Normal rules don't apply: short stories

Normal rules don't apply is an apt title for this collection of short stories by Kate Atkinson. The book contains a collection of eleven loosely connected short stories introducing the reader to a variety of characters and situations. The stories combine elements of mystery, fantasy, folklore, humour, drama and much more. 

The scene is set in the first story - The Void - where for five minutes each day the world is reset. This theme is continued in a story later in the book - Gene-sis. One character who appears in a number of stories is Franklin who spends much of his time questioning decisions with 'what if?' which is also the title of the final story which ties some of the threads occurring in other stories together. There are lots of dogs and horses and cats - some may even talk. One story occurs in a parallel world while another brings back the spirit of someone who has recently died. There is also a fairy-tale queen who does not keep a promise made to a witch - the effects of this also appear briefly in another story.

This is a fun collection of stories to read due to the variety of styles and topics combined with the realisation that a person or location or event from another story has been incorporated into the new story. The stories, in many cases, also encourage us to think about how we live our lives and how our lives are affecting our world.

Review:

Normal rules don't apply by Kate Atkinson - a mixed bag of stories Guardian 30 August 2023

The adventures and memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

This Vintage Conan Doyle edition contains the collection of the short stories originally published in the books The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for A Study in Scarlet, the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Holmes and Dr. Watson. 

Dr Watson, the narrator and observer in these short stories, accompanies Sherlock Holmes as he solves puzzles and crimes that the police have difficulty resolving. The importance of the case varies in each story and very occasionally Holmes is outwitted but it is fun to try and follow the clues, obvious and not so obvious, and work out the solution.

There are twenty-four stories in this compilation all, of course, set in Victorian England. Times may have changed but it was good to become immersed again in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson. Looking at the range of films and television series based on Sherlock Holmes and the number of Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery series books, the writings of Conan Doyle and his two main characters continue to be relevant in the 2020s.

Tales of the unexpected

Between 1979-1986 nine series of the television program Tales of the Unexpected were screened on television, later in the evening. Episodes in the television series were based on short stories written by British author, Roald Dahl. Sixteen of the short stories appear in this book. Larger collections of Dahl's short stories have also been published.

Contents include Taste - Lamb to the slaughter - Man from the south -My lady love, my dove - Dip in the pool - Galloping Foxley - Skin - Neck - Nunc Dimittis - The landlady -William and Mary - The way up to heaven - Parson's pleasure - Mrs Bixby and the colonel's coat - Royal jelly - Edward the Conqueror. 

Written as one would expect from Roald Dahl, the stories contain a mix of humour and the macabre with a usually unexpected twist at the end. Although some of the stories appear a little out-dated they provide an easy entertaining read, especially when there is not enough time to read a novel.

I borrowed this book from the library when my grand-daughter was given a list of short stories to read to learn how writers create tension in their stories. 'Lamb to the slaughter' and 'The landlady' were two of the stories on the list.

The Long Weekend: a collection of stories

The Long Weekend is a collection of six short stories by Australian author, Judy Nunn.

The Long Weekend: Five women who work together decide to spend the long weekend in a shack in the bush. This is to be a complete getaway from everyday life with all electonic devices left at home. However all does not go as planned.

The Wardrobe: When Nancy purchases a dilapidated terrace house she makes a discovery that changes her life.

The Otto Bin Empire: Clive's Story: This is the first of a proposed collection of short stories about a group of homeless people who meet regularly near a collection of rubbish bins and become friends.

Changes: Jackie looks back at the changes she has encountered in her life over sixty-five years.

The House on Hill Street: Set in a quiet suburban street in Tasmania the local residents are not prepared for the horrors that are about to occur.

Just South of Rome: This is the longest story in the book. When Jane Precott decides to explore Italy she ends up at a strange villa / hotel. Her experiences are not all positive however events occur that change her attitudes to life.

At the end of each short story Judy Nunn writes about what prompted her to write  the story.

