Introduction

The best short stories make something of situation where there doesn’t seem to be a story at all. I’ve picked some that have helped me along the way to becoming a writer, while being safe in the knowledge that I can’t be sure of what influences me most. More simply these are the ones that have hung around in my head longer than others and, for a form so fleeting, I struggle to think of a better criteria than that. It’s a bit of a magpie’s nest and it seems I have a thing for ghosts.