilary Mantel, Alison Moore, Jenn Ashworth, Helen Simpson, Charles Wilkinson, Rebecca Swirsky, Matthew Sperling, Julianne Pachico, KJ Orr, Bee Lewis, Uschi Gatward, Emma Cleary and Neil Campbell.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Hilary Mantel – The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher August 6th 1983
Julianne Pachico – Lucky
Bee Lewis – The Iron Men
Jonathan Gibbs – Festschrift
Jenn Ashworth – Five Thousand Lads a Year
Neil Campbell – LS Lowry/ Man Lying on a Wall
Emma Cleary – Lightbox
Jim Hinks – Green Boots’ Cave
Uschi Gatward – The Clinic
Tracey S Rosenberg – May the Bell Be Rung For Harriet
Helen Simpson – Strong Man
Matthew Sperling – Voice Over
K J Orr – The Lake Shore Limited
Tamar Hodes – The First Day
Alan Mccormick – Go Wild in the Country
Helen Marshall – Secondhand Magic
Charles Wilkinson – Fresh Water
Rebecca Swirsky – The Common People
Alison Moore – Eastmouth
Julianne Pachico – The Tourists
Joanna Walsh – Worlds From the Word’s End
Contributors’ Biographies
Acknowledgements

Reviews of this Book

‘Nicholas Lezard’s paperback choice: Hilary Mantel’s fantasia about the assassination of Margaret Thatcher leads this year’s collection of familiar and lesser known writers.’ —Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

Praise for Previous Work

‘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, The Times

‘Let’s hope this series becomes an annual fixture.’ —Chris Power, The Guardian

‘Another effective and well-rounded short story anthology from Salt – keep up the good work, we say!’ —Sarah-Clare Conlon, Bookmunch

‘This annual feast satisfies again. Time and again, in Royle’s crafty editorial hands, closely observed normality yields (as Nikesh Shukla’s spear-fisher grasps) to the things we ‘cannot control’.’ —Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

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Best British Short Stories 2015

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