We Recommend

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FEATURES: WE RECOMMEND
‘We Recommend’ features are personal recommendations of a story collection, an anthology, a group of short stories, or a single short story. They should be written in the first-person, be subjective in tone, and include your personal response to the work being discussed. Articles might also refer to how the work has influenced you as a reader and/or writer.
Submissions are now being accepted for our We Recommend series. Please refer to our submission guidelines before submitting any material for consideration.
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WE RECOMMEND ARCHIVE…
A
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck — Andiswa Onke Maqutu
Robert Aickman — Frances Gapper
Conrad Aiken’s ‘Silent Snow, Secret Snow’ — Dora D’Agostino
Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s ‘In a Bamboo Grove’ — Scott Wilson
David Almond’s ‘Slog’s Dad’ — Craig Lamont
Hanan Al-Shaykh’s ‘The Scratching of Angels’ Pens’ — Jemma Draycott
Donald Antrim’s The Emerald Light in the Air — Nicole Mansour
A.J. Ashworth’s ‘Sometimes Gulls Kill Other Gulls’ — Jose Varghese
Kjell Askildsen’s Selected Stories - Dan Powell
Kate Atkinson’s Not the End of the World — Tracy Fells
Margaret Atwood’s ‘The Bog Man’ — Erinna Mettler
Margaret Atwood’s Flash Fiction — Santino Prinzi
Margaret Atwood’s ‘Rape Fantasies’ — Wanda Campbell
Stacy Aumonier’s ‘A Man of Letters’ — Mike Smith
Paul Auster’s ‘Auggie Wren’s Christmas Story’ — Erinna Mettler
Marcel Aymé’s ‘Le Passe-Muraille’ (‘The Man Who Walked Through Walls’) — Janis Lane
Trezza Azzopardi’s ‘Sticks and Stones’ — Sarah Rachel Beart
B
J.G. Ballard — Kate Krake
J.G. Ballard’s science fiction stories — Drew Whittet
Toni Cade Bambara’s ‘The Lesson’ — Patrick Yarker
Julian Barnes’ Pulse - Soumya Bhattacharya
Colin Barrett’s Young Skins - David Butler
Kevin Barry’s collections — Pratibha Castle
Kevin Barry’s ‘A Cruelty’ — Armel Dagorn
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Little Farm’ — Mike Smith
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Mill’ — Mike Smith
H.E. Bates’ ‘The Mill’ and ‘The Good Corn’ — Mike Smith
Richard Bausch — Morgan Omotoye
The BBC International Short Story Award 2012 (various) — Kirsty Walters
The BBC International Short Story Award 2016 (various) — David Frankel
Leslie Beckmann’s ‘Genus and Species’ — Kate Finegan
Martyn Bedford’s Letters Home — Hannah Radcliffe
‘This Beautiful House’ by Louis de Bernières — Jose Varghese
Louis de Bernières’ Red Dog — Gina Challen
Samuel Beckett’s ‘Ping’ — K.S. Dearsley
Phyllis Bentley — Julia A Hickey
Laura van den Berg’s ‘Antarctica’ — Dora D’Agostino
Megan Mayhew Bergman’s Almost Famous Women — Stephanie Williamson
The Best British Short Stories 2012 (various) — Lela Tredwell
The Best British Short Stories 2013 (various) — Alex Ruczaj
Best British Short Stories 2015 (various) — Victoria Heath
Best British Short Stories 2016 (various) — Sophia Kier-Byfield
Best British Short Stories 2017 (various) — Nicole Mansour
Beta Life (various) — David Frankel
Bio-Punk: Stories from the Far Side of Research (various) — Kirsty Walters
Hassam Blasim’s The Iraqi Christ - Dr. Waleed Al-Bazoon
‘Rowing to Eden’ by Amy Bloom — Susmita Bhattacharya
