Taking its cue from the Penguin Modern Poets series, Ellipsis is a new series presenting the work of aspiring and established authors with developing interests in short fiction. Including three authors in each book, Elipsis will explore the possibilities offered by the short story sequence, linking stories by a shared fictional commitment to a real setting.

Starting in the derelict rooms and vandalised stairwells of a tower block in south Manchester, Tim Cooke's stories draw intricate spirals around the claustrophobic lives of those who occupy them, souls treading water in their lives until each discovers, too late, that something wider is at play. Jean Sprackland follows various characters clinging to lost dreams and obsessions, from a dead lover, to an obsolete make of rollercoaster, amid the dunes and fairgrounds of Southport. Sean O'Brien's voices are also those of lost souls, but souls that actively seek their own dereliction, staggering between the vaulted libraries and nocturnal drinking dens of Tyneside.