I really hope this isn't the end of Josie Long's writing career and that there's more where this came from!

Certainly it's more ambitious, unique and fulfilling than many books written by public figures or entertainers. Or you're the thinks-herself-chubby-and-ugly girl wanting to get in with the cool-but-very-flawed crowd at school, or you're suffering because a guy at a party can't keep it in your trousers, or someone from your past moves in to the neighbourhood, with his current and you have a hard time over you being his ex still, or someone from your past ends up on a nearby billboard you see daily. Like overhearing excerpts from relatable people’s lives in a cafe, this was a pleasure to listen to - maybe a bit of a council estate Bennet Talking Heads for the next generation, and better? There’s a Dostoyevsky quote, if that doesn’t sound too pretentious: ‘Low ceilings and tiny rooms cramp the soul and the mind.

So during the pandemic when I really couldn’t gig, I realised that I was allowed to cycle to the empty offices of Arts Emergency, and that I could use that as a workspace. All the stories spotlight flawed parts of ourselves and that explicitly means that they are entirely relatable. If you choose the Book + In-Person Audience option, this will include a signed copy of the featured book which you can collect from the venue on the night of the event.

There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. After a break to study English at Oxford University, she had her Edinburgh fringe debut in 2006 with Kindness and Exuberance, a show that Chortle described as “utterly amateurish…this is a good thing”, disarming audiences with homemade badges, handwritten programmes, shambolic ukelele songs, and jokes about her supervillain persona Deceptive Shrimp. Long’s comedy always seemed more crafted than off the cuff, but that exchange between supposed friends has an iciness that is markedly different from her stage persona. It seem all of the stories have similar themes: anxiety, pettiness, obsequious and obsession - unwanted but unresolved characters in human nature - are all heavily present in each story.With everything from teenage friendship to parenthood to leaving London, this debut collection is perfect for fans of Miranda July, Emma Jane Unsworth and Dolly Alderton. There’s also recurring mentions of drug use in a number of the stories which I personally don’t like reading about.

All of them are fiction but contain something that comes from my life, be it: how I felt about someone; what someone did to me; a person I know; err, an ex-boyfriend I wish to seek permanent revenge on,” she laughs. Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. Josie will be joined in conversation for this extra special virtual event where she will explore her inspiration and the writing process for this electric collection of short stories. With fiction, even though it starts in fact, you might add to it, just to make it this thing, to enjoy the story and its richness.

One mixed blessing is the strong influence of Raymond Carver, most clearly in the deliberately unwieldy title of the collection and the echo of 'A Small Good Thing' in Long's 'A Little Dirty Thing'.