Roberto Bolaño’s ‘Sensini’ — Anushree Nande
Heinrich Böll’s ‘Christmas Not Just Once a Year’ — J.L. Bogenschneider
Simon Van Booy’s Love Begins in Winter — Amanda Oosthuizen
‘Death and the Compass’ by Jorge Luis Borges — Emily Cleaver
‘The Library of Babel’ by Jorge Luis Borges — Aimee McCague
The Maker by Jorge Luis Borges — Daniel Spinks
‘The South’ by Jorge Luis Borges — Louise Hegarty
The stories of Jorge Luis Borges — Jonathan Pinnock
Elizabeth Bowen’s Collected Stories — Mike Smith
Elizabeth Bowen’s ‘The New House’ — Marcella O’Connor
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury — Tyler Miller
Rainer Brambach’s For Six Cups of Coffee and Other Stories — Madeleine McDonald
Carys Bray’s Sweet Home - Carol Fenlon
Bridges: A Global Anthology of Short Stories (various) — Kirsty Walters
Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology — Margaret Sessa-Hawkins
Brigid Brophy’s The Adventures of God in His Search for the Black Girl — Michael Caines
George Mackay Brown’s A Calendar of Love — Francesca Creffield
Frederick Busch’s Ralph The Duck — Sarah Hegarty
Mary Butt’s ‘With and Without Buttons’ — Victoria Leslie
A.S. Byatt’s ‘A Stone Woman’ — Victoria Leslie
C
Joanna Campbell’s ‘Upshots’ — Julia Anderson
Joanna Campbell’s When Planets Slip Their Tracks — Julia Anderson
John W. Campbell’s Who Goes There? — Chris Machell
Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory’ — Anushree Nande
Truman Capote’s ‘Miriam’ — Juliet West
Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber — Sharon Telfer
Angela Carter’s ‘The Company of Wolves’ - Morgaine Davidson
Angela Carter’s ‘The Courtship of Mr Lyon’ and ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ — Chrissy Derbyshire
Angela Carter’s ‘The Erl-King’ — Ever Dundas
Raymond Carver’s ‘A Small, Good Thing’ — Wendy Good
Raymond Carver’s Beginners — Will Bowerman
Raymond Carver’s Cathedral — Evan Guilford-Blake
Raymond Carver’s Cathedral — Claire Edwards
Carver: Collected Stories — Jack Tilley
Raymond Carver’s ‘Kindling’ — A. J. Ashworth
Raymond Carver’s Short Cuts — Alex Coulton
Raymond Carver’s ‘So Much Water So Close to Home’ — Angela Readman
Eileen Chang’s ‘Lust, Caution’ — Chris Machell
John Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’ — Chris Machell
Anton Chekhov’s The Exclamation Mark — Dan Powell
Ted Chiang’s ‘Story of Your Life’ and its film adaptation — Chris Machell
Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ — Stephen Devereux
Liz Cody’s ‘Chalk Mother’ — Hannah Brockbank
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Amy Foster’ — Stephen Devereux
Joseph Conrad in Conradology — Gina Challen
Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ — Chris Machell
David Constantine’s ‘Mr Carlton’ — Neil Campbell
David Constantine’s Tea at the Midland — Holly Dawson
A.E. Coppard’s ‘The Higgler’ — Mike Smith
A.E. Coppard’s ‘My Hundredth Tale’ — Mike Smith
A.E. Coppard’s ‘Weep Not My Wanton’ — Mike Smith
Lucy Corin’s One Hundred Apocalypses and Other Apocalypses — Sophie Kier-Byfield
Julio Cortázar’s ‘Cartas de Mamá’ — Bella Whittington
Julio Cortázar’s ‘The Health of the Sick’ — J.L. Bogenschneider
D
Stig Daggerman’s The Games of Night — Dan Powell
Roald Dahl’s ‘The Great Automatic Grammatizator’ - Tracy Fells
Elspeth Davie’s ‘Allergy’ — Stephen Hargadon
