New short story collection from Bradford-based author Michael Stewart explores pressing contemporary issues

Bradford author Michael Stewart’s new short story collection Four Letter Words explores the themes of work and home. Yvette Huddleston reports.
Michael Stewart's new short story collection Four Letter Words is out nowMichael Stewart's new short story collection Four Letter Words is out now
Michael Stewart's new short story collection Four Letter Words is out now

Early in the first UK lockdown, back in the spring of 2020, Bradford-based author Michael Stewart decided to hire a studio space to write in.

It turned out to be a very productive time for him, resulting in three new literary works – a novel, a poetry anthology and his second short story collection Four Letter Words, recently published by Hull independent publisher Wrecking Ball Press.

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“I had finished the first draft of the novel I was working on and had put that to one side and was looking for another writing project,” he says. “I started to put together some short stories that I had written before and as I was doing that I noticed quite a few of them were about work and home. Given what was happening at the time, I felt it had a definite resonance, so I started to write stories that fit with those themes to go with the ones I had already.”

Four Letter Words by Michael Stewart is published by Wrecking Ball PressFour Letter Words by Michael Stewart is published by Wrecking Ball Press
Four Letter Words by Michael Stewart is published by Wrecking Ball Press

The book, which he dedicates to ‘the lost and the lonely’, is arranged in two halves – one under the heading of ‘work’, the other of ‘home’ – and features 13 stories in all. Darker and grittier in tone than Stewart’s well-received 2016 debut collection Mr Jolly, the stories here deal with challenging subjects such as addiction, exploitation, homelessness and sexual harassment.

“I did go into these stories wanting to show the reality of what work and home life can be like for some people,” says Stewart. “I was also reading a lot at that time about the increase in incidents of domestic abuse and violence during lockdown. It made me think about what people might be going through. I was aware of that and I had to be true to that, but I also tried to put some humour in there too. There are a lot of fun what I call ‘palate cleansers’, but I didn’t want to shirk from the reality of some people’s lives.”

Head of Creative Writing at the University of Huddersfield, Stewart writes across many genres – he is the multi-award-winning author of stage, TV and radio plays, novels, non-fiction and poetry – but short fiction holds a special place in his heart. “It was one of my first loves,” he says. “I was a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe’s short stories and I agree with what he said about the best stories being those that can be read in one sitting. A real strength of the short story is that it’s like looking at a painting – you can see the whole thing.”

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For Stewart another attraction of the form is that it allows for a more pared-back kind of characterisation, one which perhaps draws the reader into the narrative in a different way. “With a novel you have to populate it,” he says. “The characters are developed and we get to know them whereas in a short story it’s more of a snapshot and the characters remain a bit of a mystery.” He also holds with the views of celebrated Irish short story writer Frank O’Connor who believed that short stories were ideal for writing about isolation. “It is just perfect if you want to write about loneliness and alienation – and all the stories in this collection are about that.”

Michael Stewart will be appearing at the Book Corner, Halifax June 29 and Kemps Bookshop, Malton on July 8.

Review

Four Letter Words

Wrecking Ball Press, £12

Yvette Huddleston 4/5

Michael Stewart’s latest collection of short fiction is a dark, gritty and totally compelling read.

Divided into two sections under the subtitles – Work and Home – the book showcases 13 stories which explore aspects of domestic and working life. These are snapshots of the lives of the lonely, the isolated and the vulnerable, so it is not always comfortable reading, but Stewart’s skilfull, empathetic storytelling draws you in and, crucially, makes you care.

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Themes include dysfunctional relationships, sexual harassment, homelessness, addiction and exploitation. Among the well-drawn characters we meet are an abused single mother fearful about handing her child over to her violent ex-partner, a man feeling threatened by the sinister lodger he and his wife take in, a sex worker who discovers just what she is prepared to do in order to raise the funds she needs to visit her son, a painter and decorator who accepts a lucrative job painting a huge warehouse that drives him to the brink of madness and a barmaid who is forced to endure the sexual advances of her boss in order to keep hold of her job. While the content is challenging, these are timely contemporary issues that deserve an airing and Stewart manages to leaven it all with a thread of black comedy, sometimes verging on the surreal, that runs through the collection. Very accomplished and eminently readable.