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Being Dad: Short Stories About Fatherhood
WINNER: BEST ANTHOLOGY 2016, SABOTEUR AWARDS
Fatherhood is in a state of flux. Gone are the simplistic gender roles of yesteryear, the clear divisions between mothers and fathers. More dads than ever before are staying home to be full-time parents to their children; those that work often find themselves part of a working partnership, their kids spending as much time with childminders and nannies as they do with their parents. As society changes its expectations, the question must be asked: what does it mean to be a father?
In Being Dad, sixteen contemporary writers - all fathers themselves - explore the highs and lows of fatherhood through sixteen new short stories. From protective instincts gone awry to the ghosts of our fathers haunting every parenting decision, these stories shine a light on what it means to be a father in the twenty-first century. Featuring new stories by: Toby Litt, Nikesh Shukla, Dan Rhodes, Courttia Newland, Nicholas Royle, Johnny Mains, Dan Powell, Rodge Glass, R.J. Price, Tim Sykes, Lander Hawes, Andrew McDonnell, Iain Robinson, Richard W. Strachan, Richard V. Hirst and Samuel Wright.
Fatherhood is in a state of flux. Gone are the simplistic gender roles of yesteryear, the clear divisions between mothers and fathers. More dads than ever before are staying home to be full-time parents to their children; those that work often find themselves part of a working partnership, their kids spending as much time with childminders and nannies as they do with their parents. As society changes its expectations, the question must be asked: what does it mean to be a father?
In Being Dad, sixteen contemporary writers - all fathers themselves - explore the highs and lows of fatherhood through sixteen new short stories. From protective instincts gone awry to the ghosts of our fathers haunting every parenting decision, these stories shine a light on what it means to be a father in the twenty-first century. Featuring new stories by: Toby Litt, Nikesh Shukla, Dan Rhodes, Courttia Newland, Nicholas Royle, Johnny Mains, Dan Powell, Rodge Glass, R.J. Price, Tim Sykes, Lander Hawes, Andrew McDonnell, Iain Robinson, Richard W. Strachan, Richard V. Hirst and Samuel Wright.
200 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2016
75 people want to read
About the author
Dan Coxon
48 books71 followersDan Coxon is an award-winning editor and writer based in London. His non-fiction anthology Writing The Uncanny (co-edited with Richard V. Hirst) won the British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction 2022, while his short story collection Only The Broken Remain (Black Shuck Books) was shortlisted for two British Fantasy Awards in 2021 (Best Collection, Best Newcomer). In 2018 his anthology of British folk-horror, This Dreaming Isle (Unsung Stories), was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award and a Shirley Jackson Award. His short stories have appeared in various anthologies, including Nox Pareidolia, Beyond the Veil, Mother: Tales of Love and Terror and Fiends in the Furrows III. His latest anthology - Isolation - was published by Titan Books in September 2022.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 9, 2016
A terrible way to review a book is to review what the book is not. UNLESS it promises to be something and then doesn't deliver.
This collection does not in my opinion "explore the highs and lows of being a father". Some of the stories have a link to fatherhood so tenuous the book could also claim they are about trees since they are printed on paper. Some of the stories are awful, like really, shockingly amateurish and dull. Most of them are depressing, about failed fatherhood, failed marriages, absent fathers. In one section of my favourite story, there is a heartfelt eulogy to holding your infant children, and it's wonderful. The book REALLY needed more of that.
One story is downright racist and stupid, about a Gujurati (Indian) father ranting about how he lives in "white culture" and how this is a terrible bad thing. The irony of a story that bemoans how he as an Indian is oft mislabeled or lumped in with Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis etc. and then goes on to vilify "white culture" threatens to turn the reader inside out, that's how ironic and just dumb that is. i was very close to stopping reading at this nadir, but I'm glad I didn't. I know a story is just a story, but this one really rubbed me the wrong way, and sloppy writing like this doesn't do anybody any favours.
The collection is saved by three or four good stories. The two at the end in particular are great, and for this the collection gets 3 stars from me. However, it could easily have been 2 stars, but a reader is never going to love all the stories in an anthology, and I'll happily give five stars to one that contains 3 or 4 stories that blow me away even if the rest is filler. This collection is at least well edited, particularly for a crowdfunded book--I've been burned before many times--but falls down somewhat on the balance of stories, the lack of more quality writing, and its failure to live up to its own sales pitch.
This collection does not in my opinion "explore the highs and lows of being a father". Some of the stories have a link to fatherhood so tenuous the book could also claim they are about trees since they are printed on paper. Some of the stories are awful, like really, shockingly amateurish and dull. Most of them are depressing, about failed fatherhood, failed marriages, absent fathers. In one section of my favourite story, there is a heartfelt eulogy to holding your infant children, and it's wonderful. The book REALLY needed more of that.
