Middle of a Sentence

“…only then did he realize he was not in the middle of a sentence, but in the middle of the street…”

– from The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, 1842

The Common Breath Short Prose Anthology is a celebration of fiction in its shortest form, uniting work from some of the greatest contemporary novelists, alongside an exciting selection from TCB's open submissions process, and supplemented by pieces from a range of literary history's finest artists.

Anton Chekhov - A selected story Julie Rea - The First to Leave Ruskin Smith - Outside Kira Scott - Bruce McDougall Graeme Armstrong - Landit Brian Hamill - Extracts from 'Distant Cousins' Wendy Erskine - the envelopes for them Ranbir Sidhu - That Here They Call Castles Siún Carden - Rescinding her Statement Kevin MacNeil - Humour Donna McLean - Signal Ron Butlin - The Legend of McGinley and the Seven McCanns Joey Simons - The catch Joey Simons - MacDiarmind into battle again Issy Flower - Water Baby John King - Drawing Breath Hannah McDonald - Touched Wayne Connolly - Blood Cancer Emma Flynn - Sorry I'm Late Carsten René Nielsen - Love Duncan McLean - Rat King Duncan McLean - The Porteus Bray Stu Hennigan - Posterity Sherwood Anderson - A selected story Alyson Mosquera Dutemple - Ancient History Kevin Williamson - Ponderous Stuff Erik Kennedy - My First Time. The Tsar's Uncle's Last Time Aimee Campbell - Four short pieces Stewart Home - Hypno Kink Princess Kate Chopin - Two stories Lucy Macrae - Anthemoessa Howard Colyer - Ready Alan Warner - Powder Kirsten Anderson - The space between A.L. Kennedy - I tell them Sarah Ward - The Bridge Jim Aitken - The Learned Theban Maria Ilona Moore - Dancer Ian Farnes - A Land Overgrown Kris O'Rourke - Victor James Kelman - A Hard Man Evy Tam Liu - The Overcoat Stuart Murray - How ye keepin anyway? Bernard MacLaverty - The Fountain PenBrian Hamill - An introduction Jenni Fagan - Ida Keeps Falling Jenni Fagan - The Ship Stuart Murray - Wiz it Monday... Jo Higgs - Your Skin's Falling Off Katherine Mansfield - Selections from the Notebooks Frankie Gault - Shiny Shoes Rachael Fulton - Blood Janice Galloway - Moving on Brendan Breslin - Fathers and Son Brendan Breslin - A Young Couple and an Old Couple Farah Ahamed - Thin Air Brian Dunsmore - Fuckin British Gas, man Jennifer Harvey - As eternal as the grief of fallen angels David Keenan - Beetles Regi Claire - When Our Lives Begin Brad Bigelow - The Encounter in a Police Station Chika Unigwe - Two Happy Meals Hattie Atkins - Food and Wine Mark Blair - What Are You Thinking? Annie Gough - Fancier's Lung Garry Cox - Foetal Garry Cox - Jesus Christ, 6 Days Short of his 53rd Birthday Lara Frankena - Holiday Spirits Shane Brant - A Man So Fixated On His Craft That He Doesn't NoticeHis Wife Is Possessed by a Ghost