Reviews

This is a delightful anthology of queer short stories from Wales. Some of the almost 50 short stories were first published in Welsh and later translated into English. One of the delights is discovering so many lesbian writers (though, as the editors point out in the excellent introduction, many of the writers never publicly identified their sexual or gender identities; the word queer itself is an imported word constructed in the US). One of the earliest stories , "One June Night: the story of an Unladylike Girl" from 1883, is by Amy Dillwyn (1845-1935). Her first novel "The Rebecca Rioter"(1880), explored cross-dressing. Two stories by Kate Roberts (1891-1985), "The Treasure"(1972) and "Christmas"(1929), deal with a deep friendship between two older women, and a another relationship between a younger and an older woman, respectively. Crystal Jeans funny short stories "Go Play with Cucumbers" and "The Dead Bear" date to 2019.

The genres range from domestic dramas to modernist to science fiction. This is an anthology you can dip into anywhere and find something moving, entertaining or thought provoking. It's for anyone who enjoys short stories, Welsh literature and or queer fiction. I loved it.

readbetweenthevines's review

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The introduction basically ruined the flow of the book for me, too dense, felt like it was all being over explained and they were begging for you to read through everything how they wanted you to, without take into consideration that the reader might not do that.

I feel most of the intro could have been an authors note at the end of the book, I’ve never had an intro put me in a reading slump but that’s essentially what happened. The first few stories I read probably would have been better if I wasn’t already checked out

laurareads87's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Queer Square Mile: Queer Short Stories from Wales is an extraordinarily diverse collection of short stories, spanning 1837 to 2021 and including a wide array of genres, themes, and styles. The book is organized into several sections – ‘Love, Loss, and the Art of Failure,’ ‘Disorderly Women,’ ‘Transformations,’ ‘Hauntings and other Queer Fancies,’ ‘Queer Children,’ and ‘Internationalisms’ – each of which is detailed in the editors’ excellent introduction. The introduction effectively conveys the editors’ approach to this collection, which I believe is highly effective: they note that the stories are arranged thematically rather than chronologically or by identity groupings in order to avoid implying historical trajectories or essentialized experiences; a list of the stories in chronological order is provided at the back of the book. They also note, importantly, that the stories were selected “on the basis of the content rather than the sexual identities of the authors” given both the complications of ascribing contemporary identity terms to historical figures (which is frequently speculative at best) and the desire to avoid “misleadingly [creating] an artificial pantheon of historically representative figures” of LGBTQ+ communities. The editors also discuss the use of the word ‘queer’ specifically in Welsh context, which for me as a non-Welsh reader was informative. Inevitably, with a collection as wide-ranging as this, any reader is bound to find stories they love as well as stories they don’t care for, and my individual star ratings for stories ranged from 2 to 5 – overall, though, I enjoyed the collection and am thrilled to have found several new authors I look forward to reading more from.

Thank you to Parthian Books and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

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Reviews

Queer Square Mile by Kristi Bohata, Huw Osborne, Mihangel Morgan

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readbetweenthevines's review

laurareads87's review