| Title | : | Outsiders |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781916263901 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 192 |
| Publication | : | First published September 17, 2020 |
But most importantly, it asks the question: if we’re us, then who are you?
Outsiders Reviews
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anthology collections are always kind of hit or miss for me, so i'm pleasantly surprised at how much i enjoyed this one. it consists of fifteen stories from various uk based authors who are all exploring a different approach to an outsider narrative.
there were a couple of stories that i definitely feel went over my head (specifically "interval training" by lara williams and "the curse" by heather parry) but most of them were really interesting concepts that were enjoyable to read & consider.
my favorites were: "sinkhole" by emma hutton, "to peel an orange" by beverley ho, "distraction" by stephanie victoire, and "the walker" by anna walsh -
Outsiders has one of the most impressive lineups I’ve ever seen for an independently published anthology. Eley Williams, Kirsty Logan, Julia Armfield, Leone Ross, Lara Williams, Jen Campbell, plus a foreword by Irenosen Okojie... What makes it even more exciting is that the stories by well-known names sit alongside newcomers – two of the stories are their authors’ first published works of fiction.
With a focus on the idea of ‘what it means to exist on the fringes’, each of the 15 stories explores what it is to be an outsider. They span everything from kitchen-sink realism to fantasy and horror. To give you a flavour, here’s a bit about my favourite stories from the book...
‘Francine’ by Anna Wood: A group of friends camp together at Glastonbury and are joined by an enigmatic, oddly placid stranger, Francine. While festivals were fun when I was a teenager, they’re not something I typically find myself yearning for – but Anna Wood’s story really brought that joyfully chaotic festival atmosphere back to me. A delightful slice of nostalgia with a slightly eerie edge.
‘Sinkh♡le’ by Emma Hutton: If I had to pick just one favourite, I think this would be it. Zola works at her friend Jules’ ‘floral concept store’ and has an obsession with ‘You-Know-Who’, a customer who sends flowers to the same woman every week, always accompanied by a sinister message. Zola ends up stalking You-Know-Who into a date, while simultaneously trying to figure out her relationship with Jules. Shades of
Boy Parts,
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and Kristen Roupenian’s story ‘Biter’; a weird and wonderful concoction.
‘To Peel an Orange’ by Beverley Ho: British-born with Chinese heritage, Cynthia has moved to Hong Kong and is living with her Poh-Poh (grandmother); she truly feels like an outsider in the unforgiving city. Beverley Ho evokes the fast-moving, cutthroat nature of Hong Kong and at the same time weaves a bittersweet and poignant story about the relationship between a young woman and her grandmother. Amazing that this is her first published story.
‘Interval Training’ by Lara Williams: First
Supper Club, now this: Lara Williams seems to have an uncanny ability to get into my head. Not that I’ve ever nested in a swimming pool changing stall, as Williams’ protagonist Anna does. But her observations are spot-on and so intimate that it feels like seeing your own unfiltered thoughts on the page. This does so much with just four (four!) pages.
‘But Not Like That’ by Susan James: For forty years, the narrator has managed a farm with her friend Sarah. The two women lived together and shared a bed, ‘but not like that’. Now Sarah is gone, and the narrator must attempt to make a new start. A quiet, wistful story that makes for a welcome change of pace. The narrator reminded me strongly of Jake from Evie Wyld’s
All the Birds, Singing.
‘The Lady’s Not for Burning’ by Sarvat Hasin: Lubna knows something isn’t quite right with her boyfriend Zafar’s house, and when she moves in, the sense that she’s unwelcome seems to grow and grow. Told from a couple of perspectives, this is a brilliantly effective ghost story about racism, community and who gets to ‘belong’. I’m always impressed when an author manages to do something truly original with the haunted-house trope; Sarvat Hasin definitely achieves that here.
As with any anthology, two or three of the stories didn’t work for me. On the whole, however, this is an incredibly strong collection with no dead weight. Alice Slater and 3 of Cups Press have assembled a fantastic range of stories; I’ll be looking out for more work from many of the contributors, and looking forward to future anthologies from the publisher and editor.
