Title: Eccentric Circles: Volume One

Author: Cynthia Brackett-Vincent

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 274

Rating: 4/5

The first thing to mention about this book is that I have a short story in it, and so obviously I’m giving you my thoughts on everything except that. Not that I think it would have changed my rating either way.

Eccentric Circles is the first short story anthology from Encircle Publications, the press that’s behind my Leipfold series of cosy mysteries. Because of that, I was already aware of most of the authors in this collection, although I have to admit that I hadn’t actually read most of them. That made it a pleasurable experience, because I was able to match the words with the faces.

There’s a nice variety of genres in here, although it does have a tendency to lean towards crime and mystery. That’s understandable, though, because that’s one of the genres that Encircle specialises in. I’m not complaining about that either, partly because I like to read that and partly because that’s the category that my own story falls under.

There are too many stories for me to pick out individual favourites, but I do want to give a quick shout out to Matt Cost’s piece because it contained a cheeky little self-reference to Encircle Publications itself and another one of the authors. It’s hard to get things like that right, and Cost nailed it.

All in all, I thought it was a great little short story collection that does a great job of showcasing some of the talent that Encircle has to offer. Epic.

Learn more about Eccentric Circles: Volume One.