Albania & The Moon

by Jimmy Wilde

Albania & The Moon is a collection of twenty-one short stories accompanied by thirteen Adrian McMurchie illustrations. It is hard-hitting, yet poetic, urban fiction laced with dark humour and wry social observation. A vivid cast of characters are brought to life in tales of lives on the margins, from the frustrated and disaffected of London flatshares and dead-end Glasgow factory jobs to the highs of clubland and football miracles; from demented dogs, courtroom shenanigans and underground nutjobs to doorstep murder, tequila-snorting romances and bittersweet homecomings. "Tantalising and well-honed, Albania & The Moon by Jimmy Wilde is reminiscent of the determinedly fixated characters of Murphy -era Beckett, struggling for space and struggling to fit in a world where everybody is on the move but not necessarily going forward. Amidst the Kelman-esque defiance, there’s a fine range of work with some of the shorter pieces, Lights Out , Curtains , Dots and Bitten By Nostalgia poetry in all but line-breaks and, as such, as good as anything I’ve read in recent years." Gordon Legge, author "By turns pity and pitiless, Wilde deploys weapons-grade imagery to detonate stories that singe the sensibilities." Andrew Smith, The Scotsman "Short stories are perfect when you don't have the time or inclination to plough through a long novel but they can sometimes be somewhat lacking. Not so with this collection of 21 tales in which you'll meet a vivid cast of characters, laugh at the dark humour and blunt observations about real life situations. Well written, diverse and with some wonderful illustrations - this book makes for a real corker of a read." 4 stars out of 5 The Sun, 12 October, 2012 "Jimmy Wilde's writing is as crisp as Raymond Carver's..." Des Dillon, author and playwright

126 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2012