Dreams Never End — Nicholas Royle

Dreams Never End is at the edge of the urban landscape, and at the heart of the noir genre. The ten stories, edited by Nicholas Royle, and written by Andrew Newsham, Mick Scully, and H.P. Tinker, offer as much diversity and originality as one could expect from an anthology. Newsham's stories revolve around gangsters, lowlifes, and barflies. They flirt with suicide with verve and humor. Scully's stories expose a dark side of Birmingham, as thieves and murderers congregate around a pub called The Little Moscow. H.P. Tinker dips noir in existential angst; his narrative is tense and cryptic. The anthology confirms the depth and uniqueness that can be achieved in a short story. There is nothing lost and everything to be gained by taking a trip to the borderline of our limits with these dark, sometimes tragic, and always surprising tales.