Ali Smith's Supersonic 70s collects together some of Ali Smith's best writing of the last ten years and also includes a brand new story.

    In this piece, Jane tells us about her relationship with a man who will never use her name.

    Penguin have published each of Phinn's four books and in The School Inspector Calls, he reveals how even a jaded school inspector can be left speechless by straight-talking children.

    All his fiction is available in Penguin editions and the two stories in this collection illustrate Self's gift for finding the extraordinary, the surreal and the downright absurd amidst the mundanities of modern life.- Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo- A Story for Europe

    Stylish, intricate and sensuous, these five wickedly inventive stories are a rich combination of humour and horror: exploring questions of literature, love, madness and memory.

    Thompson was renowned for his counterculture masterpiece Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which described his chemical-addled adventures in 1970s America. Taken from Thompson's brilliantly entertaining autobiography, Kingdom of Fear - the last book published before his death earlier this year - these pieces provide a hilarious but now also painful insight into the life and the mind of a true literary outlaw.

    This collection gathers together three sinister tales that fully exhibit Dahl's mastery of suspense and his unsurpassed ability to tease the reader until the very last sentence.- Taste- The Way Up to Heaven- The Landlady.

    The first one was previously published in McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (Penguin, 2004), the second one was written specially for this volume.

    In The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death, she experiences the popular phenomenon of laser hair removal (because at least one of her chins should be stubble-free); bemoans the scourge of the Open Mouth Coughers on America’s airplanes; welcomes the newest ex-con (yay, a sex offender!) to her neighborhood; and watches, against her own better judgment, every Discovery Health Channel special on parasites and tapeworms that has ever aired–resulting in an overwhelming fear that a worm the size of a python will soon come a-knocking on her back door.

    But now happily in love and partners in crime once more, it feels like it’s all been worth it.But when a face from the past reappears, misunderstandings come between them once more.Can they hold on to their happy ever after?

    Lust, obsession, fantasy and desire emerge as part of the human condition, as pure or as complex as any other of its aspects. Previously published in The Delta of Venus (1978) and Little birds (1979) respectively.- Artists and Models- A Model

    While she may have left her home in Alabama, married a New Yorker, forgotten how to drive, and abandoned the puffy headbands of her youth, Helen Ellis is clinging to her Southern accent like mayonnaise to white bread, and offering readers a hilarious, completely singular view on womanhood for both sides of the Mason-Dixon.Making a marriage magically tidy --Topeka three-way --How to stay happily married --Free to be...you and me (and childfree) --Room of one's own (that's full of gay men) --Other woman's Burberry coat --Peggy Sue got marijuana --What every girl should learn from ABC's The bachelor --Ghost experience --Party foul --Today was a good day --Straighten up and fly right. --Halloween people --Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1979 --How to be the best guest --When to write a thank-you note --An Emily Post for the apocalypse --How I watch pornography like a lady --Dumb boobs --Young ladies, listen to me --Seven things I'm doing instead of a neck lift --Serious women --That kind of woman

    Dave Eggers has been partly responsible for a rejuvenation of short fiction in the USA, and these short stories are as original and witty as any of his longer works.Contents"You Know How to Spell Elijah""This Certain Song""What the Water Feels Like to the Fishes""The Weird Wife""This Flight Attendant (Gary, Is It?) Is On Fire!""True Story -- 1986 --Midwest -- USA -- Tuesday""It is Finally Time to Tell the Story""A Circle Like Some Circles""On Making Someone a Good Man By Calling Him a Good Man""The Definition of Reg""How Long It Took""She Needed More Nuance""The Heat and Eduardo, Part I""Of Gretchen and de Gaulle""The Heat and Eduardo, Part II""Sleep to Dreamier Sleep Be Wed""On Seeing Bob Balaban in Person Twice in One Week""When He Started Saying 'I Appreciate It' After 'Thank You'""You'll Have to Save That For Another Time""Woman, Foghorn""How Do Koreans Feel About the Germans?""Georgia is Lost""They Decide To Have No More Death""Roderick Hopes"

    These heartfelt essays demonstrate Orwell's wide-ranging appeal, and range from political manifesto to affectionate consideration of what being English truly means.

    Someday, when it was his turn at the table, he’d connect with his readers. The experience has been even more revealing than he’d hoped.In this hilarious and perceptive essay, the celebrated humorist reflects on the unusual patterns of forced socialization between author and audience, and the obligations and sometimes surprising returns of not-so-chance encounters with strangers: jokes, secrets, insights, and even charity.