A Personal Anthology, by Cherry Potts

There was quite a temptation to pick from stories I have published, but I thought, No, that is cheating. And anyway, there are books I treasure, and I know exactly where they are on my shelves, and I think, ah yes, that one would be great for A Personal Anthology, and I go to get them to re-read, and THEY AREN’T THERE.

That has happened twice in the process of putting together this piece of writing. I am hopping mad. I’m going to have to re-buy those books now. Who did I rashly lend them to?? I went for different stories by the same writer, but remain discontented! There is no theme here, these are twelve short stories that once read, I have never forgotten. Many of them are by lesbian writers, most of them have their roots in fantasy or science fiction; other than that, they are just stories I love.

So, starting with one I did publish - twice!

‘Rewilding’ by Jackie Taylor (First published in Tymes goe by Turnes, ed. Cherry Potts, Arachne Press, 2020, and collected in Strange Waters, Arachne Press, 2021)

I published this during lockdown. It was sent in for the Solstice Shorts Festival (which had to be held online) with every story or poem responding to the Southwell poem, Tymes goe by Turnes. As soon as it arrived, I emailed Jackie to thank her for writing exactly the story I had hoped to see, without knowing I hoped for it. Her protagonist lives an isolated life that becomes more and more remote during lockdown until she cannot remember how to speak, and lives only for the birds that come to her garden, and then, of course, the world comes back… The second publication was in Jackie’s collection, Strange Waters. I loved this story so much, I wanted more, and so the collection came about.

‘The Woman Who Loved the Moon’ by Elizabeth A. Lynn (First published in Amazons!, ed. Jessica Amanda, Salmonson, 1979, and collected in The Woman Who Loved the Moon, Berkley, 1981)

I read this just before I came out, and I think it helped influence that decision. Amazons! was probably in my mother’s prodigious SF/F collection – she kept Dark They Were and Golden Eyed, and then Forbidden Planetin business pretty much single-handed. It is dark myth, with an impossible love between a mortal woman and a goddess, with overtones of fairies under the hill and Beauty and the Beast. It made me cry the first time I read it, the tragedy is so utterly inevitable no matter how much you will it otherwise.

‘Silent Passion’ by Kathleen O’Malley (First published in Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction, ed. Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel, The Overlook Press, 1999)

As a whole, this book hasn’t aged well, but it stays on my bookshelf for this one epic, beautiful, moving story. It has a very early depiction of a deaf character seen as an asset, the aliens are believably bird-like and the fundamental story of rejection and finding a home and family among an entirely alien species is joyous. Another one that made me cry, on first reading AND re-reading.

‘Of Mist Grass and Sand’ by Vonda McIntyre (First published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, 1973, and then in Fireflood, Victor Gollancz, 1980)

Another one from my mother’s collection. This short story eventually became the novel, Dream Snake. Re-reading this, I am reminded all over again of the sophisticated world building, where nothing is explained. You just come to understand that snakes can cure, and marriages are a partnership of three people, and you go along with the story and accept the scenery without question. Amongst my fantasy loving friends this is a touchstone. Have you read…? I know they are serious if they have.

‘The Sandal-Bride’ by Genevieve Valentine (First published in Psychopomp, March 2011, and available to read here)

I don’t remember how I came upon this story, which seems only to be available online, but it has stayed with me, and I have been back to re-read it perhaps five times. It is very simple and gentle and reserved, it never says too much, in a mistress-piece of convincing world and character building, that makes me believe entirely in a trader gradually falling in love with a woman he is escorting to her marriage to a husband whom she has not met. They part, each having learned a great deal from the other about how to live and what to care about.

‘Feel Free’ by Alan Garner (First published in Powsels and Thrums, 4th Estate, 2024)

I came across this story in Garner’s recent collection of essays, Powsels and Thrums. Garner says it is his only short story, and unlike his novels it is not a magnificent piece of writing: the pace is quite badly off, and the sting in the tale relies on being able to recognise a thumbprint without any specialist equipment; but it carries the same preoccupations with ancient histories and lives and how they can cross over into the present as his other work. I had read only a couple of pages when I realised that I had read it before, just once, probably more than 45 years ago, and that I remembered the ending vividly. And it is still as clever as I remembered it, despite the scientific nonsense.

‘The Stations of the Cross’ by Patricia Duncker (First published in Feminist Studies, Spring 1994, and collected in Monsieur Shoushana’s Lemon Trees, Serpent’s Tail, 1997)

I first read this collection when I was a reader for Onlywomen Press. I gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up, but was ignored, so was thrilled to see it published elsewhere. ‘The Stations of the Cross’ is a neat little story about an academic job interview that goes horribly wrong that manages to be political, funny, and accommodating of the other people around the distraught candidate as she phones friends in tears and has a complete meltdown in a layby beneath the hillside shrine of the title.

