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The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing
The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is a short-fiction collection that explores the fragility of human relationships and those unexpected meetings and moments that upend our familiar worlds. In her debut collection, Hannah Storm takes us to far-off countries and cultures, offering the reader a glimpse of the stories behind easily forgotten headlines. It is here that we meet characters often pushed to the extreme, driven by instinct and a need for protection. Woven throughout are the frequently difficult dynamics that disempower and define women and which transcend distance and cultures.
Praise for The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing
Powerful writing as strong and inspiring as the writer. Hannah Storm’s short stories about little moments reveal far bigger truths about a wider, often wicked, world. They shock, they soothe; her exquisite script and extraordinary strength will keep you looking for more.
—Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent
Hannah Storm performs powerful storytelling magic in this stunning debut. These emotionally gripping stories span the globe, peek into far-flung corners, inhabit dark roads and sunburnt tarmacs. They show us war-weary innocents, displaced seekers, imperfect lovers, mothers and children and outsiders, all longing for something like home. Storm’s vision here is as aimed and searing as it is compassionate and wise. A breathtaking wonder, The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is not to be missed.
—Kathy Fish, Wild Life: Collected Works
An unbeatable combination of courage and talent. Respect.
—Vanessa Gebbie, The Coward’s Tale
Hannah Storm’s bold, brilliant writing is international in scope, digging deep into our personal geographies, a fraught territory of experiences that connect us and make us human.
—Michael Loveday, Three Men on the Edge
Praise for The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing
Powerful writing as strong and inspiring as the writer. Hannah Storm’s short stories about little moments reveal far bigger truths about a wider, often wicked, world. They shock, they soothe; her exquisite script and extraordinary strength will keep you looking for more.
—Lyse Doucet, BBC Chief International Correspondent
Hannah Storm performs powerful storytelling magic in this stunning debut. These emotionally gripping stories span the globe, peek into far-flung corners, inhabit dark roads and sunburnt tarmacs. They show us war-weary innocents, displaced seekers, imperfect lovers, mothers and children and outsiders, all longing for something like home. Storm’s vision here is as aimed and searing as it is compassionate and wise. A breathtaking wonder, The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is not to be missed.
—Kathy Fish, Wild Life: Collected Works
An unbeatable combination of courage and talent. Respect.
—Vanessa Gebbie, The Coward’s Tale
Hannah Storm’s bold, brilliant writing is international in scope, digging deep into our personal geographies, a fraught territory of experiences that connect us and make us human.
—Michael Loveday, Three Men on the Edge
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Published July 20, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 6, 2021
Hannah Storm’s writing is bold and powerful. These brief moments and fleeting encounters shine the brightest of lights on the darkest corners of the world, illuminating and examining the fragility of life and relationships. Storm writes with empathy and wisdom, exploring the stories of the displaced and lost as they strive for connection. In this compelling debut collection she shows us what it means to be human.
August 30, 2021
A selection of forty-nine short works of fiction.
If I’m honest, I picked up The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing in between finishing one book and starting another because I thought it would be a quick read. What I hadn’t expected from Hannah Storm’s writing was the immediate emotional hit to the solar plexus that these stories provide. They are so impactful that I was completely taken aback, totally immersed in the worlds Hannah Storm presents and finished reading The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing feeling personally changed as a result. The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing was anything but a quick read because the stories deserved full attention and time to think about them and contemplate their obvious and implied meanings properly. I can imagine rereading this collection time and again and finding new concepts and significance.
The themes of The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing are often quite uncomfortable as Hannah Storm does not shy away from images of repression, violation, submission and subjugation so that this collection lays bare the less salubrious side of life. Frequently, the women in these pieces suffer at the hands of men, with war crimes, domestic violence and betrayal as major motifs. However, this isn’t to say that The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is filled with misandry or is entirely negative. Instead, Hannah Storm’s words feel feminist and strong as women survive the most adverse conditions, often with a fierce, protective maternal instinct.
Peopled with vivid characters and featuring exotic as well as more prosaic locations, The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing leads the reader into unfamiliar experiences, as well as those they can relate to, making this book an intense and affecting read. An iterative image of red in many of the pieces reverberates with desire and danger so that there’s a tension to be felt physically in reading them. At times I found the writing almost painfully beautiful.
