Best British Short Stories 2021

by Nicholas Royle (Editor), Julia Armfield, A.J. Ashworth

The nation’s favourite annual guide to the short story, now in its eleventh year.

Best British Short Stories invites you to judge a book by its cover – or, more accurately, by its title. This critically acclaimed series aims to reprint the best short stories published in the previous calendar year by British writers, whether based in the UK or elsewhere. The editor’s brief is wide ranging, covering anthologies, collections, magazines, newspapers and web sites, looking for the best of the bunch to reprint all in one volume.

This new anthology includes stories by Julia Armfield, A.J. Ashworth, Iphgenia Baal, Emma Bolland, Tom Bromley, Gary Budden, Jen Calleja, Robert Dewa, John Foxx, Josephine Galvin, Uschi Gatward, Meave Haughey, Hilaire, Alice Jolly, Isha Karki, Yasmine Lever, Simon Okotie, Mel Pryor, Douglas Thompson and Matthew Turner.

Genres: Short Stories

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2021

About the author

Nicholas Royle is an English writer. He is the author of seven novels, two novellas and a short story collection. He has edited sixteen anthologies of short stories. A senior lecturer in creative writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, he also runs Nightjar Press, publishing original short stories as signed, limited-edition chapbooks. He works as a fiction reviewer for The Independent and the Warwick Review and as an editor for Salt Publishing.

Reviews

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 5 star stories are:

- Rings by Tom Bromley
- Leather by AJ Ashworth
- What never was by Gary Budden
- From far around they saw us burn by Alice Jolly
- Our father the sea by Douglas Thompson
- The red suitcase by Hilaire

[JimZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy this yearly anthology. A GR friend turned me on to this anthology from his well-written review and his ratings of each of the short stories about a year and a half ago...I was intrigued and so ordered the volume that he read, and liked it so much I ordered more so that I now have all the volumes since its original publication in 2011 —I have 3 volumes yet to read – 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Some of the stories in this collection were duds, and shouldn’t that usually be expected with many different authors? But it’s the good stories and the very good stories that keep me coming back for more. I also like Royle’s collection because he gives you a short bio of each author and what they have published. So, if you really like an author you could get more of their works. 🙂

Here are the 20 stories with my ratings... 🙂
1. Rings — Tom Bromley...4 stars
2. Definitely Not — Yasmine Lever...3 stars
3. The Reservoir — Meave Haughey...2 stars
4. Bindings — Simon Okotie...2 stars
5. Leather — A J Ashworth...5 stars ||| so very clever. Impossible to describe or if I tried, I might give too much away. I liked the story so much I am going to seek out more of her stories. 🙂
6. Backgammon — Uschi Gatward...4 stars ||| spooky. Men and their irrational anger.
7. Am / Thought / Always — Emma Boland...1 star
8. What Never Was — Gary Buddin...3 stars
9. Maman — Mel Pryor...3 stars ||| A daughter’s boyfriend hits up on her mother.
10. The Red Suitcase — Hilaire...5 stars ||| Nothing of consequence happened, but it was well-written and I enjoyed reading it.
11. From Far Around They Saw Us Burn — Alice Jolly...4 stars || so sad, meta-fiction. 35 children killed in a convent – laundry fire in 1943.
12. Wendigo — Julia Armfield...1 star
13. Hide — Roberta Dewa...1 star
14. The Nebula — John Foxx...4 stars ||| Sorta clever ...a young man has a nebula in one of his rooms in his apartment, but his fiancé unknowingly destroys it, But that’s OK because of the press/media caught on, it’d be a hassle.
15. Edit History — Jen Calleja...1 star ||| I couldn’t understand it at all.
16. Our Father the Sea — Douglas Thompson...5 stars ||| Seems like a memoir. A son remembering his father, surely an imperfect man.
17. Hair — Isha Karki...1.5 stars
18. Loom — Matthew Turner...1 star
19. Going Downhill — Josephine Galvin...4 stars ||| A woman is married to a younger man who is always finding fault with her physical appearance so she takes matters into her own hands.
20. 99 Customer Journey Horror — Iphgenia Baal...1 star

[Alan (the Lone Librarian rides again) Teder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brit Shorts 2021
Review of the Salt Publishing paperback edition (2021)

This was a 3.0 if you average the 20 story ratings, but that was somewhat artificially low due to several 1s for experimental stories that I couldn't understand. My overall impression was a definite 4.

As in previous entries of this series, the variety here was impressive and even if i didn't take to some of the more experimental writing I was glad to see that it was included. The selection wasn't at all predictable e.g. I would have expected something more about the pandemic for instance, about which there was nothing. That actually helps in re-readability as it doesn't date the stories into any narrow date slot.

So overall an interesting and enjoyable collection and a short cut towards authors to watch for in the future.

The following summary includes individual ratings and story setups. Some of these stories may be available online at various journals and zines which were the sources for editor Nicholas Royle.

