Contemporary fiction titles are those which focus on the present or near past. Stories rooted in the current cultural, social, and political landscape which feature characters we can all recognise.
Contemporary Fiction Books
Stork Press Ltd The FinnoUgrian Vampire
Book Synopsis
£8.99
UEA Publishing Project Shire
Book SynopsisYou will want to read this book at least three times: once in a headlong rush of fandom; then with an internet connection and a dictionary of poetic terms; and finally in a darkened room with the phone switched off and time to savour Smith''s delicious, playful use of language. A truly bewitching collection - Katy Guest, Independent on SundaySmith is a trickster, an etymologist, a fantasist, a pun freak, an ontologist... a wordsmith to the very smithy of her soul, she is at once deeply playful and deeply serious - The New York TimesIn four short stories fusions of poetry Ali Smith pays tribute to the sources, the people and the places which produce and nurture life and art. In an opening up of norths and souths, she traces unexpected conduits between Cambridge and the north of Scotland. Like all of Ali Smith's work, here spot-lit by Sarah Wood's delicate art, this is a book that will blow fresh air through the mind and set readers' pulses racing.
£16.20
UEA Publishing Project Other Carnivals New Stories from Brazil
Book SynopsisOther Carnivals is published to coincide with Full Circle''s FlipSide festivalof Brazilian and UK Literature, Music and Art at Snape in October 2013. Translated and edited by Ángel Gurría-Quintana this new collection of short stories by some of Brazil''s finest authors features work by Milton Hatoum, Bernardo Carvalho, Tatiana Salem Levy, Cristovão Tezza, Andrea del Fuego, Beatriz Bracher, Marcelino Freire, João Anzanello Carrascoza, Ferréz, André Sant''Anna, Adriana Lisboa and Reinaldo Moraes.The twelve stories offer snapshots of Brazilian life, past and present, in all its teeming and vibrant complexity. With contributions by writers from all corners of the country, and ranging from well-established veterans to emerging literary stars, Other Carnivals: New Writing from Brazil is a heady mix of the comic, the tragic, the beautiful, the ugly and the surreal. Subverting the clichés about Brazil even as it finds kernels of truth within them, this is a book that will thrill readers already acquainted with the country''s literature, and will make converts of those approaching it for the first time. Other Carnivals is proof, as if any were required, that one of Brazil''s greatest natural resources is its wealth of talented storytellers.
£10.80
CB Editions The Five Simple Machines
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Quercus Publishing Revolt
Book SynopsisA multi-layered, multi-faceted story of love, loss and mixed-race marriage, Revolt is the tale of three wealthy sisters and the problems that no amount of money can solve.Trade Review"Intimately reveals Pakistani family life. Traditional Muslim values meet modern Western one, setting off a whimsical collection of problems and events." -- World Lit Today "World Lit Today"
£11.39
Dunhill Clare Publishing Our Forever Crazy Love
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£12.74
Monkfish Book Publishing Company Open Secrets
Book Synopsis “. . . a rare jewel, a powerhouse of spiritual wisdom that you can read and reread.”—Joan Borysenko, Ph.D. author of A Woman’s Journey to God and Seven Paths to God “[Open Secrets] invites us into the most intimate of settings, the whispered wisdom passed from an authentic Hasidic master to his student. It radiates warmth, passion for the divine, and earthy confidence in sacredness. A treasure for the spiritual seeker of any tradition.” —Judith Simmer-Brown, Naropa University, author of Dakini’s Warm Breath “Open Secrets is my favorite way to introduce readers to the essence and depth of Judaism.”—Bo Lozoff, author and founder of the Human Kindness Foundation “A master teacher.”—Thomas Keating A prophetic voice for a 21st-century Judaism”—Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi The fictional East European Hasidic Master Reb Yerachmeil wr
£12.34
Featherproof Books Scorch Atlas