Creative Differences

In Creative Differences Australian author, Graeme Simsion, has included eight short stories previously published in other sources and a short piece produced for Twitter. These short pieces make up the first section of the book. Two of the short stories involve Don Tillman, the popular character in the Rosie series of books. The short stories are followed by a novella entitled Creative Differences which was first written as an audio book.

Emily and Scott are authors who had success with a novel that they wrote together three years previously. Writing the novel also brought them closer together emotionally and they now live together but are working on separate projects. Scott's solo book was not a great success while Emily is suffering writer's block when writing her literary project. She eventually asks Scott for advice which results in regular sessions, usually with a drink or two, where they discuss writing techniques and brainstorm ideas. Life becomes more complicated when one of Emily's students invades their space.

Creative Differences provides an insight into the many styles and procedures involved in creating a story that others might want to read. The book also looks at the need a writer may sometimes have to just write in order to understand themselves and their relationships with others.

Alligator & other stories

Each year in the James Tait Black award shortlist for fiction a book of short stories is included. The title this year is Alligator & Other Stories by Dima Alzayat. The author was born in Syria, lived in the USA and now lives in the UK.

The nine stories in the book reflect an aspect of Syrian life and culture and / or what it is like to be different in another country. The stories are told by different people and a variety of writing styles are used to suit the content of the story.

As an example  Alligator, the longest of the stories, is a tale of racial intolerance in an American town, formerly known as Alligator, in Florida. Several stories are interwoven with the main one being the lynching of Syrian settlers in 1929. The story is revealed using a number of devices including newspaper articles and interviews from different time periods.

Once We Were Syrians involves the writing of an essay for school about the Syrian Refugee Crisis including comment on recent history of Syrian, especially the effect on refugees forced to relocate to another country. The speaker in this story is an older lady who is being interviewed by her great niece, though the girl's questions are not provided. The completed essay ends the story.

Ghusl describes the preparation of a body for burial in Syria, normally a ritual undertaken by men but in this case by a woman tenderly caring for her brother's body.

Other stories include:

• Disappearance - when a child disappears from the streets of New York, a mother fears for the safety of her own sons, restricting them to their appartment block. Then one disappears.
  
• Only Those who Struggle Succeed is centred around an event at an office Christmas party and the affects of that event on the life of a female employee as she tries to rise up the corporate ladder .
  
• Summer of the Shark concerns a group working in a call centre in America when disaster strikes in New York on September 11, 2001.
  
• A Girl in Three Acts tells the story of a young girl trying to adapt to a new life after the death of her parents
  

Attrib. and other stories

The second book used in the How to Read a Novel course is Attrib. and other stories by Eley Williams. This book won the James Tait Black prize for fiction 2017.

Eley Williams has written a collection of short stories concerned with aspects of language and how it is used, or not used, to communicate and / or to convey feelings. There are seventeen short stories in this collection and three very different stories were used for study in the course.

Smote (or when I find I cannot kiss you in front of a print by Bridget Riley) (pp 45-54).  Bridget Riley is a British artist who, from the 1960s, painted in a style known as Op Art - lots of lines, circles or swirls. The painting in this story is Movement in Squares. Viewing such paintings can be disorienting to some viewers and this is the affect that occurs when two women visit a galley and one tries to summon the courage to kiss her partner but is completely distracted by the effects of the painting. The way the painting distracts the viewer is conveyed in one sentence which is six pages long. The effect of reading this passage provided me with a headache as I could envisage the affect that it had on the narrator.

Concision (pp 69-74) describes a long distance phone call where the person at the other end hangs up. We are only shown the thoughts and feelings of the person on our end of the line as they examine the attributes of the physical phone (long before mobiles) and how these may add to the finality of the end of the relationship.

The physical description of the phone consumes the attention of the narrator: 'The body of the telephone is black and squat and it is shiny. ... The table on which my squat-liquorice shiny telephone sits has been in position by the window for so long that its legs have notched crop circles into the carpet. I tried to work out the total number of hours I must have sat in this precise position over the years. I must have perched on the arm of this sofa by the phone like this for weeks, making sure not to struggle or draw lines in the sand.' (p 71)

Spines (pp 149-158) portrays the reactions of the members of a family who find a small hedgehog swimming in the pool of their holiday house in France. The actions, or lack of actions, of the three humans in this story provoked a strong reaction from those taking the course.

There are several other stories about animals in this collection - a rat in Mischief (pp 137-148), a whale stranded on a beach - Bulk (pp 107-120) and another story concerning a person's reaction to finding a bee in a bedroom - Bs (pp 55-58).

The Alphabet (pp 11-24) deals with the thoughts of a person with Aphasia and the awareness of the encroachment of the condition on their life. Platform (pp 121-126) also looks back at the end of a relationship but in this case examines objects found in a photo taken the previous year producing an onflow of ideas and wordplay.

Most of the stories in this book are written in the first person leaving the reader to often read between the lines to work out what may be going on.  All in all this is an interesting and thought provoking collection of short stories on the challenges of communication as well as different ways of using words. It will be interesting to read other works by this author in the future.

Single End

A short story written in 2016 about a time preceding the DCI Daley series. Set in Glasgow in 1989 DC Brian Scott has been summoned to Strathclyde Police Headquarters to see DCI Dines. He is issued with orders to communicate with Frank MacDougall, a former school friend, and James Machie, leaders of crime in the area. Reluctantly he agrees with dire consequences. His friend DC Jim Daley is concerned when his friend, Brian, disappears and investigates. Another tale of police corruption in high places. a theme which is continued in the first books of the DCI Daley crime series.

This short story also appears in a compilation of stories by Denzil Meyrick, One Last Dram before Midnight.

Dalintober Moon

Written in 2014 as a fundraiser for the Dalintober Beach Regeneration Fund, this 34 page short story involves the investigation that takes place after the discovery of a body in a barrel buried on Dalintober Beach. Although the murder occurred 100 years previously repercussions from the murder are still occurring in the town. DCI Daley and DS Shaw investigate what really happened in order to restore law and order in Dalintober.

This story also is included in One Last Dram Before Midnight, a comilation of stories by Denzil Meyrick.

Empty Nets and Promises

Back at Kinloch, but this time it is July 1968. This novella (only 75 pages) is a humorous tale about the skipper of a fishing boat, Sandy Hoynes, and his mates - a younger Hamish from the DCI Daley books and Georgie - as they try to make a living fishing herring. Except that this year the fish are in short supply. The fishermen speculate on the reason for this and decide that the supersonic planes being tested at the nearby airbase are responsible. When they decide to do something about this all does not go to plan.

As in all Denzil Meyrick books the interaction between the characters is just as important as the plot and in this story we meet Sandy's daughter who is about to wed the local policeman, the local fishery officer and the exciseman investigating the sale of illicit whisky. Added to this a ghost makes an appearance and there is almost an international incident.

Empty Nets and Promises is an easy to read, enjoyable and amusing tale. This novella is also included in a collection of stories by Denzil Meyrick - One last Dram before Midnight.

Chestnut Street

Irish author, Maeve Binchy, died in 2012 but over the years she wrote a number of short stories about families living in a fictional location in Dublin, Chestnut Street. The stories have now been collected together in one volume. Three of the stories in this compilation have been published previously but the remainder are new. The book provides a feeling of community as the relationships of people living in Chestnut Street are explored. Some of the characters appear in more than one story which helps to re-enforce that the book is not just about isolated families but about a neighbourhood. Whether the stories are happy or sad they portray a group of people trying to make the best out of what life has dealt them.

Travelling Light

A collection of short stories by Tove Jansson, now translated into English. The stories deal with people facing unpredictable situations and challenges -a man reluctantly travelling and forgetting the name of his hotel, an artist visiting an apartment where she once lived to find that a former friend has changed their life story, a lecturer staying in an English conclave in Spain finds herself sorting out disputes between the residents instead of the quietness that she had anticipated and a family deciding how to cope with a young visitor who disrupts their life are just a selection of the situations provided in this collection of short stories for the reader to contemplate.