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25 Years in the Word Mines: The Best Short Fiction of Graham Joyce
Twenty-five years ago Graham Joyce and his wife Sue left the grey skies of England to live by the sea on a Greek Island. As an unpublished writer he had gone there to live in isolation to write. After the hordes of uninvited summer visitors left he was finally able to fulfil his ambition and so started a writing career. Some of the stories contained in this collection were written in Greece under a vine canopy with light from a hurricane lamp. Others were inspired by travels around neighbouring islands.
This collection represents a gathering of the best Graham Joyce short stories written since his stay in Greece. Settings vary from the mines of the East Midlands to the lonely landscape of the Norfolk Coast and the frozen streets of Leningrad during WWII.
Included in this collection is a foreword by Owen King and an afterword by Kelly Braffet, as well as an individual commentary on each story by the author.
This collection represents a gathering of the best Graham Joyce short stories written since his stay in Greece. Settings vary from the mines of the East Midlands to the lonely landscape of the Norfolk Coast and the frozen streets of Leningrad during WWII.
Included in this collection is a foreword by Owen King and an afterword by Kelly Braffet, as well as an individual commentary on each story by the author.
- GenresShort Stories
404 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Graham Joyce
73 books570 followersGraham Joyce (22 October 1954 – 9 September 2014) was an English writer of speculative fiction and the recipient of numerous awards for both his novels and short stories.
After receiving a B.Ed. from Bishop Lonsdale College in 1977 and a M.A. from the University of Leicester in 1980. Joyce worked as a youth officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs until 1988. He subsequently quit his position and moved to the Greek islands of Lesbos and Crete to write his first novel, Dreamside. After selling Dreamside to Pan Books in 1991, Joyce moved back to England to pursue a career as a full-time writer.
Graham Joyce resided in Leicester with his wife, Suzanne Johnsen, and their two children, Joseph and Ella. He taught Creative Writing to graduate students at Nottingham Trent University from 1996 until his death, and was made a Reader in Creative Writing.
Joyce died on 9 September 2014. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013.
After receiving a B.Ed. from Bishop Lonsdale College in 1977 and a M.A. from the University of Leicester in 1980. Joyce worked as a youth officer for the National Association of Youth Clubs until 1988. He subsequently quit his position and moved to the Greek islands of Lesbos and Crete to write his first novel, Dreamside. After selling Dreamside to Pan Books in 1991, Joyce moved back to England to pursue a career as a full-time writer.
Graham Joyce resided in Leicester with his wife, Suzanne Johnsen, and their two children, Joseph and Ella. He taught Creative Writing to graduate students at Nottingham Trent University from 1996 until his death, and was made a Reader in Creative Writing.
Joyce died on 9 September 2014. He had been diagnosed with lymphoma in 2013.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 20, 2019
I have some issues with this book:
First is the subtitle, “The Best Short Fiction of Graham Joyce.” Well, a brief comparison of the table of contents and his bibliography will show this would more accurately be called “Very Nearly All The Short Fiction of Graham Joyce.” As the author’s notes on the stories at the end make clear, too, some of these stories don’t really work. There are a few early pieces that lack Joyce’s fully developed style and that range from basically competent to entirely forgettable, and a couple of interesting failures.
Secondly, for a book costing a minimum of £25 this is shockingly sloppily produced. You will find typos and careless editing throughout and the aforementioned author’s note contains an explanation of a story that isn’t even featured in the collection. (My guess is that this story is included in the £60 signed hardcover, and if it is the only change then I hope that story is worth £35. But it would have been the work of a moment to remove the entry in the note.)
Finally I am a little disappointed that the introduction is by Owen King, who has only empty platitudes to say. Owen King introducing Graham Joyce is like Dan Brown introducing Tolstoy.
However other than these small complaints, I can only praise this lovely book, collecting the excellent work of one of the finest writers I have ever read. I will always enjoy his novels more than his short fiction I think, but this collection contains perhaps 8 or 9 stories that are unforgettable and unique. They are quietly magical in the type of way Joyce wrote so often in his novels: almost without noticing it, you realise on finishing a story that something profound has happened.
First is the subtitle, “The Best Short Fiction of Graham Joyce.” Well, a brief comparison of the table of contents and his bibliography will show this would more accurately be called “Very Nearly All The Short Fiction of Graham Joyce.” As the author’s notes on the stories at the end make clear, too, some of these stories don’t really work. There are a few early pieces that lack Joyce’s fully developed style and that range from basically competent to entirely forgettable, and a couple of interesting failures.
Secondly, for a book costing a minimum of £25 this is shockingly sloppily produced. You will find typos and careless editing throughout and the aforementioned author’s note contains an explanation of a story that isn’t even featured in the collection. (My guess is that this story is included in the £60 signed hardcover, and if it is the only change then I hope that story is worth £35. But it would have been the work of a moment to remove the entry in the note.)
Finally I am a little disappointed that the introduction is by Owen King, who has only empty platitudes to say. Owen King introducing Graham Joyce is like Dan Brown introducing Tolstoy.
However other than these small complaints, I can only praise this lovely book, collecting the excellent work of one of the finest writers I have ever read. I will always enjoy his novels more than his short fiction I think, but this collection contains perhaps 8 or 9 stories that are unforgettable and unique. They are quietly magical in the type of way Joyce wrote so often in his novels: almost without noticing it, you realise on finishing a story that something profound has happened.
Displaying 1 of 1 review