Click here for AWARDS & NOMINATIONS .

REVIEWS

'The excellence of the collection is fractal: the whole book is excellent, and every story is excellent, and every paragraph is excellent, and every sentence is excellent. And, unlike some literary fiction, it's effortless to read.' - The Independent on Sunday
'Restrained, delicate, a small, perfectly shaped moment in which nothing monumental seems to happen - only it does, really. Stylistically, it is elegant, nothing is superfluous.' - The Scotsman
'A. S. Byatt has described reading a previous collection of Constantine's short fiction as akin to experiencing ''a series of short shocks of (agreeably envious) pleasure''. Tea at the Midland shows the author to be on equally sparkling form again.' - The TLS

'A fitting nod to the glory of fiction.' - The Guardian
'This is her first collection of short stories, and it is beautiful.' - The Independent on Sunday

'Hits the target every time.' - The Guardian
'The Stone Thrower is best viewed as a window on Marek’s distinctive imagination, in which the mundane waltzes with the macabre... this bold young writer is refreshing the form.' - The Financial Times
'Expertly deploys the conventions of the form, with eye-catching opening lines and devious endings.' - The Observer

'These are complex stories, blending mythology and ancient history with the tide of political change, moving easily between autobiography and invention, reality and fantasy, but they are also immensely readable.' - The Herald.
'There can be little doubt the writing of these engrossing stories was something of a personal odyssey for Huelle, and, under his expert craftsmanship he guarantees a memorable journey for the reader too.' - The TLS.
'Full of powerful imagery.' - The Financial Times.
'[These stories] glow with the warmth of the past that they conjure into life, and with the yearning for an intensity of feeling and experience that does not wane as life passes by.' - The Independent.

'These stories tell us how the lives of these cities and citizens, or peasants-turned-citizens, are being tempered. The stories seem to say that one has to go through the fires of hell to reach some different stage of existence.'
- The Independent
'On balance, [the editors] perform a valuable service in making these rich, varied and rewarding stories known to a western audience, for all that the politics of cultural engagement remain fraught.'
- Financial Times

'Exquisite... delectable' - New Scientist.
BOOK OF THE WEEK: 'The pairings work brilliantly, giving stereoscopic vision... ingenious... unfailingly interesting.' - The Independent.
'A very alive, illuminating and good-natured collection' - The Observer.
'An inspiring tribute to inquiring minds.' - The Guardian.
'The tale of Henrietta Leavitt, by Sara Maitland, is particularly luminous, and inexplicably moving.' - Richard P. Grant, LabLit.com.
'I plunged into Litmus... then I couldn't put it down. I wept...I laughed...I shuddered...I was fascinated.' - Sue Haigh, The Short Review.
Listen to Alison MacLeod being interviewed by Mark Lawson about her shortlisted story on Radio Four
This reading of 'The Heart of Denis Noble' also made Radio 4's 'Pick of the Week'
Listen to author Sarah Hall and editor Ra Page discuss the Litmus project generally on Radio Four's Front Row.
Listen to Jane Rogers read an extract of her story Morphogenesis on Radio 3's The Verb

'Lambert's collection presents a carefully balanced picture of the world's combat zones... The writing is disarmingly plain and to-the-point... a kind of narrative ambush... I'd recommend that you read these.'
- The Guardian.
'A startling good collection of stories by a confident writer. Reading it is like taking a masterclass in how to do it well.'- MsLexia Magazine
'Reading 'The War Tour' is like wandering through a labyrinth of the unexpected, full of marvellous things... Lambert gazes into the abyss and does not flinch.' - 3:AM Magazine. Read the full review.

'An unashamedly intelligent, relentlessly experimental and challenging anthology. Its combination of provocation, entertainment and migraine-inducing paradoxes would be perfectly at home with Lem's finest writing. Highly recommended.'
- Interzone Magazine.
'Lemistry is an intriguing treat for those of us who enjoy - perhaps a little guiltily - a little fiction in our science, along with science in our fiction.'
- LabLit.com.

'Unge can do a lot with a little.' - The Guardian, Best Short Stories of 2011.
'It Was Just, Yesterday is both atmospheric and menacing.' - The Manchester Review, Read the full review here.

'Hakl's downbeat humour never flags, often tied to flashes of lyricism... Co-translators Petr Kopet and Karen Reppin capture the tarnished tenderness of these superfluous men as, inevitable as winter twilights or morning hangovers, "Sadness arrived, the king of all emotions".' - The Independent.