Lydia Davis’ Varieties of Disturbance — Tim Love
Rebecca Harding Davis’ ‘Life in the Iron Mills’ — Pat Tompkins
Shelagh Delaney Sweetly Sings the Donkey
- David Frankel
Shelagh Delaney’s Sweetly Sings the Donkey — Geoffrey Heptonstall
Shashi Deshpande — Farah Ahamed
‘Illumination’ by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne — Claire Savage
Junot Diaz’s This is How You Lose Her — Ruba Abughaida
Philip K. Dick — Mike Smith
Anthony Doerr’s Memory Wall - Tania Hershman
Sergei Dovlatov’s The Suitcase — Alan McMonagle
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes — Morgaine Davidson
Rob Doyle’s This is the Ritual — Ariella Diamond
Stella Duffy’s ‘To Brixton Beach’ — Carine Osmont
Stuart Dybek’s flash fiction — Marcella O’Connor
E
Dorothy Edwards — Frances Gapper
Anne Enright’s Taking Pictures — Alex Ruczaj
F
William Faulkner’s ‘Dry September’ — Sharon Telfer
Félix Fénéon’s Novels in Three Lines - Benjamin Noys
Liam O’Flaherty’s ‘The White Bitch’ — Séamus Duggan
Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories — Chris Machell
John Fowles’ The Ebony Tower — Geoffrey Heptonstall
Janet Frame’s the daylight and the dust: collected short stories — Nicola Daley
The Lagoon by Janet Frame — Jennifer Harvey
The future: Science Fiction and Dystopian works — Mary O’Donnell
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Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors — Jacqueline Saville
William Gass’ In the Heart of the Heart of the Country — Nicole Mansour
Tim Gautreaux’s Waiting for the Evening News — Richard Buxton
William Gay’s ‘Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?’ — Dan Powell
Brian George’s ‘More Than a Magician’ — Juliet West
Ghost Stories — Tracy Fells
‘Clay’ by Lewis Grassic Gibbon — Kenneth Steven
Global Cultures, Transnational Short Fiction — Trish Nicholson
Nadine Gordimer’s ‘The Catch’ — Alison Gibbs
Georgi Gospodinov’s And Other Stories — C.D. Rose
Julian Gough’s ‘The Orphan and the Mob’ — Julia Anderson
Marc Le Goupils’ ‘The Cross-Roads’ — Mike Smith
Juan Goytisolo’s The Party’s Over — Patricia Duffaud
Graham Greene’s ‘The Basement Room’ — Chris Machell
Graham Greene’s ‘The Third Man’ — Chris Machell
Graham Greene’s ‘Under the Garden’ — Stephen Devereux
H
Sarah Hall’s ‘Mrs Fox’ — Erinna Mettler
Helen Harris’ ‘The Man Who Kept the Sweet Shop at the Bus Station’ — Stephen Devereux
Elizabeth Harrower’s A Few Days in the Country — Nicole Mansour
Helon Habila’s stories — Kenneth Okpomo
Ernest Hemingway’s ‘A Clean, Well-Lighted Place’ — Jason Clifton
Ernest Hemingway’s short stories — Peter Jordan
‘Up in Michigan’ by Ernest Hemingway — Peter Jordan
Tania Hershman’s My Mother Was An Upright Piano — Victoria Heath
Patricia Highsmith’s Little Tales of Misogyny — Konstantinos Tzikas
Winifred Holtby’s Remember, Remember! - Sue Wilsea
A.M. Homes’ A Real Doll — Ruth Quinlan
I
Ideas Above Our Station (various) — Sarada Gray
Witi Ihimaera’s Pounamu, Pounamu — Karen Wrigglesworth
Stories from Iraq — Naomi Foyle
The Glass Shore: Short Stories by Women Writers from the North of Ireland — Zoe Mitchell
Irish Ghost Stories edited by David Stuart Davies — Brendan O’Dea
A Trio of Irish Short Stories — Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Washington Irving’s Tales of Alhambra — Graham Landon
