I really wanted to like this more than I did. I love reading queer stories, especially from cultures with which I'm not very familiar. However, for too many of these stories, I couldn't figure out why it was included. Maybe the author was queer? I don't know. I did kinda skip the introduction, but only because it kept on going and I was worried I would lose steam for the actual book if I kept at it. Maybe there was some info there that would've helped me enjoy this book more (there probably was). At any rate, I'm glad this book exists in the world. :D

A 4.5-star collection!

Firstly, I have to apologize for taking so long to finish reading this collection and posting my review. My father passed away at the beginning of the year, and it took some time for me to get back to reading. When I finally started to read again—instead of rushing through this short story collection—I savoured it.

The stories were sectioned thematically, and I admit that I enjoyed most of them. Some stories, like “A Modest Adornment” by Magrid Evans, created cosy ambience and even had a bit of humour. Whereas others were dark and sombre, like “Red Earth, Cyrenaica” by Stevie Davies and “Knowledge” by Glyn Jones. It’s difficult to say that I enjoyed reading stories about AIDS, which is the subject matter in “Eucharist” by John Sam Jones; sexual assault, which is the subject matter in “Muscles Came Easy”; and violence against gay individuals, which is the subject matter in “Love Alone Remains” by Mihangel Morgan.

However, in spite of the darker short stories in Queer Square Mile: Queer Short Stories from Wales, there are stories where the characters’ discovery of their queerness or sexuality is exploratory, playful, and also passionate, like those in “Strawberry Cream” by Siân James and “Kissing Nina” by Deborah Kay Davies.
What I think was done quite well by the editors was the various experiences of the queer characters. For example, readers can see different experiences of coming out and transitioning, such as the support that Keiron—a Welsh rugby star—receives when he transitions to become a female versus that of Gethin, a young gay boy whose family members are devout Calvinists and their negative reactions to him coming out.

In addition, while some short stories follow the traditional structure of a short story, others subvert the traditional form. Some are shorter short stories where others are quite long. Whatever these stories may or may not be, they are collated well. Hats off to editors Kirsti Bohata, Mihangel Morgan, and Huw Osborne! I don’t think that I’ve enjoyed a collection from multiple contributors this much since I read The Long Gaze Back: An Anthology of Irish Women Writers, edited by Sinéad Gleeson.

My favourites were “Nightgown” by Rhys Davies, “A Modest Adornment” by Magrid Evans, “All the Boys” by Thomas Morris, “The Doctor’s Wife” by Rhys Davies, and “A Cut Below” by Jon Gower.

I highly recommend this short story collection. It was a joy to read, and I think it’s fantastic example of intersectionality. If you enjoy short stories or short story collections, reading about queer characters, and/or reading about people who are Welsh and/or live in Wales, then this is a collection for you!

Many thanks to Parthian Books and NetGalley for allowing me to review an ARC of this fantastic short story collection in return for an honest review. It has been a pleasure!

It took me way too long to review this collection of short stories, and I wish I had gotten it sooner. "Queer Aquare Mile" is a collection that will make even the people who don't love short stories connect with every aspect of it. It is an extremely diverse collection that spans decades, but that never leads the audience into confusion. Each section of the collection is divided thematically, and introduced splendidly.
I highly enjoyed reading queer stories from Welsh authors, especially since I haven't had the pleasure to know many novels or collections that come from the country.

As a Welsh gay, I loved it. I genuinely had no idea there was such a plethora of queer Welsh writing. I sincerely hope that this will be taught on every literature curriculum in the country. Welsh writing is so often subsumed as a subcategory of British writing, but this book could only be written by Welsh folk.

A fun collection with a broad range of stories from different time periods, presenting a heartfelt and fun set of stories that are not always told.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think I already mentioned in a previous review that is quite hard to adequately review a short story collection—not only is it impossible to summarize a plot as there are several involved, but the same is true as to the different and diverse authors, writing styles, points of view, characters, etcetera. So, all I can provide is an overall feeling, an ad-hoc impression.