‘Licenced to Kill’ by Penelope Lively (First published in The Purple Swamp Hen, Penguin, 2017)

Penelope Lively is one of the queens of short fiction. Another book gone missing: Nothing Missing but the Samovar. She does good memorable titles too. So in lieu of the Samovar, which is indeed missing, a more recent collection, and Licenced to Kill. I’m fairly sure I heard this on the radio before reading it. It starts as a rumination on old age as Pauline and her carer Cally fumble their way out of the house and through the shopping run, until Pauline, in Marks & Spencer, casually reveals that she was once a spy. The story pivots as she remembers places she’s been and people she has killed, and Cally decides that perhaps, her planned career in hospitality isn’t for her after all.

‘Direction of the Road’ by Ursula Le Guin (First published in Orbit 14, 1984, and collected in Buffalo Gals, Roc Fantasy, 1990)

Another queen of the short story. I’ve been reading Ursula Le Guin since my teens, and rereading and discovering entirely different meanings as I grow into her stories. I could have chosen a baker’s dozen of stories just by Ursula – the only author I ever wrote a fan letter to (so far!)

I was looking for Sea Road, but it too has disappeared. Most of the stories in Buffalo Gals are slight and mischievous, and ‘Direction of Road’ is too, but also mind-bending in its exploration of relativity, as a tree grows and experiences the change of pace as walkers become horse riders become jalopy owners become an entire traffic jam, for whom the tree must accomplish the increasingly complex task of appearing to grown closer/bigger and diminish so that the poor humans think they are actually going somewhere.

‘Lull’s Wirth’ by Jeremy Gavron (First published as part of An Acre of Barren Ground, Scribner, 2005)

When is a short story not a short story? When it is part of a novel. Except Gavron’s Acre is made from dozens of short pieces, some not even stories: poems, marginalia, court documents, cartoons – every possible genre is tapped to describe the imagined history of Brick Lane in East London. ‘Lull’s Wirth’ is a tale of a simple life lived in a time of danger and betrayal, and the fatal decision to travel in search of a smith to mend a broken scythe. I remembered it particularly for the side purchase of some medicine to ease the painful joints of the main character’s wife – such a casually loving moment – I forgot that it was this transaction that brings trouble.

‘There’s a Woman Works Down the Chip Shop’ by Angela Readman (First published in Root, ed. by Kitty Fitzgerald, Iron Press, 2013, and collected in Don’t Try This at Home, And Other Stories, 2015)

What a joy this story is. The narrator’s mother, a downtrodden, faceless chip shop worker, finds herself being noticed by another unremarkable woman, and after a simple conversation where she feels seen for perhaps the first time in her life, apparently morphs into Elvis. ‘Elvis’ is a metaphor for inner confidence and an awakening of a different sexuality, unrecognised by the child. It is funny, cruel, loving, sad and joyful all at once.

‘The Cat Lover’ by Kate Atkinson (Published in Not the End of the World, Doubleday, 2002)

Many, many short stories use the trappings of folktale. Very few manage the cadences without the cliches, originality rather than predictability. Kate Atkinson’s take has overtones of Beauty and the Beast and the Princess and the Frog, and is witty and verbally delightful. A stray tomcat gradually takes over its rescuer’s life, hunting larger and more bizarre prey as it grows to the size of a tiger.

“A secret cache of dodos, the odd phoenix or two, not to mention the unfortunate capture of the (surprisingly tiny) hawk-headed sun god Ra…”

Until, terrified he will eat her next, she wishes him away – but he leaves an unexpected parting gift.

* Cherry Potts is author of The Dowry Blade, a lesbian epic fantasy, and 2 collections of short stories, Mosaic of Air and Tales Told Before Cockcrow. She has had many stories and a few poems published in anthologies, magazines and online. She has had work shortlisted for the Bridport Flash Fiction, and chosen for International Flash Fiction Day event, FlashFlood. Cherry edits short story/poetry anthologies for Arachne Press, which she owns. She created the literature & music festival Solstice Shorts.

* You can browse the full searchable archives of A Personal Anthology, with over 3,000 story recommendations, at www.apersonalanthology.com.

* A Personal Anthology is curated by Jonathan Gibbs, author of two novels, Randall (Galley Beggar, 2014 and, in the US, Tivoli Books, 2025), and The Large Door, and a book-length poem, Spring Journal. He teaches on the MA/MFA Creative Writing at City, University of London.

* And if you are interested in contributing your own Personal Anthology to the project, then please let me know by replying to this email. I’m always on the lookout for guest editors!

* Finally, if you enjoy this Substack you might enjoy Creative Digest, a collaborative Substack produced by the Creative Writing team at City, and to which I contribute. Read and subscribe here.