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall — Katie Lunn-Pigula
J
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ — Hayley N Jones
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Lottery’ — Rachel Stevenson
Shirley Jackson’s ‘The Witch’ — Ever Dundas
Jambula Tree (various) — Kirsty Walters
M.R. James’ ‘Oh Whislte, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’ — Stephen Devereux
Daisy Johnson’s Fen — A. Poythress
Denis Johnson’s ‘Two Men’ — Morgan Omotoye
Holly Goddard Jones’ Girl Trouble — Mary Larsen
Stephen Graham Jones’ ‘Father, Son, Holy Rabbit’ — Kathleen H. Story
Vivien Jones’ ‘Sorting Office’ — Mike Smith
James Joyce’s Dubliners — Mike Smith
The Essential James Joyce — John Verling
No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July — Anna Arbiter
K
Franz Kafka — Gina Challen
Franz Kafka’s ‘The Great Wall of China’ — Anton Dechand
Franz Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’ — G. F. Phillips
Panos Karenzis’ Little Infamies — Gina Challen
Jackie Kay’s Wish I Was Here — Gina Challen
Claire Keegan’s ‘Antarctica’ — Nicola Daly
Claire Keegan’s ‘Night of the Quicken Trees’ — Judith George
Marina Keegan’s ‘Cold Pastoral’ — Charlotte Osborn
Daniel Kehlmann’s Fame — Katherine Orr
Rudyard Kipling — Professor Charles E. May
Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Mrs Bathurst’ — David Frankel
Rudyard Kipling’s ‘The Eye of Allah’ — Mike Smith
Hanif Kureishi’s Collected Stories - Alison MacLeod
L
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies — Farhana Shaikh
Jhumpa Lahiri’s short stories — Shafiqah Samarasam
Philip Langeskov’s ‘Barcelona’ — Hannah Radcliffe
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Fanny and Annie’ — Stephen Devereux
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ — G.F. Phillips
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘Odour of Chrysanthemums’ — Mike Smith
D.H. Lawrence’s ‘The Prussian Officer’ — K.S. Dearsley
Henry Lawson’s ‘The Drover’s Wife’ — Jennie Ryan
Nam Le’s The Boat — Katherine Orr
Rosemond Lehmann’s ‘The Red-Haired Miss Daintreys’ — Christine Genovese
Deborah Levy’s Black Vodka — Jeanloup Pranchère
Yiyun Li’s Gold Boy, Emerald Girl — Amanda Oosthuizen
H.P. Lovecraft — Geoff Holder
M
Carmen Maria Machado’s ‘The Husband Stitch’ — Kate Jones
Alexander MacLeod — Mary Jo Anderson
Alistair MacLeod’s Island: Collected Stories — Laura Morgan
Adnan Mahmutovic’s How to Fare Well and Stay Fair - Moa Lindunger
André Mangeot — Hugh Dunkerley
Katherine Mansfield’s ‘An Indiscreet Journey’ — Cath Humphris
Katherine Mansfield’s short stories — David Butler
Katherine Mansfield Short Stories — Gill Thompson
Hilary Mantel’s ‘Winter Break’ — Jo Cole
Adam Marek’s collections — Carys Bray
Adam Marek’s The Stone Thrower — Lela Tredwell
W. Somerset Maugham — Mike Smith
‘Boule de Suif’ by Guy de Maupassant — Allyson Dowling
Guy de Maupassant’s ‘A Mother of Monsters’ — Bella Reid
Daphne du Maurier’s ‘Don’t Look Now’ — Brendan O’Dea
Daphne du Maurier’s ‘The Old Man’ — Mike Smith
Daphne du Maurier’s short stories — Sophie Reid
Mary McCarthy’s short stories — Sam Reese
Thomas McGuane’s ‘Stars’ — Morgan Omotoye
Carson McCullers’ short stories — Tess St Clair-Ford
Ian McEwan’s ‘Butterflies’ — Jennie Ryan
Ian McEwan’s ‘First Love, Last Rites’ — Victoria Heath
