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ParenthesisA New Generation in Short FictionEdited by Ra Page
Featuring Adam Marek, Suzanne Batty, Anna Ball, Pat Winslow, Ann Winter, Cliff Yates, Mandy Sutter, Paul Hocker, Gabriella Reed, Melanie Mauthner, Andy Murray, Paul Brownsey, John Carnahan, Thomas Fletcher, C.D. Rose, Crista Ermiya, Alistair Herbert, Graham English, Alice Kuipers & Tracy Emerson Rampaging behemoths, giant, washed-up fishtails, mysterious briefcases, role-playing cuddly toys... The world of the short story is a weird and wonderful one, made even stranger by the unique assortment of characters that crop up in them. Incongruity seems to be their secret ingredient - or rather the right kind of incongruity, an artful one that punctuates the flat realism of most literature and inserts an isolated moment, an atomised truth. Comma's second anthology of new writers showcases 20 of the most imaginative and daring voices taking up the form; writers dedicated to charting the far reaches of this terrain right at the outset of their careers; writers who prove it's best to stay short. As with Bracket, the first in this series, all the writers here have no major publication behind them, but show remarkable skill and daring in their work. Stories were drawn and edited from over 600 submissions, after a call out to aspiring writers and creative writing courses the length and breadth of the UK. Unlike Bracket, Parenthesis called specifically for experimental writing. And whereas its predecessor was found by critics to have 'an impressive amount of control on display', Parenthesis celebrates just those writers who take a risk and cut loose.
Awards won by Ra Page
Winner, 2012 Financial Times Book of the Year
(Shi Cheng)
Praise for Ra Page
'Read this book.'
Liz Lochhead 'An agreeably accomplished collection populated, as promised, by some intriguing characters.' City Life 'Get with the zeitgeist and buy yourself a copy of Bracket.' Leeds Guide 'Fills you with hope for the form.' Time Out 'Short fiction is in good hands.' The Independent 'If we need the uncanny --and I suspect we do -- then we also need it updating... laudable.' Book of the Week, The Independent 'A masterclass in understated creepiness... a deliciously macabre collection that the old Austrian might well have enjoyed.' Book of the Week, Time Out 'Delightful and disturbing.' The Independent on Sunday 'It's not too great a stretch to see Comma as the literary equivalent of Factory Records.' The Herald 'An inspiring tribute to inquiring minds.' The Guardian 'A very alive, illuminating and good-natured collection.' The Observer 'The pairings work brilliantly, giving stereoscopic vision... ingenious... unfailingly interesting.' The Independent 'Exquisite... delectable.' New Scientist 'There is something about the defiance of language in this story.' China Daily 'On balance, [the editors] perform a valuable service in making these rich, varied and rewarding stories known to a western audience, for all that the politics of cultural engagement remain fraught.' Financial Times 'These stories tell us how the lives of these cities and citizens, or peasants-turned-citizens, are being tempered. The stories seem to say that one has to go through the fires of hell to reach some different stage of existence.' The Independent 'Shi Cheng is a sort of mind map of both modern China, and also of what itâs like to be human.' Asian Books Blog 'An exhilarating read.' The Short Review 'Fascinating reading.' Financial Times 'It might have been of interest to these pre-Mansfield masters to learn that there was a hidden country of prose out there; great short story writers, then and now, create countries of their own.' Michael Caines writing about Morphologies in the TLS blog 'A worthy addition to the immense collection of criticism.' The Guardian 'Works brilliantly... ingenious... unfailingly interesting.' The Independent, Book of the Week 'Exquisite... delectable' New Scientist.
You might also be interested in:
Ellipsis 1
Tim Cooke, Jean Sprackland and Sean O'Brien
Ellipsis 2
Jane Rogers, Polly Clark and Zoe Lambert
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