This collection of “queer short stories from Wales” was a real treat—I didn’t expect less, in fact, especially after having read the excellent, long, and erudite introduction by the editors, who start by pointing out that short stories are, apparently, a traditional Welsh literary form insofar as they spring from the “communal story-telling tied to a local sense of ‘this place’ – one’s milltigr sqwâr [square mile] as it is called in Wales” (I understood at last the collection’s title, too). I admit that I skipped the second half of this introduction, not because it was less interesting or helpful, but because it presented the stories, one by one, and I hate the beans being spilled before I taste them, if I may use this expression. So, I dove in without further ado, turning the pages until reaching the first story.

From then on, I was captivated. I didn’t expect such a wide variety of stories, in fact. Bundled roughly in broad thematical sweeps that range from ghost stories to disorderly women, to quote but two, they span more than 150 years of writing, the earliest story dating back to 1837, the most recent one to 2018. Admittedly, some were very queer in the original sense of the word without striking me as outright queer in the sense our LGBTQ+ community understands it today. Indeed, from time to time I wondered why such and such story was even included in this collection. What I never found wanting, however, was the literary quality, even in those cases where the stories were translated from Welsh (luckily for me, because otherwise, with my nonexistent knowledge of that language, this would have been a short pleasure for me, indeed)—I mention this because translations are always tricky and can take off or file away some intrinsic essence of a writer’s style.

Another admission: although I thoroughly enjoyed the whole range of stories, the more recent ones drew me in more intensely. Two stories stood out especially, for me. In the first, ‘Red Earth, Cyrenaica’, by Stevie Davies, I guess it was the dreamlike, atmospheric writing and the tangible, smell- and tasteable descriptions (pardon the invention of these two words) as well as the depth of the narrator’s feelings, almost hidden behind very few words (this was a very short short story, after all), and the sadness, the bittersweet nostalgia of love long lost that made something vibrate in me. The second was a longer piece, ‘Muscles Came Easy’ by Aled Islwyn, and there too, the style and the painful yet only hinted-at plot and subplot made for a fascinating, enthralling read, enhanced by the direct, punch-like, almost oratory style.

All in all, I can only recommend this collection very highly. It’s probably not a book you should read the way I did, that is, from the first to the last story, with only few and short pauses between each. No, I guess it would be better to pick it up, taste one piece, close it, pick it up again sometime later, at your own rythm. Many stories would deserve to be digested, I reckon, and I know I’ll reread the collection at a slower pace in the near future.

Queer Square Mile offers a collection of queer short stories from Wales, from the 1800s onwards. It would be perfect for academics and I think that's the audience it's aimed towards. I personally most enjoyed the introduction, which was informative and interesting. As is to be expected, I enjoyed some of the stories more than others, but overall it was an interesting opportunity to dive into queer short stories from Wales and I am grateful to have had the opportunity.

I am grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC of Queer Square Mile. These opinions are my own.

This lengthy anthology presents two centuries of queer short fiction alongside a detailed introduction that situates the pieces within the wider Welsh literary tradition. The stories run the gamut from overt to subtextual along both the queer and Welsh spectrums and form a valuable introductory text, especially for anyone with an academic interest in queer and/or Welsh lit.

I think "Queer Square Mile" is an anthology edited by academics for academics, especially those who want to explore the intersection of Welsh and queer identities.

The foreword was very informative and definitely helped with the reception of the short stories. I liked how they were organised by theme, showcasing queer voices from the XIX century to the present day. It was definitely well thought-through.

However, I'm afraid without the foreword and the theoretical background, this anthology would be quite hard to pinpoint and understand. I'm also afraid that the way it was put together may come across as inaccessible for readers who don't have an academic background, which is a shame.

