I've gone and got myself yet another reviewing gig: Yours Truly is now a 'staff reviewer' at TTA Press's short fiction review site, The Fix. And my first review for them is up there now...

Small Voices, Big Confessions edited by Chris Lee Ramsden (2006)

Frustratingly patchy anthology from the EditRed online writing community. It's frustrating because these stories genuinely have their moments -- I was struck particularly by how good some of the writers were at creating distinctive narrative voices -- yet I still felt there was something missing, without quite being sure what. Then I read what looks to be the only review of the book currently online, and I think I've worked out what was bugging me: that review mentions the subtext of one of the stories, but I think some would benefit from a bit more subtext; the tales didn't always seem to have as much to them as I'd have hoped for.

Which ones did I like? To pick out four: Eoin Beckett's short, intense character study of two people at a party. Teri Davis Rouvelas's tale of the lady upstairs who keeps leaving sacks of soil outside her door. Aiofe Mannix's child's-eye view of a broken relationship. Aliya Whitely's story of a polar bear who has issues with the number four. In short, this is a diverse anthology, but one that I think you do need to cherry-pick from.