James McKenna’s Black Range Tales — Kate Prudchenko
C. G. Menon’s Subjunctive Moods — Melissa Fu
Seven Stories by Prosper Mérimée — Mike Smith
Erinna Mettler’s 15 Minutes - Tracy Fells
Leonard Michaels’ ‘Murderers’ — Morgan Omotoye
China Miéville’s Looking For Jake and Other Stories — C.D. Rose
Arthur Miller’s Timebends (an autobiography) — Mike Smith
Steven Millhauser’s ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’ — Chris Machell
Screwtop Thompson by Magnus Mills — Eamonn Griffin
Rohinton Mistry’s ‘Squatter’ — Jose Varghese
Joseph Mitchell’s ‘The Downfall of Fascism in Black Ankle County’ — Séamus Duggan
Rick Moody’s ‘Boys’ — Neelima Vinod
Michael Moorcock’s ‘London Bone’ — Drew Whittet
George Moore — Mike Smith
Lorrie Moore’s Self Help — Tracy Maylath
Lorrie Moore’s ‘You’re Ugly, Too’ — Mary O’Donnell
Thomas Morris’ We Don’t Know What We’re Doing — Sophia Kier-Byfield
Arthur Morrison’s Tales of Mean Streets — Mike Smith
Graham Mort’s Touch — Tom Vowler
Alice Munro’s ‘The Beggar Maid’ — Emily Devane
Alice Munro’s Dear Life — Penny Boxall
Alice Munro’s ‘Family Furnishings’ — Mary O’Donnell
Two Stories by Alice Munro — Ellie Walsh
‘The Lumber Room’ by H. H. Munro — Stephen Devereux
N
R. K. Narayan and Ivan Vladislavic’s short stories — Farah Ahamed
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker — Andrew Leon Hudson
Cees Nooteboom’s The Foxes Come At Night — Jennifer Harvey
The Dark Blue Winter Overcoat and other stories from the North: Nordic short stories — David Frankel
O
Flannery O’Connor — Kath McKay
Flannery O’Connor’s Complete Stories — Judy Upton
Mark O’Flynn — Marjorie Lewis-Jones
Once Upon a Time There Was a Traveller (various) — Victoria Heath
K. J. Orr’s The Inland Sea — Vicki Heath
K. J. Orr’s Light box — Victoria Heath
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Grace Paley’s ‘The Loudest Voice’ — Dora D’Agostino
Breece D’J Pancake’s Trilobites and Other Stories — Alison Armstrong
Janice Pariat’s Boats on Land — Susmita Bhattacharya
Dorothy Parker’s ‘The Standard of Living’ — Uschi Gatward
Nick Parker’s The Exploding Boy and Other Tiny Tales — Jonathan Pinnock
Cassandra Parkin’s New World Fairy Tales — Teika Bellamy
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘Old Water’ — Victoria Leslie
Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ — Rosemary Gemmell
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s There Once Lived a Woman Who Tried to Kill Her Neighbour’s Baby — Amanda Oosthuizen
Ludmilla Petrushevskaya’s There Once Lived a Woman - Pauline Masurel
‘Place’ in Fiction — Mary O’Donnell
Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ — Chris Machell
Edgar Allan Poe’s Tales of Mystery and Imagination — Christine Genovese
Chris Powers’ Mothers — Nicole Mansour
Protest: Stories of Resistance edited by Ra Page — Nicole Mansour
Annie Proulx — Hayley Singer
Annie Proulx’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ — Chris Machell
Annie Proulx’s ‘Brokeback Mountain’ — Charles E. May
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‘A Cottage in Troy’ by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch- Mike Smith
Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch’s ‘Captain Knot’ — Mike Smith
R
Ron Rash’s ‘Hard Times’ — Kath McKay
Refugee Tales — Hannah Brockbank
