Followers of the blog will know that I have a love of the Unthology series of short story anthologies. These collections are marked by two major features...
- The first is that a theme is passed from story to story evolving as the book progresses sometimes making you wonder if the story did change or if it's your own imagination.
- The second is that the stories are not "safe" stories but 'experimental' leaving the reader often thinking, sometimes uncomfortable but always involved.
When the opportunity presented itself to see how it all started I was delighted to take up the chance. Having heard a little of the development of the series I had heard that a relatively small number of stories were available for this, the very first Unthology, so I was very surprised to find the stories being able to progress thematically as strongly as they do, even at this early stage. In fact the first story seems to start almost where the last story finishes this time.
The stories are varied and will take you through all sorts of moods and situations but my favourite has to be Dicks Life by Maggie Ling and I find myself impressed, as with so many of these unconventional pieces, not only with the quality of the writing but the insight into the situations portrayed.
As a coffee time read these are mostly an ideal length but remember to put the book down again or coffee time could become an all day habit.
I am shortly to read No 2 and that will mean I have read the collection through to 8 and there isn't one I wouldn't recommend.
Publisher - Unthank Books
Genre - Adult short story anthology
Glad to read this; I've been reading the short story collection, The End, Ashley Stokes has also edited and interested in what else Unthank publish. Love the idea that each story picks up on a theme, especially the situation you've described of the first story seeming to start after the last.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Short Stories then Unthology takes a lot of beating and there's 8 to have a go at - and brilliant as this is they get even better. Not sure how, but they do!
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