I’m not sure I can say I enjoyed every aspect of The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing because the writing is so powerful that I could feel the emotions of many of the characters and picture the scenes and situations they find themselves in so clearly that is wasn’t always a comfortable read. It was, however, exquisite, affecting, powerful and impactful. Hannah Storm crafts her words sublimely. I loved this collection.
If I’m honest, I picked up The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing in between finishing one book and starting another because I thought it would be a quick read. What I hadn’t expected from Hannah Storm’s writing was the immediate emotional hit to the solar plexus that these stories provide. They are so impactful that I was completely taken aback, totally immersed in the worlds Hannah Storm presents and finished reading The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing feeling personally changed as a result. The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing was anything but a quick read because the stories deserved full attention and time to think about them and contemplate their obvious and implied meanings properly. I can imagine rereading this collection time and again and finding new concepts and significance.
The themes of The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing are often quite uncomfortable as Hannah Storm does not shy away from images of repression, violation, submission and subjugation so that this collection lays bare the less salubrious side of life. Frequently, the women in these pieces suffer at the hands of men, with war crimes, domestic violence and betrayal as major motifs. However, this isn’t to say that The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is filled with misandry or is entirely negative. Instead, Hannah Storm’s words feel feminist and strong as women survive the most adverse conditions, often with a fierce, protective maternal instinct.
Peopled with vivid characters and featuring exotic as well as more prosaic locations, The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing leads the reader into unfamiliar experiences, as well as those they can relate to, making this book an intense and affecting read. An iterative image of red in many of the pieces reverberates with desire and danger so that there’s a tension to be felt physically in reading them. At times I found the writing almost painfully beautiful.
I’m not sure I can say I enjoyed every aspect of The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing because the writing is so powerful that I could feel the emotions of many of the characters and picture the scenes and situations they find themselves in so clearly that is wasn’t always a comfortable read. It was, however, exquisite, affecting, powerful and impactful. Hannah Storm crafts her words sublimely. I loved this collection.
November 10, 2022
As Russia continues to invade neighbouring Ukraine, it feels particularly poignant to be reading – or in my case rereading – Hannah Storm’s flash collection, The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing (Reflex Press, 2021). One of its main themes is the effects of war – on individuals and what they lose as a consequence, or on a rare occasion gain, although hardly ever through choice. Further themes explored are the power struggles between men and women, and violence against women in particular, as well as the kaleidoscope of experience and emotion surrounding motherhood.
The opening story, ‘Sarajevo Rose,’ is directly about war and the displacement Damir suffers where his name no longer means peace, but ‘scorn’ and ‘stranger’ and ‘the soiled sheets of a bedsit he [can] scarcely afford.’ Even stories not directly about war are peppered with war-like phrases, such as in the title story: ‘[h]e weapons his words’ and ‘the sound of its freedom pops like gunfire.’ Or in the case of ‘The Huntsman,’ a story about a teenager’s first French kiss, there is a distinct feeling of battle, or enemies fighting, as a ‘terrified’ Sarah locks herself in the toilet and ‘pray[s] the lock will hold.’
‘When I go to war, they loan me a flak jacket, a big blue thing designed for men’: ‘Bulletproof’ is one of several stories about women reporting on warzones, being forced to survive, and forced upon, in a world dominated by – often dominating – men, mined presumably from the author’s own journalistic experiences.
Combining the themes of war, displacement and motherhood is the story ‘Behind the Mountains, More Mountains’ in which the main character ‘[gives] birth to a daughter, the child of men, the child of a history and country she would never really know.’
The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is a deep and heartfelt collection, which never shies away from the painful experiences of war, its effects, and those affected by it.
The opening story, ‘Sarajevo Rose,’ is directly about war and the displacement Damir suffers where his name no longer means peace, but ‘scorn’ and ‘stranger’ and ‘the soiled sheets of a bedsit he [can] scarcely afford.’ Even stories not directly about war are peppered with war-like phrases, such as in the title story: ‘[h]e weapons his words’ and ‘the sound of its freedom pops like gunfire.’ Or in the case of ‘The Huntsman,’ a story about a teenager’s first French kiss, there is a distinct feeling of battle, or enemies fighting, as a ‘terrified’ Sarah locks herself in the toilet and ‘pray[s] the lock will hold.’
