Bad Advice, Limited Scope, No Practical Use runs the line above the title, a tongue in cheek description of this rather wonderful collection of short stories about the nation's capital. These kind of anthologies can sometimes be a bit hit and miss, but on the whole, An Unreliable Guide hits far more times than it misses.

The vast majority of these authors are new to me, but they all write with a distinctive voice and their tales cover everything from place, people, psycho-geography, love, life and, in the strangest story of all, time travelling monks and a serial killer!

This book was a Kickstarter project and with short stories seemingly out of fashion amongst the big publishing houses, this is probably the way forward for such anthologies. The quality of writing is very high indeed, the stories by turns strange, heartwarming and thought provoking. Every aspect of the capital is examined, from capitalism to the disintegration of community, from LGBT rights to paranoia and loneliness, love and death.

It is available from Influx Press and is well worth seeking out. ( )