Obsession

by Sarah Lefanu (Editor), Stephen Hayward (Editor), Michael Carson (Contributor)

From South Africa to South America, from Chevy Chase to Casablanca, from rural England to the forests and cliffs of a fantasy world, the stories in Obsession, are all rooted in the human heart. Love and loss, ageing and raging, hope and desire are the themes explored by the 16 contributors. Michael Carson, Mary Flanagan, Kirsty Gunn, Allan Gurganus, James Hamilton-Paterson, Adam Lively, Ursule Molinaro, Joyce Carol Oates, Michele Roberts, Jane Rogers, Elisa Segrave, Adam Thorpe, Jeff Torrington, Lisa Tuttle, Ivan Vladislavic, Cherry Wilder.

212 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

About the author

Sarah was born on the east coast of Scotland, was brought up there and in East Africa, and now lives in the west country. In the 1980s and 1990s she was Senior Editor at The Women’s Press, where she was responsible for their innovative and highly-regarded science fiction list.

From 2004 to 2009 she was Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival. She continues to chair events for the LitFest on a regular basis, and also for the Bristol Festival of Ideas.

Sarah teaches on the BA degree in English Literature and Community Engagement at the University of Bristol. She has just completed a year's post there as RLF Writing Fellow.

She has been a judge for the James Tiptree Award (an annual award for works of SF and fantasy that expand and explore the understanding of gender), and for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.

Her most recent books are S is for Samora: A Lexical Biography of Samora Machel and the Mozambican Dream (Hurst Publishers, November 2012), and Dreaming of Rose: A Biographer’s Journal (SilverWood Books, March 2013).

(from http://www.sarahlefanu.co.uk/)

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent anthology - as a collection of stories on a theme it works very well so my five stars reflect the excellence of so much of the writing; there are wonderful stories from Adam Thorpe, Michael Carson, Adam Lively, James Hamilton-Paterson and the always brilliant Alan Gurganus whose Ode to Boy (Whitman at a Mall) I've read before and will read again, every time it appears, with pleasure and a humorous recognition of, my lost time and and trim waistline. Just so there is no confusion this is an anthology of obsessions but only with regards to another human being. It does examine obsessions such as drink, drugs or destructive sex. I believe the editors have compiled an anthologies on those themes as well. Which is a clever way of recycling the obsession theme, potentially, almost ad infinitum!

Still, this a wonderful collection of great writing.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me 5 months to read this collection of short stories because, truthfully, the first several stories were quite difficult to get through. Either due to the 90's British vernacular or overly technical jargon, there were a couple that I reread multiple times and still could not comprehend. However, the last half had several impactful pieces that I will likely keep coming back to. In no particular order they are:
"In Jealousy", Lisa Tuttle
"Saving Time", Jane Rogers
"Lists", Michele Roberts
"Fluids", Kirsty Gunn
"Spruce Him Up", Michael Carson

I loved the theme of obsession and the way it was interpreted and integrated by each writer. The pieces were definitely out of the realm of what I typically read but I'm glad I picked it up at the discount sale at the library.