The End: Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings

by Ashley Stokes (Editor)

Short fiction inspired by the work of Nicolas Ruston.

Find yourself at the cliff’s edge. Tell the truth to a man with a gun. Regret the dog. Remember a friend. Never forget her. Will the crash. Let disorder rule. Take a boat. Follow the slogans. Study the signs. Let the music die. Join a cult. Wait for the Apocalypse. Quit your job and head for the limits. Find what happens before, during and after The End.

http://www.fifteen-endings.co.uk/the-...

Genres: Short Stories

182 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2016

About the author

Ashley Stokes is the author of Gigantic (Unsung Stories, 2021), The Syllabus of Errors (Unthank Books, 2013) and Voice (TLC Press, 2019), and editor of the Unthology series and The End: Fifteen Endings to Fifteen Paintings (Unthank Books, 2016). His recent short fiction includes Subtemple in Black Static; The Validations in Nightscript, Black Slab in The Ghastling; Replacement Bus Service in Out of Darkness (edited by Dan Coxon, Unsung Stories), and Fade to Black in This is not a Horror Story (edited by JD Keown, Night Terror Novels). Other stories have appeared in Tales from the Shadow Booth Vol. 4, BFS Horizons, Bare Fiction, The Lonely Crowd, the Warwick Review, Storgy and more. He lives in the East of England where he’s a ghost and ghostwriter.


"Touching the Starfish is a very funny and accessible book. It is a fine first novel." Eastern Daily Press.

"Lovers of mitteleuropa period fiction, or of contemporary fiction, or – ideally – both, will love this book. It’s Joseph Roth meets Roberto Bolaño, and it is simply wonderful." David Rose on The Syllabus of Errors.

Reviews

[Melissa Fu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've very much enjoyed the stories in The End. What a rich starting point for a collection of short stories coupled with intriguing artwork. I had heard of many of the writers, but hadn't read them, so it was a treat to put names to words. Some of the writers I wasn't familiar with at all, so it turns out The End was a very good beginning to reading their work. I don't know that I have a favourite, but I did find that The Slyest of Foxes (Angela Readman), Burning the Ants (Sarah Dobbs), Decompression Chamber (Ashley Stokes), and Harbour Lights (AJ Ashworth) really stuck with me. Wonderful writing!