Anthologies and Edited Books

All Shall Be Well

Edited by Penny Thomas and Stephanie Tillotson

All Shall Be Well, Honno's 25th anniversary anthology, brings together a wonderful and absorbing collection of writing by Welsh women taken from the fiction and non-fiction anthologies published by the press over the last quarter of a century. Fiction writers such as Patricia Duncker, Sian James, Sarah Jackman and Jo Mazelis contribute tales of tangled relationships, discovery loss and love, told with wit and compassion, while non fiction ranges from the horror of Belsen through the eyes of a Welsh nurse, to the swinging sixties with Molly Parkin. Speaking of the 25 pieces chosen for the anthology, editors Penny Thomas and Stephanie Tillotson said: 'All the pieces here are characterised by skill, be that a skill in story-telling, or dexterity in language, rhetorical or aesthetic, a talent for drawing the reader into an experience, or an ability to create a sense of time or place.' Many of these pieces respond to the changes that have taken place in women's social and political experiences in Wales over the past century and a half. Honno has mapped an undoubted realignment of emphasis in what we choose to write about. The sense of lives half-lived has receded, powerlessness and poverty has diminished. Our lives have changed beyond the recognition of our grandmothers, but though much has altered, much is still the same.

Published by Honno, May 2012

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Safe World Gone

Contemporary Stories by Women From Wales

Edited by Patricia Duncker and Janet Thomas 

The moment that changes a life could be strange or ordinary, small or shocking - A tramp at a train station; a red dress in a department store window; visiting an ex-lover; stealing a car; knocking on the wrong door... In these 28 stories, by turns funny, touching and scary, Welsh women authors explore the turning points - the key decisions, the mistakes, the victories or perhaps the roads not taken - that can change a woman's life forever. Honno's most varied, surprising and memorable collection. The most popular theme yet for submissions, this is Honno's most varied, surprising and memorable collection.

First published by Honno, January 2007

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Mirror Mirror

Edited by Patricia Duncker and Janet Thomas 

By turns spooky, sexy and touching, Mirror Mirror is a collection of short stories on the theme of 'The Other Woman' building on the success of previous titles: Catwomen from Hell, Power, and The Woman Who Loved Cucumbers. The collection includes contemporary, historical, sci-fi, traditional and experimental fiction, showing how women can feel separate or other in various areas of their lives - as lovers, daughters, friends, as Welsh or English, or even within themselves! The collection is co-edited by Patricia Duncker and Janet Thomas, who jointly edited the successful - The Woman Who loved Cucumbers.

First published by Honno, 2004

The Woman Who Loved Cucumbers

Edited by Patricia Duncker and Janet Thomas 

What do you think of when you think of food: Indulgence? Comfort? Self-denial? Obssession? A ritual to connect you to someone you've lost? The way to bribe a child? The door to other pleasures? Poison? Twenty two new and established women writers examine our attitudes to food, our guilt and longing, humour and hostility in tales of seduction, rebellion and revenge. Reflecting the emergent popularity of fiction dealing with the significance of eating and consumption, this volume explores issues of body image, its relation to psychological experiences, and the power politics related to eating and the body.

First published by Honno, 2002

Intercity

Stories from Storm Jameson, Mark McWatt, Aritha van Herk and featuring the short story 'Bring Back My Book' by Patricia Duncker. 

Editor Steve Dearden writes: Reads to get you from A to B via somewhere else, each lasting a journey between cities. On the surface these four pieces couldn't be more different - a Guyanese love story, a young German soldier's experience in occupied Czechoslovakia, an entertaining romp of international criminality and magical spells in rural France, and a woman who wants to disappear. What unites them is movement, across frontiers, through roles and identities, into other people's spaces.

Published by Route Publishing, 2006

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Theophile Gautier Mademoiselle de Maupin

Introduction by Patricia Duncker, translated by Helen Constantine

Chevalier d'Albert fantasizes about his ideal lover, yet every woman he meets falls short of his exacting standards of female perfection. Embarking on an affair with the lovely Rosette to ease his boredom, he is thrown into tumultuous confusion when she receives a dashing young visitor. Exquisitely handsome, Theodore inspires passions d'Albert never believed he could feel for a man - and Rosette also seems to be in thrall to the charms of her guest. Does this bafflingly alluring person have a secret to hide? Subversive and seductive, Mademoiselle de Maupin (1835) draws readers into the bedrooms and boudoirs of a French chateau in a compelling exploration of desire and sexual intrigue.

Published by Penguin Books 2005

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