Preview of the new Table 52 Writers website. Not public yet.
Cover of Stories from Table 52: A Second Collection of Short Stories

Stories from Table 52A Second Collection of Short Stories

In the spectrum of emotions, this book has more colours than the rainbow.

The themes in this collection of short stories are varied and surprising. They twist and turn while swinging up and down. That's only to be expected from such an unlikely collection of writers.

They met by chance at a community college. Very different people with only one thing in common - in short - they all had stories to tell.

So get ready, you'll be astonished where they take you.

About this book

After a year of our first book and all the lovely feedback from our readers for our first book, we decided to keep going. Here we are with our second anthology from Table52 Writers!

The stories

  1. Blood Oranges, Guavas and Believing in Fairies Deborah Reeves
  2. Bob Saved the Queen Joe de Souza
  3. Heatwave Trevor Aston
  4. The Phone Call Celia Gray
  5. Where I'm From Sarah Savage
  6. Ghosts Deborah Reeves
  7. A Cat in the Dark Flavie Salaun
  8. The Garage Joe de Souza
  9. Waiting for the King Karen Ali
  10. Silence of Olive Trees Sinem Erenturk
  11. Bilk Sarah Savage
  12. The Beach Frank Offer
  13. The Waiting Room Joe de Souza
  14. The Beer Can Deborah Reeves
  15. Handwash Only Trevor Aston

Foreword

Nine writers. Fifteen stories. Nine voices. No – more: every good story contains not just the voice of the writer but those of their characters. In these pages there are dozens, each of them calling out for your attention. They sound from across the globe and across time: Aegean, Thailand, London, 1930s Iraq, 1960s America. This is not surprising. The Table 52 Writers, although first meeting in my writing class at Richmond Adult Community College, have roots in Turkey, Paris and across the UK. Each of their tales is a snapshot of what it is like to live in Human City.

This is the second Table 52 anthology. Their first showcased a bunch of vivid, well-crafted stories. In this they have dug deeper into their subject matter and characters and found some very rich seams. The tone is as varied as the settings. Comedy is well represented: Trevor Aston’s “Heatwave” is a witty alternative history set in the hardboiled world of the American music business, Sarah Savage’s “Bilk” is a caustic satire on Thai brides, Joe de Souza writes Pythonesque flights of fancy and Flavie Salaun’s “A Cat in the Dark” is a delicious modern comedy of manners. Deborah Reeves gives us three acute glimpses of modern unease. Frank Offer’s “The Beach” is a haunting tale of middle-aged longing while Karen Ali’s “Waiting for the King” captures the fervour of boyhood hopes. An encounter in a hospital support group leads to a touching friendship in Celia Grey’s “The Phone Call”. The protagonist in Sinem Erenturk’s atmospheric “Silence of Olive Trees” finds that even in an idyllic coastal resort it’s hard to dissipate the memories of an oppressive marriage.

This collection is a small masterpiece of collaboration. Each story belongs to its writer – have no fear of that – but it grew out of weekly meetings held by the group in which they share dreams, ideas, and critiques, as well as the large and the tiny editorial choices. Writing is a hard and lonely road with as many potholes as heights. More writers should co-operate like this. Read this book at one sitting or savour each story over time. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Tony Kirwood, writer and teacher

Proceeds from our short story collections will go to the mental health charity Richmond Borough Mind. Visit Richmond Borough Mind