I voluntarily received an eARC copy in exchange for a honest review via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is a great collection of queer stories from wales. These short stories span from the 1830s to present and are multiple different genres themes.

This is definitely a dense book with lots of short stories. Some I like better than others but I did find this an enjoyable read. Love being able to see how queer stories have evolved over time and what parts stay the same.

I received this book for free for an honest review from netgalley #netgalley

I really don't like the cover of this book but I do like the contents so that's the important thing.

as a queer welsh person i did love this book.
it is a series of queer welsh short stories spanning from the 1800s to the present day!
while i loved some stories more than others generally i really enjoyed the book and would recommend it

Unfortunately the e-Arc for this book expired before I was able to read it. Due to the length of the book I didn't not have enough time to read it.

Dare I admit to not finishing it? I really hope to someday. It's so dense so it's not a quick and easy read. What I have read, I have enjoyed.
The volume is very well-organized and features a lengthy introduction.
This book is an excellent scholarly resource for queer Welsh history but is accessible to anyone who is curious.
I do look forward to finishing it!
#NetGalley

A brilliant collection of short stories mainly representing the Welsh culture. Some stories were not up to my mark but the rest were enjoyable and I enjoyed reading this collection.

NetGalley. ARC Educator 550974

An amazing collection of short stories. It truly leaves you wanting more. This book focuses on Welsh culture and authors. It provides a glimpse into the writings and culture of the Welsh. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will read again closer to All Hallows Eve. I hope to see more from the authors and editors soon.

I saved this to read closer to St David's Day and I was glad of it, brilliant to see a collection centred around Wales and Welsh history.
As others have stated, I found the introduction the most fascinating part of this and a few of the essays/collections were wonderful but quite a hit and miss selection (this often happens and is to be expected).
I would recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about Wales or to read from some slightly less well known Welsh authors.

Reading this as an Irish person, I admit to knowing very little about Wales and even less about Welsh literature, so this was a revelation right from the Introduction by the editors. I really appreciated what the editors had to say about how to even arrange this book, deciding to arrange the stories into themes and not either chronologically or by identity. I think it make the overall book much more useful and purposeful, acheiveing their intention of "hightlighting dialogue across times and places and in the hopes that new and spontaneous connections can be made".

I can't claim to be a compete fan of the short-story format - well you may wonder why I put my name forward to reveiw a book of Welsh short-stories! But so many of these stories just spoke to me on universal themes - I liked the point made in the introduction about "ex-centric" and "decentralised" and if this is a Welsh experience (vs England being considered as "centre" I find it interesting to compare it to the evolution of ireland as a nation over the past 100 years and in the previous 2 especially - as we see our (i.e. the Irish) perception of centre move from UK to EU.

I will continue to dip in to these short-stories and I appreciate how much they teach me about Welsh life and literature (queer or otherwise)

This is a delightful anthology of queer short stories from Wales. Some of the almost 50 short stories were first published in Welsh and later translated into English. One of the delights is discovering so many lesbian writers (though, as the editors point out in the excellent introduction, many of the writers never publicly identified their sexual or gender identities; the word queer itself is an imported word constructed in the US). One of the earliest stories , "One June Night: the story of an Unladylike Girl" from 1883, is by Amy Dillwyn (1845-1935). Her first novel "The Rebecca Rioter"(1880), explored cross-dressing. Two stories by Kate Roberts (1891-1985), "The Treasure"(1972) and "Christmas"(1929), deal with a deep friendship between two older women, and a another relationship between a younger and an older woman, respectively. Crystal Jeans funny short stories "Go Play with Cucumbers" and "The Dead Bear" date to 2019.

The genres range from domestic dramas to modernist to science fiction. This is an anthology you can dip into anywhere and find something moving, entertaining or thought provoking. It's for anyone who enjoys short stories, Welsh literature and or queer fiction. I loved it.

A wonderful collection, though, as is often the case, the stories often varied in quality and never quite lived up to the brilliant introduction.