'Full of insights and surprises' - The Guardian, 'Ten Best Books Set in Istanbul'.

'Highly engaging and fascinating... this thought-provoking collection reminded me why I used to like science fiction so much... Eventually, one hopes, science fiction will regain its rightful place - as once again stranger than science.'
- The Guardian, 20 Dec 09.
'All hit, no miss... thought-provoking at worst, and stunning at best... shows that science can inspire anyone and everyone.'
- New Scientist, 5 Dec 09.
'Inspiring'
- THE, 19 Nov 09.
'A diamond of compression.'
- Financial Times, 20 Dec 09.
'The Shieling is so good I'll be surprised if there's a better collection this year.'
- The Independent, 2 Sep 09.
'Displays Constantine's gift as a short-story writer...
- The Independent on Sunday, 9 Aug 09.
'In vivid and haunting prose, Eliasson shows how no man can be an island, as community intrudes upon their self-exile in the most unexpected ways.'
- The Independent on Sunday, 10 May.
'Deadpan, offbeat, quirkily comic but steeped in loneliness'
- The Independent, 20 March .
"Delightful and disturbing"
- The Independent on Sunday, 14 Dec 08.
'A masterclass in understated creepiness... a deliciously macabre collection that the old Austrian might well have enjoyed.'
- Book of the Week, Time Out, 12 Jan.
"It's not too great a stretch to see Comma as the literary equivalent of Factory Records."
- The Herald, 22 Nov 08.
'If we need the uncanny - and I suspect we do - then we also need it updating... laudable.'
- Book of the Week, The Independent, 2 Jan.
'A bold idea.'
- The Guardian, 3 Jan.
The collection is as satisfying as it is stimulating... deeply unsettlingly... darkly thrilling.'
- The Independent, 9 Jan.
Listen to AS Byatt and Alison MacLeod discuss the book on Radio 3's The Verb (scroll to 1:18:30 in).
Listen to AS Byatt read from her story and discuss the uncanny with Neil Gaiman on BBC Radio's The Strand, broadcast Thu 30 Oct 08.
"The prose, winging between stateliness and the coarsest urban patois, is fluent and flawless..."
- The Independent on Sunday, 30 Nov.
'Strange, creepy, often brilliant...'
- The Financial Times, 20 Dec.
The collection is as satisfying as it is stimulating... deeply unsettlingly... darkly thrilling.'
- The Independent, 9 Jan.
'Often in the last scene, often in the last line, O'Brien... withdraws his offer of a pint of mild in the local piss-palace and nails your bottom lip to the bar instead...'
- M John Harrison in the TLS.
Listen to Sean discuss the book with Mariella Frostrup on Radio 4's Open Book
"Isolation, homesickness and sex are themes to be expected in literature about cities. It is human for isolated people to experience places intensely and for the displaced to miss home..."
- The Times, 22 Nov 08 Read review.
"The desert cities bloom with unsustainable desire..."
- The Independent, 28 Nov 08 Read review.
'a sampler of the vibrant writing coming out of the Middle East...'
- The Saudi Gazette, 5 Jan.
"A literary gem that will share a niche in my library with M.R. James and E. F. Benson..."
- Metapsychology online Read review.

"Words thrive here, carried on the saline breeze of the Mersey and twisted round agile tongues into sentences as resilient as the sandstone blocks in the Town Hall walls..."
- The Liverpool Daily Post, 11 Jul 08 Read review.

"Packs more heat than a hoodlum's armpit holster"
- Mxlexia, Feb 09 Read review.
"Pick of the book is Karline Smith's 'Dirty, Evil Greed', which is set in 1970s Jamaica and captures both atmosphere and a pervading feel of evil. She's undoubtedly a writer to watch - and wow, she's not a white middle-aged man either!"
- Reviewing the Evidence, May 08 Read review.
"'A triumph of editing... Based on this showing, a regular schedule of Comma Press anthologies might just turn into the next Granta...' "
- The Short Review, Apr 08 Read review.
"Erudite and perceptive..."
- Time Out, June 08 Read review.
"This is an excellent and highly imaginative first collection of stories by a writer who is not afraid to approach the big subject, mortality..."
- The Independent on Sunday, 6 Jan 08 Read review.
"Far from morbid, each bizarrely comic tale has a peculiar interior logic and, although the humour is invariably gothic, it's also clever and oddly passionate. . .
Wistful, dream-like. . . strangly beautiful. . .
Shearman applies an oddball comic whimsy that doesn't deny the darkness of his stories, but transmutes into something that, through its oddity, becomes comprehensible."
- The Metro, 10 December 07. Read review.
"Disturbing and caustic, the stories in this entertaining first collection robustly tackle their unusual subject matter."
- The Guardian, 8 December 07 Read review.
""Space age Beckett."
- The TLS, 11 Jan 08 Read review.
"There's a transgressive thrill to Adam Marek's debut collection of short stories that's not simply a result of the potency of the subject matter... tales as playful and emotionally resonant as they are disturbing... delightful."
- The Guardian, 10 November 07 Read review.
"Genuine, unsettling talent"
- The Independent, 7 December 07 Read review.
"A rewarding read"
- The Guardian, 5 January 08 Read review.
"An effective collection"
- The Independent on Sunday, 24 June 07 Read review.
"A rewarding anthology"
- The Guardian, 16 June 07 Read review.
"A stunning collection that could give you goosebumps even in the height of summer."
- Leeds Guide, 13 June 07 Read review.
"A stellar collection."
- The Times online.
"Europe is heavy with history and the trace left by cataclysm and upheaval. These are present in these tales, and yet coexist with a kind of wry and knowing playfulness."
- A.S. Byatt in The Times, 9 Dec 06 Read review.
"Acquaint yourself with these fresh and varied new literary voices."
- The Independent on Sunday, 3 Dec 06 Read review.
"A fine streetwise cacophony."
- The Independent, 24 Nov 06.
. "Manchester is fast becoming the UK's most influential centre for short story writing, and much of this is due to the passionate championing of the genre by Ra Page, founder of Comma Press."
- The Guardian, 2 Sep 06 Read review.
"The perfect read for a few spare moments"
- Girls on Film network Read review.
"There isn't one dud. What's most fun is the inventive ways the contributors have responded to the theme."
- The Observer, 24 Sep 06 Read review.
"A sharp and imaginative anthology... they're onto a winner."
- Sharon Wheeler, Reviewing the Evidence, Oct 06 Read review.
"If our heart is heavy with desire it is almost impossible to enjoy our surroundings, no matter how lovely they are...."
- Frieda Hughes' Poetry & Painting column in The Times, 18 June 07. Read column.
"Hers is a magical viewpint that illuminates dark corners."
- Northern Exposure, July 06. Read review.
"I love where I live in west central Halifax; I love the mix of people, the beautiful washing hanging on the line. The mosques' sounds. It's all got an exotic feel to it, which a lot of the town doesn't have."
- Gaia Holmes interview, Nothern Exposures, July 06. Read review.
"Reasserts and cherishes the short story form's ingrained oddness, its unique kind of drama and its potential to surprise."
- Independent on Sunday, 28 May 2006 Read review.
"This book is a true rarity."
- Aethetica Magazine, November 2006 Read review.
"Takes readers on nail-biting adventures... vital and imaginative."
- Big Issue in the North, 3 April 2006 Read review.
"Another outstanding collection of short fiction... Parenthesis' writers are so confident and assured it's hard to believe they are at the start of their careers. It's obvious some of them are going to be huge."
- Leeds Guide, 31st May 2006 Read review. "This collection is a triumphant return to poetry for Denby, whose energy burns off the page."
- Northern Exposure, July 06. Read review.

"Sprackland's stories combine narrative energy with affecting compassion for her troubled characters... she has now arrived as a short story writer. Tim Cooke is another extremely exciting author...bold...and skilled."
- Time Out, 31 Aug 2005. Read review.
"Even in their stand-alone form, [these stories] are dense, layered and suggestive pieces that benefit from a second or third read and reward with intense stories that get under the skin..."
- City Life, 21 Sep 2005. Read review.
"An edgy and original collection that adds up to something more than the sum of its parts.".
- Leeds Guide 'Book of the Fortnight', Wed 30 Nov-Thu 15 Dec 2005 Read review.
"Cooke writes stories about loners, isolated and paranoid individuals in a fragmented world".
- Leeds Guide 'Feature Interview', Wed 08 Feb-Thu 23 Feb 2006 Read review.

'Constantine is writing for his life. Every sentence and paragraph is shaped, tense with meaning and unobtrusively beautiful, his images of the natural world burning their way into the reader's mind...
- Maggie Gee, reviewing William Trevor's Cheating at Canasta, The Sunday Times, 22 Jul 2007.
End of Year Picks:
'I reviewed David Constantine's wonderful stories, Under the Dam (Comma Press), for the Guardian, and am still thinking about the quality of the writing."
- AS Byatt, Books of the Year, The Guardian, 26 Nov 2005.
'Flawless but unsettling'
- Boyd Tonkin, Christmas Books Special, The Independent, 2 Dec 2005.
Reviews:
'I started reading these stories quietly, and then became obsessed, read them all fast, and started reading them again and again.... The description of the estuary is one of the best descriptions of the surface of the Earth I have ever read.'
- AS Byatt, Book of the Week, The Guardian, 18 June 2005. Read review.
"A superb collection"
- The Independent, 8 Jun 2005. Read review.
'Absorbing, incantatory poetic rhythms and startlingly lucid images... admirable control and precision.
- T.L.S., 14 Aug 2005. Read review.
"A tapestry of beauty and melancholy...Extraordinary writing."
- Write Words. Read review.
'If you've been thus far unconvinced of the importance of short stories, this should clinch it...Ra Page has frequently commissioned fiction from poets, but none with such success as Under The Dam.'
- City Life. Read review.

"Fills you with hope for the form"
- Time Out, 2 Feb 2005. Read review.
"Short fiction is in good hands"
- Independent on Sunday, 13 Mar 2005. Read review.
"The stories fizz and ricochet like atoms in an accelerator."
- Mslexia. Read review.
"Get with the zeitgeist and buy yourself a copy of Bracket"
- Leeds Guide, 26 Jan 2005. Read review.
"An agreeably accomplished collection populated, as promised, by some intriguing characters"
- City Life, 9 Dec 2004. Read review.
"A high-risk endeavour that paid dividends"
- The Metro, August 9th, 2005. Read review.
"Interview with writer Zoe Lambert"
- The Metro, March 13th, 2006.Read interview.

"Occasionally a book appears to prove that reports of the death of poetry are greatly exaggerated. Helen Clare's Mollusc does just that. "
- Observer, Reader's picks of the year, 18 Dec 2005. Read review.
"Helen Clare is exquisitely aware of the oral (and aural) properties of language...Poetry rarely has the power to shock these days, but I think Helen Clare's can do it"
- Ambit, Mar 2005. Read review.
"Clare is technically controlled, clever, erudite and often surprising. "
- The Penniless Press, Feb 2006. Read review.

by Tariq Mehmood "A departure in the writing about the Asian experience in Britain"
- The Guardian, 27 Dec 03. Read review.
"While There is Light is both hard hitting and entirely believable - a subtle yet poignant novel"
- The Big Issue in the North, Dec 8-14 2003. Read review.
"This fine, many-sided novel with a powerful close is authentic, and so tells one about life.
- L.R. Leavis in English Studies, Vol 86, No 6, December 2005, 536-544. Read review.
"A book which is political without being mere polemic, and angry without alienating its readers. And which is a very good novel indeed."
- The Leeds Guide, 24 Dec 2003-15 Jan 2004. Read review.

by John Latham "Engrossing - both above and below the ground"
- City Life, 16 Sep 2004. Read review. "Without doubt one of the best British anthologies of the last few years"
- Time Out, Aug 2003.
"With anthologies of this calibre, the short story can hold its head up high"
- Leeds Guide, 25 Mar 2003. Read review.
"There's a freshness and excitement about the anthology...The stories are experimental and innovative, taking risks to achieve something interesting and worthwhile."
- The Reader, Aug 2003. Read review. "Some of these authors have published stories before, but for many of them it's a new experience, and it shows. In a good way. "
- Time Out. Read review.
"The stories range from funny to tragic and from surrealism to realism. As you'd expect from poets who pride themselves on using just the right words with no baggy surpluses, they are all intense experiences. "
- City Life. Read review.
"Home is Where is an astounding debut, and Heather Beck's rare talent makes art out of the ordinariness of everyday life."
- City Life. Read review.
"Mrs Coop is a vivid and detailed creation... Stay with it [...] and you'll find your efforts amply repaid."
- The Big Issue in the North. Read review.