TinyLetter |
Linktree -
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of literary/speculative stories by Women and Non-binary authors. I assumed a themed anthology might be a bit one-note but each Outsider story felt fresh and unique. I liked/appreciated all of them and even loved a few. 4.5 stars
Authors from the collection I'd like to read more of:
Anna Wood,
Kirsty Logan,
Lena Mohamed, Beverly Ho,
Lara Williams and
Sarvat Hasin
installation artist: joana vasconcelos
http://outofsync-artinfocus.com/video... -
Thank you @threeofcupspress for my free copy of Outsiders, edited by Alice Slater! Honestly I was hesitant to accept this because I've been burned by anthologies before. I often find them too much of a mixed bag to enjoy properly, but I couldn't resist the temptation of a new Julia Armfield story... and I'm happy to report the risk paid off! This is a really solid short story anthology, with a good mix of voices (especially queer voices), many of which I'm looking forward to exploring more!
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All the stories deal in some way with the feeling of being an outsider, but they all vary so wildly it never feels repetitive! We have fairytale-esque stories, straight up horror, sci-fi, and real, sometimes tender, human stories too. There were a few that didn't make much of an impression on me, but they are outnumbered by the ones that had me frantically googling whether the author had more published works. Discovering that Lena Mohamed does NOT have any other fiction I can read was soul-crushing.
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Here's a little outline of my fave stories in this collection:
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Wendigo by Julia Armfield - Two strange beings make their way across the country, leaving destruction in their wake.
Peep Hole by Leone Ross - A CREEPY AF story where a man is trapped in his lover's apartment with something disconcerting on the other side of the door.
Skin by Lena Mohamed - A future where skin thieves are terrorising neighbourhoods.
Sinkhole by Emma Hutton - A delightfully dark and oddly romantic story.
The Lady's Not for Burning by Sarvat Hasin - By far my favourite story, where a young woman is haunted in her new home.
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I was very excited to see that Hasin has a few works already, and a new novel forthcoming in 2021 with Dialogue Books! I'll also look forward to seeing what else Beverley Ho comes out with, as her story To Peel an Orange had all the qualities I enjoy in a novel, which I'd like to see developed more! All in all, I'm glad I was lured in with Julia Armfield, as now I have many more authors to watch for and thoroughly enjoyed this collection. -
Is it gauche to review a book you're in? It's fantastic.
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A great varied short story collection that's really enjoyable! A perfect collection to read in one sitting, too.
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The diversity of stories these authors managed to write within the single theme of outsiders was impressive. My favourites included:
- Sarvat Hasin's The Lady's Not for Burning, which was a great, spooky take on the haunted house.
- Anna Wood's Francine isn't a style of story that would normally stick with me, but I really liked what it was trying to say about how we fit into society and was definitely a perfect story for an outsiders collection.
- Lena Mohamed's Skin was by far my favourite piece. Exactly my brand of abstract, sci-fi weird.
- Heather Perry's The Curse is either genius or insane, maybe both. I don't even know how to describe it.
Another solid short story anthology. This year is either the year of the short story or the poetry collection...I'm undecided. -
I had high expectations for this (I mean how could I not? Stories by Julia Armfield, Jen Campbell, Kirsty Logan, ...) which might be why I cannot rate this higher than four stars. I liked all the stories - there is not a single one that I rated lower than three stars which is pretty rare in short story collections for me - but there were not as many 5-star reads as I had hoped there would be.
Nevertheless, I would recommend this collection as I love the overarching theme of outsiders and all the other themes which were explored in the stories. My favourites were Found Girls by Kirsty Logan, Skin by Lena Mohamed, Miss Juniper's Academy for Wild Girls by Jen Campbell and The Lady's Not for Burning by Sarvat Hasin. -
I devoured this collection, on so many different types of outsiders and each so unique. If pressed, I think my perso al highlights were Skin (how is this Lena Mohammed's first published piece?), Wendigo by Julia Armfield which was surreal and took me in unexpected directions and made me want to rush out and buy Salt Slow, and Interval Training by Lara Williams, which was full of so many delicious sentences. Highly recommend if you want to spend a few hours losing yourself in a myriad of lives and stories.
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This was a pretty decent anthology with the usual mixture of good and 'meh' short stories.
My favourites were definitely 'Wendigo', 'Miss Juniper's Academy' and 'Sinkhole', with other honourable mentions being 'Francine', 'The Lady's Not For Burning' and 'The Curse'.
I also quite liked 'Skin' (even though it was really weird) and 'To Peel An Orange' (which was pretty depressing).
All the others were just 'okay'.
