Current Publications

Desperate Remedies

A diverse and daring volume, Desperate Remedies is the third publication from Apis Books, bringing together dazzling short fictions by Adam Elston, Shaun Levin, Mark Saba, M L Stedman, Paul Blaney and Guy Ware.

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‘This is what short stories are meant to do: show us flamboyantly what the novel can't do and without falling into stylistic games or losing emotional resonance. Diamonds are created by compressing carbon at high temperatures; these stories seem to be created by treating language and form in much the same way. They are diamonds and should be valued as such.’ Sara Maitland

Adam Elston’s trio of stories explores the different faces of loss and estrangement. The three stories by M L Stedman draw on the sights, smells and sounds of her native Western Australia. Mark Saba’s novella of identity moves artfully between Connecticut, Minnesota, and points more distant in space and time.

Paul Blaney’s four stories, diverse in voice and form, combine the everyday and the fabulous, deftly negotiating dream and memory, community and the individual’s quest for happiness. The first of Guy Ware’s two stories is a picaresque tale of love, death and second-hand cars, the second a bitterly humorous portrait of a deeply-troubled man. Shaun Levin’s virtuoso study of the poet and painter Isaac Rosenberg brings the collection to a deeply satisfying close and ties in with the anniversary of Rosenberg’s death (1st April), the publication of Dr. Jean Moorcroft Wilson’s new biography of Rosenberg due out in April 2008, and the first exhibition of Rosenberg’s work in 15 years at the Ben Uri Gallery.

For information on Shaun Levin's Friends' Talk at the Ben Uri Gallery, please click here.  You need to be a friend of the Ben Uri Gallery to attend the talk.  It costs £25 to become a friend.  If you wish to do so, please contact alice.portnoy@ntlworld.com

The launch of Desperate Remedies took place at Foyles Bookshop on Saturday, April 5th 2008. The launch was part of the Short Story Festival sponsored by Booktrust as part of Get London Reading 2008. For audio downloads of stories and story extracts from Desperate Remedies recorded live at the Festival, see the download page. There were readings at the Ben Uri Gallery, Hotel Russell, and will book will also be supported by readings across London and the south of England more generally, as well as by press, radio and television coverage.

Publication Date: 5th April 2008

ISBN:  0-9552538-2-9 /978-0-9552538-2-9

For more information on the launch and reading events see the News page, or contact Rebekah at rebekah@apisbooks.com

Two Tall Tales and One Short Novel

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‘Two Tall Tales and One Short Novel is inventive in language and exuberant in narrative. You'll be hard pressed to find such fantastic fictions in more mainstream, well-behaved publications.’ Russell Celyn Jones

Two Tall Tales and One Short Novel, is a collection of stories by three of the UK's brightest new writing talents: The Mesmerist's Daughter by Heidi James, Smokin' the Queen by Kay Sexton, and In the Clear by Lucy Fry. Together the stories transport the reader into the minds of three very different characters.

The Mesmerist's Daughter, a fairytale minus the fairies, tells the story of an imaginative young girl, Nicola, who thinks her mother is a wolf. Stifled by her home environment and her mother's lies, Nicola's quest is literally to rediscover her own voice.

In Smokin' the Queen, Darius, a damaged, black DJ, travels from his home in Brixton to the West of England. There he finds work and shelter, and manages to forget his troubles in the bewitching company of a local woman. As summer turns to autumn, however, his anxieties resurface, impelling him to take desperate action.

Told with humour and verve, In the Clear explores an obsessional relationship whose breakdown sends its narrator into a spiral of depression. Her only chance of salvation is to reach out to the world, but to do so she must first escape the confines of her own self-consciousness.

Publication date: July 2007

ISBN: 0-9552538-1-0 / 978-0-9552538-1-2

Tales of the DeCongested, Volume One

An anthology of the best short stories read at Tales of the DeCongested’s monthly, live event. Edited by Paul Blaney and Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone with stories contributed by Ali Smith and Nicholas Royle

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‘This fabulous collection has high energy, a huge range of emotion (including some wonderfully funny stories), an immediate and contemporary tang, and a level of technical bravura that had me squealing with delight.’ Sara Maitland

Held monthly in the dedicated performance space at Foyles Bookshop, Charing Cross Road, Tales of the DeCongested is London’s only reading event solely for short stories. Set up in 2003 by Paul Blaney and Rebekah Lattin-Rawstrone, Tales’ mission is to raise the profile of the short story in London and to provide a platform for new writing. Past readers include: Ali Smith, Candida Clark, Nicholas Royle, Stella Duffy and Shelley Silas, as well as the dozens of new writers for whom the event was founded.

This anthology is the fruit of more than two years of successful readings and includes the best stories read at the event plus original stories from Ali Smith and Nicholas Royle. The launch of Tales of the DeCongested, Volume One will take place at Foyles Bookshop and will be supported by readings around the country as well as by press, radio and television coverage.

The anthology also marks the birth of Apis Books as a publishing company that will promote the best and the brightest talent in the field of short fiction. Following the publication of the book, recordings of the authors performing their short stories will be available to download at www.apisbooks.com.

Publication Date: 29th June 2006 ISBN Number: 0-9552538-0-2

Distribution: available via Gardners (Tel: 01323 521777) and bookshops in the London area, as well as on Amazon.co.uk

Tales of the DeCongested, Volume One, Publicity

Buy your copy now on www.amazon.co.uk.

Future Publications

Planned publications include:

  • Tales of the DeCongested, Volume Two - this volume will follow on from the first and works through submissions made to the Tales of the DeCongested event. If your story is chosen, you will be asked to read it at the event and your story will then be added to the online archive. After a sufficient period, stories for the anthology will then be chosen from amongst those read at the event.
  • A series of international short story anthologies in translation, looking at the short story form across different language and cultural boundaries. We hope to launch the series with an anthology of contemporary short stories by Arab writers in English translation with a Foreword exploring the nature of the short story in Arabic, provisionally entitled Tales from the Arab World.

For more information on these future publications, please contact one of the Apis team.

To submit a novella or collection of short stories, please contact Rebekah and Paul: rebekah@apisbooks.com, paul@apisbooks.com.