Dying Embers out now

Dying Embers out now

Monday 13 February 2017

Recommended reads of 2016 (part one)

Recently I've been rather too busy with writing and other projects for very much blogging. So, to make up for it, I have decided to share just a few of my favourite reads of 2016. More later I'm sure, but for now, here they are:

The Best Short Stories of Garry Kilworth is an expansive, multi-genre collection of tales by a
master writer. There are so many great short stories here, spanning many years, including one of the
finest examples I've read: Blood Orange. If you haven't read it yet, you really should!
Jason A. Wyckoff's second collection The Hidden Back Room is every bit as good as
his first, Black Horse and Other Stories. It contains some wonderful tales,
particularly the title story, which is  satisfyingly strange indeed.
This is yet another great collection from Tartarus Press.

The New Uncanny is from a few years back, but with stories from, among others, Ramsey Campbell,
Christopher Priest, Nicholas Royle, AS Byatt and Hanif Kureishi, it's well worth a read.
One of the most memorable stories here is Ped-o-Matique, by Jane Rogers, which may well
change permanently your view about what to do whilst waiting around for delayed flights in airports!

Stories of the Strange and Sinister is a fascinating collection by a much underrated writer of strange stories.
In The Steam Room is one of Frank Baker's better known tales and is present here in all its mundane
glory. Baker wrote in a minor key and is therefore often overlooked; but but if you're a
fan of the weird I feel he's well worth a read.

Greener Pastures is a collection of Michael Wehunt's superb, left-field stories. Are they
horror, fantasy or literary? Probably a mixture of all three. They are certainly
complex, emotionally charged and grounded in a strange version of reality.


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