One story is downright racist and stupid, about a Gujurati (Indian) father ranting about how he lives in "white culture" and how this is a terrible bad thing. The irony of a story that bemoans how he as an Indian is oft mislabeled or lumped in with Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans, Pakistanis etc. and then goes on to vilify "white culture" threatens to turn the reader inside out, that's how ironic and just dumb that is. i was very close to stopping reading at this nadir, but I'm glad I didn't. I know a story is just a story, but this one really rubbed me the wrong way, and sloppy writing like this doesn't do anybody any favours.
The collection is saved by three or four good stories. The two at the end in particular are great, and for this the collection gets 3 stars from me. However, it could easily have been 2 stars, but a reader is never going to love all the stories in an anthology, and I'll happily give five stars to one that contains 3 or 4 stories that blow me away even if the rest is filler. This collection is at least well edited, particularly for a crowdfunded book--I've been burned before many times--but falls down somewhat on the balance of stories, the lack of more quality writing, and its failure to live up to its own sales pitch.
June 20, 2019
This is a great little collection. Many of the stories are about loss/separation/disfunction. Perhaps the balance could have been a little more positive overall, but every story was worth reading.
Recommended for all other new dads out there!
Recommended for all other new dads out there!
February 17, 2020
20% absolutely brilliant, interesting and poignant 80% awful.
July 20, 2016
Being Dad published by Tangent Books and edited by Dan Coxon is an anthology of short stories of fatherhood from fifteen contemporary writers. Every single story is presented with such poignancy that any father will read and find themselves lost in the words of being just that a father.
The sheer beauty of this fabulous book is that there are no answers to the many questions posed by fatherhood but more the case of them sharing the everyday moments of everything that being a father is, the joy, the love and along the journey the pain. But these stories also pose the questions that every father will recognise it is a sheer joy to read. Recently Being Dad won the Best Anthology Prize at the Saboteur Awards 2016. Writers who have written short stories are Toby Litt, Courttia Newland, Dan Powell, Nikesh Shukla and Nicholas Royale with many more adding their own personal take on what a father means to them.
As with each of the stories each one is unique and a personal perspective of being a father and what it means to that writer. The quality of the writing from each is outstanding. I guess the one thing that binds us all is that we all have a father sometimes though the father is missing and this is spoken about in Being Dad words that will resonate with some readers. The one thing that does come through the near 200 pages is Being Dad is that moment from birth the nappies the feeding during the nights the teenage years and tantrums that go along with this and then there is inevitable arguments and rows, there is love and then there is the talk of loss and also of death. Along the way there is great humour as there should be about Being Dad and that is the strength of this beautiful book is the words that shine through are poetry about what it means to be a father.
If you are a short story aficionado you will rejoice at this wonderful book that should hailed as a success by everyone involved and I just hope that one day we will see a book called ‘Being Mum.’ I urge you to read this and not be affected by it. Being Dad is a joy to read.
Thank you to Dan Coxon for a review copy of Being Dad
The sheer beauty of this fabulous book is that there are no answers to the many questions posed by fatherhood but more the case of them sharing the everyday moments of everything that being a father is, the joy, the love and along the journey the pain. But these stories also pose the questions that every father will recognise it is a sheer joy to read. Recently Being Dad won the Best Anthology Prize at the Saboteur Awards 2016. Writers who have written short stories are Toby Litt, Courttia Newland, Dan Powell, Nikesh Shukla and Nicholas Royale with many more adding their own personal take on what a father means to them.
As with each of the stories each one is unique and a personal perspective of being a father and what it means to that writer. The quality of the writing from each is outstanding. I guess the one thing that binds us all is that we all have a father sometimes though the father is missing and this is spoken about in Being Dad words that will resonate with some readers. The one thing that does come through the near 200 pages is Being Dad is that moment from birth the nappies the feeding during the nights the teenage years and tantrums that go along with this and then there is inevitable arguments and rows, there is love and then there is the talk of loss and also of death. Along the way there is great humour as there should be about Being Dad and that is the strength of this beautiful book is the words that shine through are poetry about what it means to be a father.
If you are a short story aficionado you will rejoice at this wonderful book that should hailed as a success by everyone involved and I just hope that one day we will see a book called ‘Being Mum.’ I urge you to read this and not be affected by it. Being Dad is a joy to read.
Thank you to Dan Coxon for a review copy of Being Dad
April 10, 2016
Loving short stories just now and this is a nice themed collection with some really great writing.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews