Off the Record (ed. Luca Veste)

The idea that editor Luca Veste came up with for this antho was simple but smart: Every writer picked a song as the title of their story. It's got 38 selections, most are fairly short but pack a punch.

And 100% of the proceeds support two children's literacy charities. So if you don't buy it you're one greedy person who I won't be sending an xmas card to.

One of my favorites in here is Les Edgerton's "Small Change." Edgerton is a writer I've been hearing a lot about lately but hadn't yet checked out. Certainly I'll be looking for more of his work after reading this excellent piece. It's about a "writer" who's looking to get info from a criminal. It's a funny and perceptive work -- one of the finest stories about storytelling that I've seen.

As anybody whose been reading those top five lists knows, AJ Hayes is lighting the world on fire. And, appropriately enough, his entry is "Light My Fire." This is an unholy amalgam of friendship and art and murder  and insanity and I loved every word of it. One of AJ's best, which is saying a lot.

Julie Morrigan's "Behind Blue Eyes" reminds of her brilliant work in Gone Bad, an extremely tight tale about the limits of loyalty with cracking dialogue.

Simon Logan has perhaps the most original story in the collection with "Smells Like Teen Spirit." In this (not-too-distant) futuristic tale, graffiti artists are part of a corporate marketing scheme. I really enjoyed spending time in the dystopia he's created here.

There are so many more excellent stories in here and you can pick up OTR at Amazon US and UK.

(PS -- I have a story in here, too.)