Irish Short Story

Daragh Fleming burst onto the literary scene with his debut collection of short stories in 2019. The Book of Revelations was an engaging and readable collection with a distinct voice that made it such a memorable collection. Fleming's…

It is not possible for anything good to come from polystyrene cups.  It is also not possible for anything good to come from the people holding the polystyrene cups. They feel unnatural, cheap, fake and flimsy. Cups and people can be…

Last Man Standing Frank Nolan is flustered, a state compounded by his drowsiness. As he hurries down the road, he still can’t figure out why his alarm didn’t go off. His FitSmart is pre-programmed for 7.15am every weekday, it has…

There’s something highly disconcerting I think (though I won’t go so far as to say disturbing) about entering the home of a close neighbour for the first time. One night, early on, just after teatime, circumstances required that I visit…

Is love a practice or a place?  And where does it go, when it comes?   "Paco came from the sea," she said.  It was all she had ever said. Long before the wind was captured.  Before a word was ever spoken.  Before darkness became…

The man opposite me relaxes into his call as the train leaves the station. I stare directly into his face, willing him to hang up. He acknowledges me by shifting his gaze to stare out the window, while his mockney accent booms around the…

I finished reading Joseph O’Neill’s Good Trouble last week and had said at the time that it was very unusual for me to be able to sit down and read a book of short stories from start to finish in the order that they were ordered.…

A Map Under the House by David O'Neill A cat bowl, all matted hair and dried food, is against the wall in a corner of her kitchen. If the cat had any sense it would have started looking for food somewhere else but it waits, wide eyed,…

Young Irelanders, the name of this new anthology of short stories, is well titled with its echoes of the 1848 rebellion in famine-ravaged Ireland. In this year, a group of romantic nationalists and intellectuals heavily influenced by events…