I'm utterly delighted to say that Fauna has made it to the shortlist for the 2022 Saboteur Awards in the Best Short Story Collection category! This is amazing and I'm eternally grateful to everyone who voted in round one. Round two is also a public vote and, if you feel so inclined, you can cast your ballot with a click of a button over here: https://sabotagereviews.com/2022/04/14/saboteur-awards-festival-2022-the-shortlists/
As you can see, I'm up against some stiff competition. No One Has Any Intention of Building a Wall is the excellent collection by Ruth Brandt also published by Fly on the Wall Press. The tales in its pages explore the shifting, chameleon nature of humanity and deftly show us that we are complicated creatures in a complicated world. I confess I haven't read Sara Hills' The Evolution of Birds but given the avian-front-cover connection, I'm very much looking forward to snapping up a copy and taking a look. Published by Ad Hoc Fiction it's described by Kathy Fish as 'wild and raw and compellingly electric, Hills's stories and the characters who inhabit them, will sear themselves into your heart and brain.'
I'm very familiar with Laura Besley's brilliant 100neHundred as Laura and I were launch buddies when my other collection Incorcisms was released in May last year. We had a rollicking good time co-launching and it was a delight to get to know Laura and her words. The collection is 100 stories each exactly 100 words long, a centurion of delicate and profound tales weightier than many an over-bloated novel. It takes a particular skill to create genius from miniature but that's what Laura has achieved.
So, yeah - that's quite the fight for the crown. But hey, it doesn't matter who wins, what matters is that it boosts all our profiles and hopefully gets our collections under the noses of new readers. To that end, if you're keen on purchasing Fauna, I'm currently doing a limited flash sale on my bookshop - £6.50 for Fauna, £6 for Incorcisms or £12 for both. Those are some hot, hot savings so grab 'em while I'm feeling generous!
And if you're super intrigued about the stories behind the stories of Fauna, I direct you to my interview with writer Joe Bedford where we delved deep into my ideas and inspirations.
Finally, as always:
