Review of Nik Perring's Not So Perfect

I "know" Nik Perring from the online bloggy world, but I don't "know" him at all. We aren't friends, tho' he seems like a nice guy from his twitter feed and his blog. We have mutual writing pals but we've never emailed or met or spoken or gone beyond commenting on each others tweets/blogs. I wasn't offered a review copy of his flash fiction collection "Not So Perfect" (humph) but as I run a dedicated Flash Fiction section at work I ordered a few copies in as I like to mix classic books with fresh, contemporary work. 

From what I have seen so far, Roast Books create gorgeous publications; books that stand out because of how they look, books that demand to be picked up and held, explored, read. Nik's is no exception. It's a small book - the size of a CD, so immediately looks different. Here's the cover:

Delicious, eh? I had a wee flick through and liked it enough to buy it.

I read it in my lunch break and on the train ride home. To be honest I was so immersed in it that I didn't notice I was at my home stop until the last moment and that never happens. What Nik Perring seems able to do is breathe life into characters. It's a vital, difficult skill, made all the more impressive by the brevity of these fictions. With just a few pertinent details he makes characters feel real. He makes the reader care. His stories are brief but full. I was surprised by how romantic many of them are; beautiful, aching examples of love and heartbreak.

A grumpy man surprises his wife with a message in flowers, a woman heard sobbing through a wall may bring hope, a spurned lover can't recall the last time anyone said his name, a man finds a lump on his dates breast...slices of lives reveal human nature.

It's a cute book containing 22 wee stories (each complete with accompanying quirky line illustration.) It costs £7.99 and is available to buy from Waterstones online, Waterstone's Brighton, or y'know, one of those other places.