Book Review: Mainstream – An anthology of stories from the edges.

Title: Mainstream

Author: Edited by Justin David and Nathan Evans

Publisher: Inkandescent

Length: 247 pages

Synopsis: This collection brings thirty authors in from the margins to occupy centre-page. Queer storytellers. Working class wordsmiths. Chroniclers of colour. Writers whose life experiences give unique perspectives on universal challenges, whose voices must be heard. And read.

Thank you so much to the team at Inkandescent for having me on the blog tour for this short story collection and make sure you check out the other bloggers on the tour.

First of all I love what Inkandescent are doing with this book. It’s such an important thing and they’ve done it successfully. It’s a great collection.

Mainstream has a real variety of short stories in it that it keeps the book fresh and exciting. You never knew what kind of story you were going to get next. Yet it’s a very cohesive book.

There are some really fantastic writers in this book, some I’d read before and some that were new to me. They all have something to say and it was wonderful. I’ll definitely be checking out more from these writers and I have a feeling you will be too.

I have to say I really enjoyed the queer stories in this short story collection. I love how varied they were. Some were heartfelt, some were sexy. I always love to read about queer lives and especially from authors this talented.

I really did enjoy all of the stories in this collection, but some really did stand out for me. They were so interesting and unique. I loved ‘Scaffolding’, ‘Twickenham’, ‘The Birdwatchers’, Pixmalion’ and ‘Going Up, Going Down’. But there really is something in this book for everyone.

Mainstream has accomplished what it set out to do and then some. If you love short stories this is definitely a book to add to your collection. I know I’ll keep returning to it to reread these stories. It’s really wonderful.

If you’d like to purchase a copy which is out now, you can buy it from Amazon here or from the Inkandescent website here.

Again, thank you so much to the team at Inkandescent for a copy of this book in return for an honest, unbiased review. It’s out now.

Until the next review

Jthbooks