Roads Ahead by Catherine O'Flynn (editor)

I read a review of Roads Ahead in the print version of the Guardian when I was in London in 2009. It was a little side review that said it was a great collection of new short stories by young authors. I usually enjoy this format so I was excited to check it out. I couldn’t find it in the remaining time we spent in UK, but ordered it once I got back to the States. Interestingly enough, it was shipped from the UK since it wasn’t available in the US at the time. It sat on my shelf for about a year while I worked through my reading queue. I cracked the spine this week.

Sadly, I wasn’t very impressed. There are 22 pieces and an introduction by the editor. Of those 23 selections, I thought five were good, six ok, ten awful and two were “eh”. Of the good ones, the best was the introduction by the editor, Catherine O’Flynn. She did in a few sentences what the other authors couldn’t do in 10-25 pages. I loved her recounting how she worked in a penny candy store as a child and how she would select sweets for people. “At first, I couldn’t understand why customers didn’t select the sweets themselves, but I gradually learned that the thrill of the mix-up was exactly in the handing over of the confectionery reins to someone else – the excitement of letting another choose.” That was a great line, which after looking up the Guardian piece again, was cited by the reviewer as well. Interesting…

However, I would like to highlight some of the stories that I enjoyed. I could totally relate to the interchange between the two women fighting over the discarded item in “The Chest,” by Kathyrn Simmonds. It reminded me of some of my own short stories. The story by Dea Brovig, “Ania’s Wake,” was excellent in setting a mood, exactly what I think is imperative in the short story format. It reminded me of some of my favorite pieces by Japanese noir writer Kenzo Kitikata, e.g. Ashes and Winter Sleep. I also enjoyed the stories by Iain Grant (Six of the Best) and Nick Walker (Old School Entertainment).