Dorothy Richardson’s Journey to Paradise — K.S. Dearsley
Michèle Roberts - Amanda McAleese
Jane Rogers’ Hitting Trees with Sticks — Carlotta Eden
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‘The Lumber Room’ by Saki — Stephen Devereux
J.D. Salinger’s ‘For Esmé–With Love and Squalor’ — Wanda Campbell
James Salter’s Last Night — Mike Smith
Ken Sar0-Wiwa’s A Forest of Flowers — Stanley Echebiri
George Saunders’ ‘Escape from Spiderhead’ — Jose Varghese
George Saunders’ Tenth of December — Juliet West
Diane Schoemperlen’s Forms of Devotion — Felicity Skelton
Hubert Selby Jnr’s Song of the Silent Snow — David Frankel
Sam Selvon’s Short Stories — Cyril Dabydeen
Robert Shearman — Carys Bray
Robert Shearman’s Everyone’s Just So So Special - Lela Tredwell
Robert Shearman’s Remember Why You Fear Me - Gina Parsons
Sam Shepard’s short stories — Nicole Mansour
Reading Short Stories — Tracy Fells
Murzban F. Shroff’s Breathless in Bombay — Susmita Bhattacharya
Helen Simpson’s Hey Yeah Right Get A Life — Carys Bray
Ali Smith’s ‘The History of History’ — Kathryn Hall
Ali Smith’s stories — Tracy Maylath
Ali Smith’s ‘Writ’ — Hayley N. Jones
Michael V. Smith’s ‘What We Wanted’ — Ellie Walsh
Neil Smith’s Bang Crunch — Zoë Apostolides
Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘A Lodging for the Night’ — Professor Charles E. May
Robert Stone’s Bear and His Daughter — Jason Clifton
Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge — Erinna Mettler
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Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s The Push Man and Other Stories - Dan Powell
Elizabeth Taylor’s ‘The Devastating Boys’ — Alison Fisher
Elizabeth Taylor’s The Devastating Boys - Nicola Daly
These Seven (various) — Susmita Bhattacharya
A Trio of Irish Short Stories — Nuala Ní Chonchúir
Colm Tóibín’s The Empty Family — Paul Curd
Colm Tóibín’s ‘A Song’ — Anushree Nande
F.X. Toole — Emily Bullock
Rose Tremain’s The American Lover — Janis Lane
Valerie Trueblood’s Marry or Burn — Nuala Ní Chonchúir
20 Under 40: Stories from The New Yorker — Andrew Leon Hudson
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Samrat Upadhyay’s ‘The Limping Bride’ — Eleanor Walsh
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Kurt Vonnegut — Pauline Masurel
Tom Vowler’s Dazzling the Gods — Dan Coxon
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David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion — David Frankel
Robert Walser’s ‘Kleist in Thun’ — Ben Winch
Guy Ware’s ‘Witness Protection’ — Anushree Nande
Eudora Welty’s ‘A Worn Path’ — David Butler
Melanie Whipman’s Llama Sutra - Tracy Fells
Oscar Wilde’s Fairy Tales — Louise Murray
Oscar Wilde’s unrecorded stories — Eleanor Fitzsimons
Tennessee Williams’ ‘The Resemblance between a Violin Case and a Coffin’ — Stephen Devereux
Tim Winton’s The Turning — Kath Mckay
P.G. Wodehouse’s Jeeves and Wooster series — Margaret Sessa-Hawkins
Tobias Wolff’s ‘Hunters in the Snow’ — Séamus Duggan
The World’s Thousand Best Short Stories (various) — Mike Smith
Francis Wyndham’s The Other Garden and Collected Stories — J.K. Fox
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Richard Yates’ ‘Fun with a Stranger’ — JL Bogenschneider
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