‘’It's early, barely 7:00 AM. The roads through Stratford - sub - castle are silent as I follow the truck that swerves away from the street, a footpath that funnels up between two fields towards old Sarum. It's a gentle morning, pewter grey, a swirl of mist wrapping around the hills like a throw.’’

Rings by Tom Bromley: At runner takes in old Sarum in the early morning and meets a deer and a dog with an enigmatic owner. There is a tangible sensitivity, fragility and melancholy in this story, a delicate warmth.

‘’This is how the story begins: with a woman - we don't know her name or what she looks like but we assume she is the heroine of the story - browsing the shelves of a second-hand book shop in York. The sky is grey through the bookshop window: pewter, ragged with cloud.’’

Leather by AJ Ashworth: This is a meta-story and my God, it is outstanding! The writer narrates the fateful meeting between a mysterious woman and a book in York. A haunting tale, utterly appropriate to the atmosphere of, arguably, the most atmospheric city in England. This one could become an exceptional novel.

‘’I am a piece of bold post-war British architecture; a piece of Soviet cosmonaut metal rusting in a quiet meadow; A promise of progress rescinded.
I lived through dark nights as freezing rain from the continent battered the windows of our house, my father drinking from bottles as he looked out to the black sea.’’

‘’There are days in London that stop my heart. Autumn days with damp hanging in the air and asharp bite to the temperature. White breath - clouds shrouding people’s red faces like spirits or essence unleashed. Slicks of brown leaves carpeting the path that weaves through the city's parks I love.’’

What Never Was by Gary Budden: This story is unbearably beautiful and sad and all kinds of melancholic. A woman remembers her mother and her partner, both of whom had been removed violently and untimely from her life. It is also an ode to autumnal London and its unique character.

The Red Suitcase by Hilaire: A poetic story about a mysterious woman and an oppressed son. A tale of the wind and music and last chances…

‘’Have you ever heard the one, he says, about the girl in the car and the finger scratching.’’

Wendigo by Julia Armfield: A masterpiece! A true, shocking, melancholic, haunting masterpiece. Did we expect anything less from Julia Armfield? A very special couple on a strange road trip as they narrate urban legends to each other to retain---what? Their sanity? Their curse? That is for the reader to decide…

The Nebula by John Foxx: A young man sees his beloved nebula destroyed by the twirling of a silly dress. When we are too concerned with ourselves, our ME and I and we refuse to pay attention to, let alone marvel, the glory of the Creation…

Edit History by Jen Calleja: When the history of the world is condensed to a handful of islets. When you are given the chance to edit history…

Our Father the Sea by Douglas Thompson: In a moving story, the writer remembers his father, the affair that left his family scarred when he was five and the sea with its electrical ghosts.

‘’She waits for the rich sweet morning: autumn air, slightly warm, even in the darkness; The sky just light enough to pick out the black lace of the trees. The world has a strange flatness, as though the trees are paper cut - outs in a magic lantern show.’’ ( )

Brit Shorts 2021
Review of the Salt Publishing paperback edition (2021)

This was a 3.0 if you average the 20 story ratings, but that was somewhat artificially low due to several 1s for experimental stories that I couldn't understand. My overall impression was a definite 4.

As in previous entries of this series, the variety here was impressive and even if i didn't take to some of the more experimental writing I was glad to see that it was included. The selection wasn't at all predictable e.g. I would have expected something more about the pandemic for instance, about which there was nothing. That actually helps in re-readability as it doesn't date the stories into any narrow date slot.

So overall an interesting and enjoyable collection and a short cut towards authors to watch for in the future.

The following summary includes individual ratings and story setups. Some of these stories may be available online at various journals and zines which were the sources for editor Nicholas Royle.

1. Rings by Tom Bromley **. A short (3 page) meet-cute.
2. Definitely Not by Yasmine Lever ****. A revenge pron scheme is given a reverse twist.
3. The Reservoir by Meave Haughey ***. Atmospheric descriptive story about flooding which is somehow paralleled with a woman's pregnancy. Doesn't go anywhere, but is still beautifully written.
4. Bindings by Simon Okotie **. Experimental one-sentence 3+ page story about someone trying to release themselves from the hand bindings of the title.
5. Leather by A.J. Ashworth ****. Very stylized metafiction which describes a story being written and the readers' expected reaction to it. A tourist encounters a witch's relic while reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The witch character was based on the true life murderer / poisoner Mary Bateman.
6. Backgammon by Uschi Gatward **. Mostly a straightforward reportage of friends getting together until a confrontation happens over a backgammon game. This story also appeared recently in Gatward's own short story collection English Magic (2021, Galley Beggar Press).
7. Am / Thought / Always by Emma Bolland ***. Somewhat experimental. Ghost follows an ex-lover around while musing about coins and crossing the river Styx with the boatman Charon.
8. What Never Was by Gary Budden| ***. Flashbacks after a lover's accidental death.
9. Maman by Mel Pryor ***. A mother is estranged from her daughter after an incident.
10. The Red Suitcase by Hilaire ****. A mysterious lodger stays with Dougie and his mother for a week. I don't know if it was the point of the story, but what was interesting to me was how the author manipulated your perceptions about Dougie's age. This one has been issued separately in editor Nicholas Royce's chapbook series as The Red Suitcase (2020, Nightjar Press).
11. From All Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly *****. A story about a fire at a convent and children's orphanage, presumably in Ireland as the Garda are mentioned. Written in an archaic style. This one definitely stands out for its drama and suspense.
12. Wendigo by Julia Armfield ***. Atmospheric story of two travellers, presumably serial killers based on the allusions to hunting. Various references to the monster Grendel and his mother from Beowulf are included, making you wonder if it is a mother & son in the story. There is nothing that is apparently related to the North American indigenous legends of the Wendigo monster though.
13. Hide by Roberta Dewa *. Experimental. Telegraphic stream of consciousness about two people bird watching from a hide structure. Couldn’t understand it.
14. Nebula by John Foxx **. Man has a mini-galaxy nebula that appears in his apartment. Wants to tell his fiancé about it but isn’t sure how she’ll react.
15. Edit History by Jen Calleja *. Experimental. Presents a document of over a dozen fictional islets and then offers it for editing. Couldn’t understand the point of it.
16. Our Father the Sea by Douglas Thompson ****. Portrait of a father who was in the navy at a young age. Very effective and dramatic.
17. Hair by Isha Karki ***. Fantastical fiction about women having their hair “climbed” by men. Presumably meant as a metaphor for sexual experience?
18. Loom by Matthew Turner *****. A futuristic story about a world where inner cities have become deserted. A caretaker of a city house comes to examine it while the authorities are also searching for a mysterious international criminal.
19. Going Downhill by Josephine Galvin ****. A woman makes a mysterious journey on a bus while observing the effects of aging on the houses and streets that she observes.
20. 99 Customer Journey Horror by Iphgenia Baal *. Experimental. An itemized list of 99 aspects of an apartment for sale, each categorized as if they were a sub-genre of horror. Didn’t go anywhere.

I read Best British Short Stories 2021 based on being introduced to the series in last year's Best British Short Stories 2020 which was the December 2020 Book of the Month perk from my support of The Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers. ( )