This is an interesting collection of short stories, written between 1999 and 2009 and previously published in various other collections and magazines. For some reason I had missed reading any of them, and they were pretty hard to find, so I was pleased when "The Singles Collection" came out.
First off - hats off to the great cover design and title. I rarely see a Bulgarian edition of a book that looks so well. (Well, of course, it cannot be perfect and the spine title does not follow ISO 6357, that is to say it is upside down, but I have already given up - I think Bulgarian publishers will always be inconsistent when it comes to spine titling.)
I was only familiar with Rusev's work as a game-book author (he is my favourite, actually) and with some of his translations, and I was eager to read the book.
Most of the stories I'd call vignettes, but there are also some which are more complete in terms of story. My favourites are certainly his earlier works, those from 1999 to 2001. Surprisingly enough, they work better as short-stories than most of his later ones, and many of them are soaked with a wonderful cyber-punk and manga feel, which I really like. And, while being futuristic, the tales also carry a nostalgia for the 90's (which is characteristic of most of the collection). They are also filled with nice little references, from fin de siècle, Baudrillard, Tolkien and Clockwork Orange to names of music bands or all too familiar places around the city of Sofia.
The rest of the stories vary from lighthearted fantasy to different degrees of realism (some of the tales are more honest and direct, others are more obscure), but for me it was only at the end when the book peaked again, with the last three stories, which were really good. I also have to mention "A clockwork apricot" (2005), which is something of a remix of "Electrochakra" (possibly the story which I enjoyed the most), and was, just as the "original", quite appealing to me.
Rusev seems to like little experiments with the form and punctuation of his stories, but has only resorted to such when he thought them necessary, and they actually manage to be effective rather than annoying.
As a conclusion, the stories in this collection vary in genre and quality, but they are all pleasant to read, Bogdan Rusev's style is neat and confident, and it is interesting to see how the themes in his works change through the years.