Brightly Coloured Horses by Mandy Huggins

We are delighted to have published this fabulous collection of flash fiction by Mandy Huggins.

Brightly Coloured Horses is the first flash fiction collection from award-winning author, Mandy Huggins.

Twenty-seven tales of betrayal and loss, of dreams and hopes, of lovers, liars and cheats. Stories with a strong sense of place, transporting us from the seashore to the city, from India’s monsoon to the heat of Cuba, and from the supermarket aisle to a Catalonian fiesta. We meet a baby that never existed, a car called Marilyn, a one-eyed cat, and a boy whose kisses taste of dunked biscuits.

These stories all have something in common; each is a glimpse of what it’s like to be human. We make mistakes, we do our best, and most of he time we find hope.

Mandy’s work has been published in various anthologies and literary magazines, as well as in The Guardian, The Telegraph, Reader's Digest, Traveller, and Writers' Forum.

Her travel writing has won several awards, including the British Guild of Travel Writers New Travel Writer Award in 2014, and her short stories are regularly placed and shortlisted in competitions, including Bare Fiction, Fish, InkTears, Cinnamon Press and Retreat West.

A selection of her longer fiction is showcased in Death of a Superhero, published by InkTears, and her travel writing can be found in Roam Alone, a Bradt Travel Guide.

Mandy’s favourite writers include Kazuo Ishiguro, Charlotte Bronte, Yoko Ogawa, Helen Dunmore, Patti Smith and Ernest Hemingway.

Follow her on Twitter @troutiemcfish 

Reviews

This is  a really enjoyable collection of short and Flash Fiction set in many different countries by a versatile writer. She is able to catch a wide variety of emotions in a very short story with exceptional  precision. Many are about lost or unrequited love, elegaic in tone. Some , like Twenty Dollar Shoes are heartbreaking. Others, like Waiting and Just for the Dance glimpse a memory of happiness, while many  leave the reader in the air , anticipating the next action , drawn into the scene, and forced to imagine what happens next. An intriguing  group of stories which will reward the reader.

Elaine Bermitz

'This is a writer who knows her craft. Never a word out place, poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes startling, these stories fit worlds into small spaces. A long awaited debut.'

Angela Readman, author of Don't Try This at Home and The Book of Tides

'If you want the perfect witness to a crime, Mandy Huggins is your woman. She notices everything about the people, places and the things around her. Colours, temperature, sounds, the lot. And she gets all this down in lovely little stories that spin around in the reader's head, dizzying us with her powerful images of loss, regret and yearning.'

David Gaffney, author of Sawn-Off Tales and All the Places I've Ever Lived

'Amanda's work is well crafted, subtle, and shows a deft hand. I love the way she gets into the psychology of each character, delving into their secret wishes and desires, giving us insights into how and why people act the way they do.'

A M Howcroft, InkTears  - author of Nobody Will Ever Love You

 

 

Brightly Coloured Horses available here.