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A Short History of Coronation Ale

Graham Swift

‘Rest assured, it was no ordinary ale that they drank by the Ouse while in Westminster crowds thronged.’

A Soap Opera From Hell

Clive Sinclair

‘It comes as no surprise when an ophthalmist informs him that the tears he does produce–the consequence of various allergies–are deficient, poor-quality facsimiles of the real thing.’

A Stiff Flame from the Neck

Kathryn Scanlan

‘I gripped her and struck the wheel on her neck, but I couldn’t get it to spark.’

A story by Kathryn Scanlan.

A Suburban Weekend

Lisa Taddeo

‘The facts. Fern was skinnier than Liv, but Liv was blonde and tall and her breasts were enormous and thrillingly spaced.’

A Visit to the Zoo

Colm Tóibín

‘The two chameleons in a glass case appeared to interest all of them, Heinrich thought, because of their beauty and their stillness. They looked like a pale painting.’

About the Eel

Graham Swift

‘We have not yet come to the most remarkable episode in this quasi-mythological quest for the genesis of the eel.’

After That, We Are Ignorant

Bilal Tanweer

‘He used to see things in his dreams and made them his policies. Yup, Americans loved his dreams because he was screwing the Soviets and Comrades in them.’

After the War, Before the War

David Peace

‘At last, at last. His first steps, on Chinese soil.’

Alice fell

Emma Tennant

‘Agony belonged to night and would take advantage of the union, increase the whirligig of pain.’

All Silky and Wonderful

Ben Pester

A trip on a commuter train takes a surreal turn in new fiction by Ben Pester.

All We Shall Know

Donal Ryan

‘Thoughts sharpen themselves on the flints of one another and pierce me like a knife in my middle, sunk deep and twisted around.’

Allegro Pastell

Leif Randt

‘It was fantastic to own a phone, it was fantastic to have people you loved in your life.’

Fiction by Leif Randt, translated by Ruth Martin.

American Subsidiary

William Pierce

‘He was typing up another proposal for robots that would replace human workers in an engine factory.’

An Occupation

Adam Stumacher

‘All those years of manipulating the tuning crank have given him the patience to settle in for these more involved jobs, and patience is perhaps the most important quality in a human shield.’