Overall though, this was a pretty interesting anthology that explored the concept of being an 'outsider' in a variety of different forms. -
4.5 stars. I usually do pretty badly with short story collections and take forever to finish them because only ever getting a short insight into a story, a life, just does not manage to grip me. That said, this was quite different for me with this collection. With this one, I just kept wanting to read on and discover what characters and setting the next story would show me. I did really enjoy most of the stories in here and I was in awe at how much I loved some of them and the writing in them. Some favourites for me were Francine, To Peel An Orange and But Not Like That.
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It's always so difficult to rate a book comprised of stories by multiple authors. The stories in this book that I love, I really love. The stories in this book I dislike, I really dislike. The two stories that really stand out to me from this anthology are Sinkhole by Emma Sutton and Miss Juniper's Academy for Wild Girls by Jen Campbell. There were others I really enjoyed but I anticipate wanting to both read these two again and again as well as wanting to read more by both of these writers.
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While not all the stories were for me, they were all incredibly written. Each story was impactful and held its own in a range of stand-out voices. Anthologies like this are fantastic because it curated authors I know and love with new writers I'm anxious to see more of. Some of my favorites were Found Girls, Sinkhole, Miss Juniper's Academy for Wild Girls and To Peel an Orange.
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I really loved some of these stories and thought the writing was beautiful however as a whole the collection wasn't for me. They didn't all particularly fit the prompt for "outsiders" and I found a couple quite randomly selected. I really enjoyed Found Girls, Miss Juniper's Academy, Wilgefortis, The Lady is not for Burning and To Peel an Orange 😊
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Always hard to review an anthology, but the thing I love most about Outsiders is how different the stories are. Surreal, fantastical, realist and introspective all mixed in together with a single theme in common, those who feel or are forced to be or choose to be somehow on the outer, distanced from everyday people. It means you’re bound to find something wonderful, whatever your taste.
Because the collection is so diverse, there were a couple of stories that didn’t speak to me, but I won’t list them because ymmv. Instead I will say that my standout favourite was Skin, and I’m impressed that this is Lena Mohamed’s first publication; I would love to read more from her. I also loved Wilgefortis by Eley Williams, The Lady’s Not For Burning by Sarvat Hasin, Sinkhole by Emma Hutton, and To Peel an Orange by Beverley Ho (another debut!) -
Unbelievable line up! So well put together, and the stories are so different. Have discovered quite a few writers that I will definitely be keeping an eye on. It’s rare to read a multi-authored short story collection and enjoy so many of them. Brilliant.
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Loved the variety of stories in this collection, each one was so interesting and the variety of perspectives and genres was pleasantly surprising, particularly enjoyed Sinkhole by Emma Hutton, Peep Hole by Leone Ross and Skin by Lena Mohamed.
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The joy of short story books is being enthralled by some, left disappointed by others and ultimately still liking the overall book.
Two standouts in this collection, Julia Armfield’s Wendigo and Lena Mohamed’s Skin. Those two will stick with me. -
Favourite stories:
Francine - Anna Wood
Found Girls - Kirsty Logan
Interval Training - Lara Williams
But Not Like That - Susan James
The Lady's Not For Burning - Sarvat Hasin -
Weird, creepy-clever stories. My faves were:
The Lady is Not For Burning
Peep Hole
Sinkhole
Skin
If you like your stories fantastical and fantastically queer, this is a collection for you. -
3.5
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4.5
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Tiny snippets, dizzy dreams, most of them not worth the paper.
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Almost everyone has been an outsider in their life at one point or another. Most people are then admitted into that particular inner circle, but there are some that never fit in and are always on the outside looking in. This collection of short stories from fifteen authors, both well-known and new is their take on this subject.
The theme of outsiders has been interpreted in many different ways by each of the authors. Because the authors have had free reign to write about whatever took their fancy we have stories that are fantasy, science fiction and even horror. Some of them take a gentle view of this subject and others have strong characters and storylines. Interestingly this is one of the first books that I have read that has trigger warnings for some of the subject matters covered in the stories.
I don’t think that there was a story that I didn’t like in this collection, though I did have some that I really liked, see below. Reading a story from the perspective of a group that you might not be familiar with encourages empathy and understanding. If you want a collection that seeks to redefine what it feels like to be an outsider then this is as good a place as any to start. 3.5 stars
Three Favourite Stories
To Peel An Orange
Francine
Wilgefortis -
Loved:
Miss Juniper's Academy for Wild Girls by Jen Campbell
To Peel the Orange by Beverley Ho
