ROADS AHEAD - Couverture souple

In 1999 a spiky anthology of young writing was the first title to appear from the Tindal Street imprint and the first on a prize-winning road ahead. Ten years on, Tindal Street Press celebrates a decade of publishing - and of commitment to the short story and the wealth of regional writing talent - with a showcase that's just as ground-breaking. Prize-winning author Catherine O'Flynn here presents a range of exciting new voices from the next generation of English short story writers.

''An impressive selection picked by Costa First Novel winner Catherine O'Flynn. Iain Grant's ''Six of the Best'' quirkily shifts the dynamics of a pupil encountering his old teacher, Megan Dunn's ''The Mermaid and the Music Box'' ends in a wonderful weird tableau of mermaids combing their hair on the top of the Empire State Building and Rodge Glass's ''I know my team...'' unsentimentally captures the uneasiness between a daughter and the father she reluctantly visits in a nursing home. Almost every one of the 22 stories makes you want to hear more from their creators'' Guardian

''Birmingham's Tindal Street Press launched in 1999 with an exciting and much-lauded anthology of short stories called Hard Shoulder, and a decade later, the new anthology Roads Ahead reaffirms their flame-carrying commitment to the form. All your hot young talents like Chris Killen and Richard Milward are in these 300 awesome pages, alongside some thrilling discoveries'' Dazed & Confused

''The sentences have been worked on until they shine... These writers have charged out into the world and written what they saw in it'' 3:AM Magazine