1. Rings by Tom Bromley **. A short (3 page) meet-cute.
2. Definitely Not by Yasmine Lever ****. A revenge pron scheme is given a reverse twist.
3. The Reservoir by Meave Haughey ***. Atmospheric descriptive story about flooding which is somehow paralleled with a woman's pregnancy. Doesn't go anywhere, but is still beautifully written.
4. Bindings by Simon Okotie **. Experimental one-sentence 3+ page story about someone trying to release themselves from the hand bindings of the title.
5. Leather by A.J. Ashworth ****. Very stylized metafiction which describes a story being written and the readers' expected reaction to it. A tourist encounters a witch's relic while reading Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The witch character was based on the true life murderer / poisoner Mary Bateman.
6. Backgammon by Uschi Gatward **. Mostly a straightforward reportage of friends getting together until a confrontation happens over a backgammon game. This story also appeared recently in Gatward's own short story collection English Magic (2021, Galley Beggar Press).
7. Am / Thought / Always by Emma Bolland ***. Somewhat experimental. Ghost follows an ex-lover around while musing about coins and crossing the river Styx with the boatman Charon.
8. What Never Was by Gary Budden ***. Flashbacks after a lover's accidental death.
9. Maman by Mel Pryor ***. A mother is estranged from her daughter after an incident.
10. The Red Suitcase by Hilaire ****. A mysterious lodger stays with Dougie and his mother for a week. I don't know if it was the point of the story, but what was interesting to me was how the author manipulated your perceptions about Dougie's age. This one has been issued separately in editor Nicholas Royce's chapbook series as The Red Suitcase (2020, Nightjar Press).
11. From All Around They Saw Us Burn by Alice Jolly *****. A story about a fire at a convent and children's orphanage, presumably in Ireland as the Garda are mentioned. Written in an archaic style. This one definitely stands out for its drama and suspense.
12. Wendigo by Julia Armfield ***. Atmospheric story of two travellers, presumably serial killers based on the allusions to hunting. Various references to the monster Grendel and his mother from Beowulf are included, making you wonder if it is a mother & son in the story. There is nothing that is apparently related to the North American indigenous legends of the Wendigo monster though.
13. Hide by Roberta Dewa *. Experimental. Telegraphic stream of consciousness about two people bird watching from a hide structure. Couldn’t understand it.
14. Nebula by John Foxx **. Man has a mini-galaxy nebula that appears in his apartment. Wants to tell his fiancé about it but isn’t sure how she’ll react.
15. Edit History by Jen Calleja *. Experimental. Presents a document of over a dozen fictional islets and then offers it for editing. Couldn’t understand the point of it.
16. Our Father the Sea by Douglas Thompson ****. Portrait of a father who was in the navy at a young age. Very effective and dramatic.
17. Hair by Isha Karki ***. Fantastical fiction about women having their hair “climbed” by men. Presumably meant as a metaphor for sexual experience?
18. Loom by Matthew Turner *****. A futuristic story about a world where inner cities have become deserted. A caretaker of a city house comes to examine it while the authorities are also searching for a mysterious international criminal.
19. Going Downhill by Josephine Galvin ****. A woman makes a mysterious journey on a bus while observing the effects of aging on the houses and streets that she observes.
20. 99 Customer Journey Horror by Iphgenia Baal *. Experimental. An itemized list of 99 aspects of an apartment for sale, each categorized as if they were a sub-genre of horror. Didn’t go anywhere.

I read Best British Short Stories 2021 based on being introduced to the series in last year's Best British Short Stories 2020 which was the December 2020 Book of the Month perk from my support of The Republic of Consciousness Prize for small independent publishers.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year's selection was exceptional, this year's merely good. I didn't like all of them, but I did like most. Well worth buying as a present for a friend, relative or yourself.

[Richard Clay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't so taken with last year's edition but the 2021 volume has much more to excite me and it's especially pleasing that I'd not heard of any of the authors previously. Maeve Haughey, Mel Pryor and Douglas Thompson seem like ones I'd like to keep an eye on but there's little here that's not promising.

[Heidi Willems · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were a few that stick, e.g. Going Downhill by Josephine Galvin struck a cord and some others were really enjoyable but as a whole, there were other editions I liked better.

[Zanoubia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The collection started out good with Rings by Tom Bromley, but that’s it.
It’s an interesting collection with various stories ranging from different topics, but besides that the stories themselves are very boring.

I felt that some stories were trying too hard, the ones I enjoyed the most were by far the simplest.

[Robert Kirkup · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favourite story - Yasmin Lever's 'Definitely Not', which had echoes of Mary Gaitskill in its examination of the complexities of sexual relationships and palpable, tense atmosphere. Overall, a bit of a mixed bag, not all stories will be to everyone's taste and there were about as many misses as hits for me.

[Dahlian Kirby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love short stories, and most of these are just what I love- sparce interesing nand beautifully writte. There were 2 I didn't like. Just not my kind of thing. Salt is an independent publisher and I receommned you look at their list and buy directly from them.

[sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

uni prep 2.5⭐️

[Sarkis Antonyan · Rating 2 out of 5]

hard to focus and give a fuck about most of this but there were a few okay ones i guess