Book SynopsisIn this striking novel-in-stories, a series of strange apocalypses have hit America. Entire neighborhoods drown in mud, glass rains from the sky, birds speak gibberish, and parents of young children disappear. Millions starve while others grow coats of mold. But a few are able to survive and find a light in the aftermath, illuminating what we’ve become. In The Disappeared,” a father is arrested for missing free throws, leaving his son to search alone for his lost mother. A boy swells to fill his parents’ ransacked attic in The Ruined Child.” Rendered in a variety of narrative forms, from a psychedelic fable to a skewed insurance claim questionnaire, Blake Butler’s full-length fiction debut paints a gorgeously grotesque version of America, bringing to mind both Kelly Link and William H. Gass, yet imbued with Butler''s own vision of the apocalyptic and bizarre.Trade ReviewBlake Butler's Scorch Atlas is precisely that -- a series of maps, or worlds, "tied... so tight they couldn't crane their necks." Everything is either destroyed, rotting or festering -- and not only the physical objects, but allegiances, hopes, covenants. Yet these worlds are not abstract exercises, he is speaking of life as it is, where there might be or may be, "glass over grave sites in display," and where we will be forced to make or where we have "made facemasks out of old newspapers." The sole glimmer of light comes in recollection, as in: "a bear the size of several men... There in the woods behind our house, when I was still a girl like you." —Jesse Ball Blake Butler engages in a struggle worth witnessing. Amid the loosely woven threads that constitute his story, shards of crystal poetry strand the reader in wonderment. There's something so big about Blake's writing. Big as men's heads. Each inhale of Blake's wheeze brings streamers of loose hair, the faces of lakes and oceans, whales washed up half-rotten. You can try putting on a facemask made out of old newspaper. You can breathe in smaller rhythms. But you won't be able to keep this man out once you've opened his book. Open it! —Ken Sparling I am always looking for new writers like Blake Butler and rarely finding them, but Scorch Atlas is one of those truly original books that will make you remember where you were when you first read it. Scorch Atlas is relentless in its apocalyptic accumulation, the baroque language stunning in its brutality, and the result is a massive obliteration. —Michael Kimball, author of Dear Everybody
£10.44
Michael Walmer Valentine
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£17.05
Michael Walmer John Holdsworth Chief Mate
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£14.36
Michael Walmer The Lady Maud
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£12.76
Valley Spring Press AN UNFOLDING SOUL
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£16.99
Melville House UK Wittgenstein Jr.
Book SynopsisCombining his trademark wit and sharp brilliance, Lar Iyer's Wittgenstein Jr is as impressive, inventive and entertaining as it is extraordinarily stirring.Trade Review'Fascinating... A doomy, hilarious, thoughtful Cambridge comedy with a tone somewhere between Philosophical Investigations and Porterhouse Blue, as a bunch of dreadful modern undergrads struggle to make sense of a tragic, saintlike tutor who is not Wittgenstein, or not exactly.' Sunday Telegraph
£8.54
Propolis Devoured
Book SynopsisA coming of age novel set in early 1970's NorfolkTrade ReviewA wonderful depiction of a 1970s commune of hopeless, beautiful, deluded people. The book is so funny, I haven't laughed so much in ages. I can't imagine I'll enjoy a novel more this year. Tim Pears. Quite brilliant. So funny at times, and so horribly sad. Tragic and hilarious, an experiment in '70's new age living that could turn the hardiest biodynamic farmer into a Heinz soup guzzling rebel. Esther Freud. A fascinating portrait of a singular childhood. Highly accomplished and very enjoyable. David Hare. Funny, touching and extraordinarily consistent in sustaining the voice of an almost 13 year old girl. Full of optimism as well as hurt. Sir Richard Eyre. A dazzling debut, in equal parts hilarious and terrifying. An incredibly assured and superbly written evocation of an eccentric childhood that will nonetheless resonate powerfully those whose upbringings were more conventional. Stephen Fry
£10.45
Propolis The Ballad of Syd Morgan
Book SynopsisA fictional account of a chance meeting between two legends of English culture - Syd Barrett and EM Forster
£999.99
Propolis The Actual Whole of Music
Book SynopsisMany years later a small boy would say to me, 'What's inside music? If the bit we hear is just the skin of it, the scent, what's the actual whole of music?' There wasn't a great deal I could say to him in reply. Not then. But his question took me back to our expeditionary era, which did feel like a time of transaction as well as transition.