‘When I go to war, they loan me a flak jacket, a big blue thing designed for men’: ‘Bulletproof’ is one of several stories about women reporting on warzones, being forced to survive, and forced upon, in a world dominated by – often dominating – men, mined presumably from the author’s own journalistic experiences.
Combining the themes of war, displacement and motherhood is the story ‘Behind the Mountains, More Mountains’ in which the main character ‘[gives] birth to a daughter, the child of men, the child of a history and country she would never really know.’
The Thin Line Between Everything and Nothing is a deep and heartfelt collection, which never shies away from the painful experiences of war, its effects, and those affected by it.
August 30, 2021
A brave, thoughtful and moving book. I don't know how closely the stories align to Storm's own life but I know that she has worked as a journalist and has experienced traumatic events. This comes across strongly in the collection but not all stories are 'personal.' They range across countries and cultures and the emphasis is mostly, though not always, on the female experience - childhood memory, sexual encounters (the good and the bad), war, motherhood, grief and brief snatches of happiness. In a collection some stories will always stand out for the reader. This reader loved the story based on a game of scrabble and the gorgeous 'Please Look out for this Bear' with its achingly perfect last line.
This reviewer dislikes the star system of ratings although I guess they can be useful - for me it's not a perfect book but damned well near it - so I've given it a five rating.
This reviewer dislikes the star system of ratings although I guess they can be useful - for me it's not a perfect book but damned well near it - so I've given it a five rating.
October 1, 2021
This beautifully designed book is a wonderful debut collection of forty-nine flash fiction stories. These works are models of brevity and resonance. Before opening its pages, I knew Hannah Storm had a formidable online presence, with truly impressive publishing credentials. As I read, I was continually surprised how many of these stories I could recall enjoying in online literary journals.
As a journalist with two decades of experience, it is no wonder that Hannah’s writing is absolutely first rate (no less a personage than the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, has lavished the book with praise) but Hannah has translated this love of words into powerful works of fiction. It is impossible not to be moved by the experiences of her characters. Every story is so well-written and carefully constructed that they grow more layered and meaningful with each reading.
Perhaps what I like most about this collection is that it reads like an anthology of the best in international short fiction. The incredible diversity of the pieces make it all the more astonishing that these are the work of a single author. The stories are set all around the world and provide wonderfully detailed - and yet concise - glimpses of other lifestyles and cultures. There are funny and hopeful tales alongside dark and harrowing ones. Linear narratives are placed alongside works of innovative experimentation. Many stories tackle the big issues in human relationships, at all stages of life, while other pieces focus on the animal world: featuring sloths, fruit flies, Spectacled bears, lady bugs, bats, cockroaches, pangolins, and octopuses.
It took me a full month to read this book as I wanted to savour it and appreciate every nuance and detail. The ending came too soon. I am already looking forward to the author’s next publication.
As a journalist with two decades of experience, it is no wonder that Hannah’s writing is absolutely first rate (no less a personage than the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, has lavished the book with praise) but Hannah has translated this love of words into powerful works of fiction. It is impossible not to be moved by the experiences of her characters. Every story is so well-written and carefully constructed that they grow more layered and meaningful with each reading.
Perhaps what I like most about this collection is that it reads like an anthology of the best in international short fiction. The incredible diversity of the pieces make it all the more astonishing that these are the work of a single author. The stories are set all around the world and provide wonderfully detailed - and yet concise - glimpses of other lifestyles and cultures. There are funny and hopeful tales alongside dark and harrowing ones. Linear narratives are placed alongside works of innovative experimentation. Many stories tackle the big issues in human relationships, at all stages of life, while other pieces focus on the animal world: featuring sloths, fruit flies, Spectacled bears, lady bugs, bats, cockroaches, pangolins, and octopuses.
It took me a full month to read this book as I wanted to savour it and appreciate every nuance and detail. The ending came too soon. I am already looking forward to the author’s next publication.
January 29, 2025
Athens
This is where I meet you, though I have met you many moons before. This is where our story becomes the myth, and we first ignore the fact we will be punished for our hubris.
This is where I meet you, though I have met you many moons before. This is where our story becomes the myth, and we first ignore the fact we will be punished for our hubris.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews