Over twenty brilliant stories of the strange and fantastic. It contains mermaids, impossible quizzes, sorcerous rogues, magic swords, towering monsters, ghostly lovers, unreachable islands, numerous apocalypses and one particularly irritating local councillor.
Table of Contents
- Introduction: "We will all fall together" by Jared Shurin
- "There's a Witch in the Word Machine" by Jenni Fagan (There's a Witch in the Word Machine)
- "We Are Now Beginning Our Descent" by Malcolm Devlin (LossLit)
- "The Dance of a Thousand Cuts" by Liam Hogan (Terra! Tara! Terror!)
- "A Son of the Sea" by Priya Sharma (All the Fabulous Beasts)
- "To Look Upon His Works" by RJ Barker (The Art of War)
- "12 Answers Only You Can Question" by James Warner (EPOCH)
- "The Woman Who Turned Into Soap" by Harkiran Dhindsa (The Good Journal)
- "Mushroom Speed Boosts" by Ben Reynolds (LossLit)
- "The Guile" by Ian McDonald (Tor.com)
- "We can make something grow between the mushrooms and the snow" by Kirsty Logan (The Puritan)
- "The Moss Child" by Lisa Fransson (The Forgotten and the Fantastical 4)
- "Boys" by Lizzie Hudson (Litro)
- "The Farm at the World's End" by Helen McClory (Occulum)
- "The Prevaricator" by Matthew Hughes (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
- "The Small Island" by Heather Parry (F(r)iction Magazine)
- "A Gift of Tongues" by Paul McQuade (Cōnfingō)
- "Velocity" by Steph Swainston (Turning Point)
- "Counting the Pennies" by Rhys Hughes (The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Wise Worm Stays in Bed)
- "The Councillor's Visit" by Beth Goddard (Finesse)
- "Yard Dog" by Tade Thompson (Fiyah)
- "Dark Shells" by Aliya Whiteley (This Dreaming Isle)
- "Coruvorn" by Reggie Oliver (The Silent Garden)
- "The Godziliad" by Adam Roberts (Self-published)
- "Underground" by Archie Black (Pornokitsch)*
Cover art by Matty Long
Edited by Jared Shurin
Further details:
Published 21 May 2019 by NewCon Publishing.
Available as a paperback, ebook and fancy limited edition hardcover (*), with copies available through all major bookshops, Amazon, and directly from the publisher.
ISBN: 978-1-912950-17-1 (Hardcover) / 978-1-912950-18-8 (Paperback)
Reviews and Extras
"Sometimes melancholic, sometimes humorous, poetic or slightly surreal, they have been brilliantly chosen for the quality of language, story-line and thematic relevance to our passions and fixations in an ever-maddening world." - British Fantasy Society
"An exciting collection of short stories, for many different tastes. I enjoyed them all. They vary from what looks like a traditional sword and sorcery tale (but is a lot else besides), to modern myths exploring identity and the impact of childhood neglect on the adult. The characters of these stories are sometimes ghostly, often magical, isolated, side-lined, or of dubious sanity. But the stories have great twists that challenge our preconceptions of reality, mental health, power and powerlessness." - SF Book Review