£10.45
Triple Point Press Mr Einstein and Me
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£999.99
Pariah Press The Myth of Brilliant Summers
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£9.49
Pariah Press Passing Time
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£999.99
Atlas Press bis HeadtoToe Portrait of Suzanne
Book SynopsisA disconcerting short novel from an author currently being re-evaluated in France.
£8.99
MPRESS MEDIA Sub Surface Journal 3
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£24.99
Fbs Publishing Whats All the Fuss About An Introduction to
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£8.21
Ignite Books Dogged
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£14.00
Jantar Publishing Ltd Gypsies
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£11.40
Tramp Press The Iron Age
Book SynopsisA girl grows up in the shadow of WWII Finland.
£7.60
Pushkin Press Sympathy
Book SynopsisAn electrifying novel of blood ties, online identities, and our tormented efforts to connect in the digital age.
£8.54
Roffo Court Press Life and Breath
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£9.49
Dodo Ink The Tryst
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£8.54
Nummist Media Corporation Limited The Girl in the Water
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£13.77
On Call So Many Ways of Loving
Book SynopsisThree women in their 50s and 60s travel through the most momentous year of their lives - and as they do so, they are reminded of just how much we depend upon family, friends and pets.Trade Review“A poignant and insightful tale of widowhood and other challenges of later life which really resonated with my clinical experience.” Dr Max Pemberton – Psychiatrist and Daily Mail columnist
£7.99
On Call Watching from the Dark
Book SynopsisA funny, bitter-sweet tale of one woman's long journey to find the person she always wanted to be.
£8.50
OWN IT! The Time Before The Time To Come
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£15.29
Blackbird Digital Books Dark Water
Book SynopsisWhen Helena returns to her childhood home in Orkney, she is forced to face memories that she has spent half a lifetime running from. Her best friend, the charismatic Anastasia, disappeared after a swimming incident. But what really happened that night by the wrecks? An intense portrait of adolescent yearning and obsession.
£8.99
i2i Publishing The Churchwarden
Book SynopsisChristopher Jamieson has devoted himself tirelessly to St Benet's Church and its Anglo-Catholic tradition. Single, lonely and prickly, Christopher finds himself at odds with his upbringing, his associates, his fellow churchwarden, and even his sympathetic friend, Max.
£8.50
Nordisk Books Zero
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£8.55
Nordisk Books Inlands
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£9.49
Seven Stories Press UK Farewell Ghosts
Book SynopsisA poetic and intimate novel that explores what it means to build one s own identity whilst also confronting the past.
£11.69
404 Ink Hings
Book SynopsisFrom the streets of working class Scotland, and on occasion, a little beyond our solar system, comes one of the country's most hilarious debut writers. Putting surreal and witty twists on the everyday, Chris McQueer creates recognisable characters you will love and want to avoid like the plague.Table of ContentsSammy's Bag of WhelksIs it Art?Top BoyPish the BedAlan's ShedKneesKorma PoliceLadsOffshore Night BusSammy's Da's FuneralShiftswapFitbawBowlsA Fistful of CoppersScudbookPosh CuntPatThe DugSammy's Mental ChristmasTouristsThe Universe FactoryDavieThe VoidThe Budgie
£8.54
Structo Press Wolfskin
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£8.54
Silver Press The Debutante and Other Stories
Book SynopsisIn this first complete edition of Leonora Carrington's short stories, written throughout her life from her early years in Surrealist Paris to her late period in Dirty War-era Mexico City, the world is by turns subversive, funny, sly, wise and disarming.
£11.39
Black Door Press Ltd Scoundrels
Book SynopsisAdventure, danger, intrigue, espionage, violence & sex - just another day at Scoundrels' Club.
£8.54
Black Door Press Ltd Scoundrels The Hunt for Hansclapp
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£8.54
London Books Shes My Witch
Book SynopsisA dark romance with an incendiary conclusion, written to reflect our social-media drenched world.
