Shhh! by Matthew Roy Davey

 

Welcome to the flash fiction library where the shelves are groaning with bitesize fiction.

Libraries are quiet places, ordered places, places of intellect, culture and civilisation. But hiding inside are words that can explode like bombs, words to anger and appal, to titillate and tease, words to amuse and entertain. Which will you choose to read first?

Matthew Roy Davey offers us a wealth of bijou tales in his perfectly formed Shhh!

RRP Paperback £9.00

RRP Kindle £2.25

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A well crafted and conceptualised experience. Troubling and traumatic though it often is.

 

I was eagerly awaiting Davey’s next book, and this brilliant compilation of short stories did not disappoint. A wild array of beautifully realised tales, told in Davey’s own distinctive style. I cannot recommend this book enough!

Davey has transformed the tranquil setting of a library into a playground for explosive storytelling. Each tale, though small in word count, contains wit, surprise, and emotional punch.

The Best of CafeLit 14

 

This year, one of our experienced editors, Amanda Jones, selected the stories. We aimed to find between 3000 and 4000 words for each month. Sometimes we had one long story, other times several shorter ones. As with the e-zine for these, we look for a combination of shorter and longer stories, darker and more humorous ones, a few uplifting tales, and others that make you think, and we also like to showcase a variety of authors, including old friends and newcomers.

Each story in this little volume is the right length and quality for enjoying as you sip the assigned drink in your favourite Creative Café. You need never feel alone again in a café. So what’s the mood today? Espresso? Earl Grey tea? Hot chocolate with marshmallows? You'll find most drinks in our drinks index.

 

RRP paperback £11.00 

Kindle £2.25 

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Buy from us (1-4 books) 

Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing.

Great reading .   

 

Buy from us (5+ books)  

 

Contributors: 

Katherine Abbott, Justin Aylward, Michael Barrington, Stephen Bridger, Lynn Clement, Niall  Crowley, Kate Durant, Steve Gerson, Elsie Glassman, Monica Goertzen Hertlein, Sandra Horn, Claire Jaggard, Gill James, Maria Kinnersley, Olaf Laaman, Mike Lee, Henry Lewi, Peter Lingard, Clare Martin, Madelein McDonald, Mia McNamara, Rob Molan, Jane Mooney, Linda Morse, Dana G Nadeau, Hannah Retallick, Judith Skilleter,Sally Storr, Laura Sukonik, Rick Vick,Frank Zahn,

 

At Play and Other Stories by Amita Basu

 

Illness and violence, fair-weather friends and dysfunctional families, trauma and rapid cultural shifts – girls and women in contemporary India deal with the spectrum of life’s challenges and rewards.

These fifteen  stories feature Indian women – and, occasionally, nonhuman females – as they grapple with family and friendship, miscarriages and runaway children, rapid sociocultural shifts, love and sex, work and ambition, physical and mental illness, aging and coming of age, and the struggle to make a living. Several stories feature working-class characters and examine how class shapes our psychological reality. 

 

Amita Basu’s At Play and Other Stories examines the struggles and joys of life for women and girls in contemporary India. 

RRP Paperback £11.00 

Kindle £2.25 

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Note, this is an affiliate link and a small portion of what you pay, at no extra cost to you,  may go to Bridge House Publishing 

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'Told in prose that’s whimsical and sincere, the language is vivid and visual, filled with a poetry of description. The narrators in the stories vary between men and women, young and old, and one story that’s even told from the perspective of a dog. The narratives peel back the layers of surface-level normality to reveal the hidden thoughts and impulses that drive the characters—sometimes impulses they act upon, and sometimes ones they ignore. '

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Diverse stories reflecting issues & psyche of a young, modern India. Interesting, worth a read

 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this bouquet of 15 contemporary Indian short stories, one of them being 'At Play', revolving around Indian women. A fresh, curious, intriguing and poignant point of view. The language is approachable, with the author experimenting with different narrative styles of narrative I would certainly recommend this to both new and experienced readers. Ciao! 

 

And So I Took Their Eye by Ben C. Davies

 

The discovery of a body on the black-sand beaches of Guatemala sparks a chain of events that ripple across the globe.

From an Italian tailor crushed under the weight of his father’s legacy to a mother challenging local snobbery on the cricket fields of England, a vengeful Bolivian priest chasing Che Guevara’s ghost, to a Bay Area therapist blind to his own advice, the lives of a seemingly unconnected group of strangers become fatefully entangled in murder, arson, betrayal, and love. These stories examine abuses of power in a world fractured by inequalities. As their characters confront brutal truths, morality blurs, forcing them to question the meaning of belonging and the lengths they’ll go to carve out their place in an unforgiving world.

Guided by the ancient creed of ‘an eye for an eye’, Ben C. Davies’ And So I Took Their Eye is a gripping collection of interlinked stories exploring what happens when justice is taken into your own hands—and ultimately, what it means to be human.

RRP Paperback £8.00

RRP Kindle £2.25

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Impossible to put down... a treasure trove of insights that deserves slow, careful inspection... Compelling, shifting in its viewpoints and delivery, and thoroughly mind-boggling, And So I Took Their Eye defies pat categorization and rests its appeal upon the unexpected. Prepare to be amazed."
— D. Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review

"Few short story collections have the richness and complexity of a novel. Ben Davies’ does."
— Edward Stanton, award-winning author of Wide as the Wind, Frail Blood, and VIDAS: Deep in Mexico and Spain

"Ben C. Davies writes with precision, curiosity, and a willingness to get close to the nerve... The stories are tough, honest, and threaded with grace."
— Matthew Clark Davison, author of Doubting Thomas and co-author of The Lab: Experiments in Writing Across Genre

"Ben C. Davies’ stories are arresting: the prose sharp and unrelenting, his characters’ ‘true colours’ revealed with an arch wryness. Davies forces us to re-think all that we do not want to see—in our societies, in our cultures. Bravo!"
— Alicia J. Rouverol, author of Dry River and I Was Content and Not Content, nominated for the OHA Book Award

- Reader Views Review

- Ginosko Interview

- Lit Vault Interview

- World Literature Podcast

- Ink In Your Veins

- Nominated for Best Book Cover Award