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SLEEPWALKERS

Marion Arnott

Elastic Press £6.00 Rel: August 2003

Reviewed by

Ali Karim

I recently asked Ian Rankin after he published Beggars Banquet why it was so difficult to get collections of short stories published and onto shelves. He was as confused as I am. You would think that in this time-constrained society, more people would turn to short stories rather than novels, he mused. The short story format has often been a staple part of mystery fiction. Well I’m glad that Andrew Hook’s Elastic Press has taken the bold step in publishing this diverse collection from one of the true masters of the short story format - Marion Arnott.

This collection has 11 of Arnott’s best tales which have appeared in various magazines and collections such as Crimewave, Hawakaya Mystery Magazine, Northworlds as well as many others. They are difficult to categorize as they contain mystery/crime and border on the dark fantasy genre. ‘Sleepwalkers’ includes ‘Prussian Snowdrops’ which won a CWA dagger in 2001 and appeared in Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling’s ‘Years best Fantasy & Horror Vol 15’ and is a sinister little tale set in the warped world of Nazism. Also included is ‘Marbles’ which was short-listed for a CWA Dagger last year, as well as a Derringer Award and is due to re-appear in Maxim Jakubowski’s ‘Best British Mystery Stories of the Year 2003’. This tale is told via intersecting narrative and diary pages and shows that some relationships are darker than others.

This collection is also featured in Val McDermid’s www.saveourshortstory.org campaign, and is great value if ordered direct from www.elasticpress.com - So if you’ve never heard of Marion Arnott, I think it’s time you pulled up a chair next to the fireplace.