£9.49
London Books Category Unknown
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£9.49
Third Man Books Nine Bar Blues
Book SynopsisNine Bar Blues is a spellbinding collection of short stories that takes readers on a journey through haunted fields that bloom with laughter and music and ends in the readers own heart.Trade Review"Sheree Renée Thomas gives us a whirlpool of poem and story, a 'wild and strangeful breed' of cosmology … ”—Tyehimba Jess, Pulitzer Prize Winner, author of Olio and Leadbelly “…a feat of literary conjuration. Poetry, prose combine in a mythic discourse that combines African, Indigenous, and European tropes to explore the power and plaints of woman hood; the thin line between life and death; the power of the Fates; the volatility of nature; a desire for and the achievement of transformation.... The texts here offer a profound understanding of the Black American South—where trees are sources of shade and succor or memorials to humanity's murderous traits. And it is a sly portrait of Memphis, Tennessee, Thomas' hometown. This is a bold book full of taller than tall tales and delicate lyrics-where birth, death, sex, magic and discovery walk the same path and haunt the writer's dreams. Join her on this journey and find out what it is like to sleep under that tree." —Patricia Spears Jones, Jackson Prize Winner, author of A Lucent Fire: New and Selected, Painkiller, Femme du Monde, and The Weather That Kills “The lyrical gifts of Thomas, editor of the celebrated Dark Matter anthologies.... She invokes the rhythms of African-American ring shouts and the dense, humid atmosphere of the American South. " —Publishers WeeklyTable of ContentsAncestries Aunt Dissy’s Policy Dream Book Nightflight The Dragon Can’t Dance Thirteen Year Long Song Lokeera’s Tongue Stars Come Down Shanequa’s Blues, or Another Shotgun Lullaby Madame and the Map: A Journey in Five Movements Teddy Bump Origins of Southern Spirit Music
£10.44
Three Graces Press LLC Crash Gordon and the Mysteries of Kingsburg 1
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£22.80
Cambridge University Press Faulkners Cartographies of Consciousness
Book SynopsisCombining literary critique with network and complexity science, this book offers a new reading of William Faulkner as a novelist for the information age.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Faulkner in the Information Age; 1. Murder in the house of memory; 2. A clock in place of the Sun; 3. Invasions of interiority; 4. When ideology wavers; 5. Beyond the tyranny of textual space; 6. Architecture of interiority; Conclusion: between image and ideology.
£80.75
Pan Macmillan Spirits Abroad
Book SynopsisTaking us from the mundane to the magical, this collection of short stories will entertain and delight.Drawing inspiration from East Asian and Malaysian myth and folklore, Zen Cho guides the reader through enchanted realms inhabited by dragons, vampires and incorrigible grandmothers.We’ll meet an elderly ex-member of parliament, who recalls her youthful romance with an orang bunian. This was forbidden. Not because her lover was an invisible jungle spirit, but because she was Muslim and he was not. A teenage vampire struggles to balance homework, bossy aunties, first love . . . and eating people. A mischievous matriarch returns from the dead to disrupt her own funeral rites, pitting granddaughter against granddaughter. An earth spirit becomes entangled in protracted negotiations with an annoying landlord. And Chang E, the Chinese moon goddess, spins off into outer space – the ultimate metaphor for diaspora.Spirits Abroad wonTrade ReviewSpirits Abroad is a fantastic and fun exploration of the borders between human and spirit and life and death, by one of the best fantasy writers working today -- Martha Wells, author of The Murderbot Diaries By turns hilarious and heartbreaking - and always sharply smart -- Aliette de Bodard, author of The Red Scholar’s WakeSpirits Abroad is speculative fiction at its best! Zen Cho has created a collection of modern-day classics . . . Charming, warm and heartbreakingly relatable, Spirits Abroad is pure magic! -- Vanessa Len, author of Only a MonsterSpirits Abroad is deliciously fun, dazzlingly clever, and my favourite-ever short story collection, bar none. Read it now!’ -- Stephanie Burgis, author of SnowspelledZen Cho’s stories manage the rare and precious feat of being smart, witty, wise, horrific, and comforting all at once -- Kate Elliott, author of The Sun ChroniclesAbsolutely gorgeous . . . Just as with her novels, Cho merges humor and relatable characters with delightful prose and engaging storylines -- BuzzfeedA swath of delightful and intricate stories from a wildly inventive storyteller -- Kirkus Reviews
£17.09
