It takes a clever kind of writer to craft a collection of short stories. While novelists take their darn time moseying about with words and plot, a short story writer jumps straight to the punch, delivering a fistful of brilliance in just a few dozen pages. Don't get us wrong – we have nothing against writers of novels nor the smart folk behind them, but let’s take a moment to shine a light on the little guy. Peruse some of our favourite short story collections below.

AN EXCITING AND VIVID INNER LIFE BY PAUL DALLA ROSA You haven’t read nothing yet until you’ve read Paul Dalla Rosa. This collection of ten short stories traverses the globe and – most importantly – the inner lives of the eclectic bunch of protagonists that find themselves at the centre of them. An Exciting and Vivid Inner Life is Paul’s debut collection, and we’re bursting at the seams for whatever he’ll come up with next.

DADDY BY EMMA CLINE Author of The Girls and most recently The Guest, Emma Cline flaunts her good stuff in this debut collection of tales. The savage selection of stories she helms have a habit of crawling into the dark spaces of your mind, where they stay and live and grow forevermore. If that sounds dark and depraved, let us assure you we mean it in the best possible way and with highest possible praise – these stories are truly rad.

STAG DANCE BY TORREY PETERS This brand-spanking-new collection from Torrey Peters – author of Detransition, Baby! – is the kind that refuses to be surmised in a couple of sentences. Heartfelt, absurd and bloody hilarious, Stag Dance offers four different stories to jump in the deep end of, with the titular novella providing one hoot of an adventure through the wooded forest of fiction, lumberjacks and all.

HOT LITTLE HANDS BY ABIGAIL ULMAN If you have ever been a young girl, or you wish to know what it’s like to be a young girl, or perhaps you just know of the human condition that is being a young girl, then you’ll love Hot Little Hands. Abigail Ulman’s collection of short stories weaves together a tapestry of contemporary girlhood, creating an image that is both breathtakingly beautiful yet heartbreakingly severe.

YOUR UTOPIA BY BORA CHUNG Fans of speculative fiction, unite! Bora Chung’s sophomore short story collection – translated into English by Anton Hur – is a ripper taste of the kind of thoughtful and wild stories the genre and its authors offer. Comprised of eight delightful pieces that twist and turn through worlds beyond our own – and sometimes far too similar to our own – Your Utopia delivers some whip-smart commentary on the contemporary state of things, all while offering just a sliver of hope.