The Empty Chair: & other stories

An empty chair can mean many things. Symbolic perhaps - a memorial for a loved one now gone. Or it can be welcoming and comfortable, waiting for someone to sit and relax. There again, it could be so uncomfortable that no one wants to sit in it anyway! Sometimes people are defined by their chair. My grandfather, for instance, had a wooden rocking chair, which no one else was ever allowed to sit in, and my only memories of him were rocking in his chair. So perhaps you have a favourite chair - empty and waiting for you to sit down with a cuppa or a glass of cheer - where for a little while you can enjoy my latest book of short stories.

Edna Taylor is a real storyteller. Whether the stories are of the supernatural or the domestic, she writes with a natural realism that allows the reader to be drawn in to her diverse worlds. She often links characters from book to book and there is generally a gentle twist or ‘ah-ha’ moment that leaves you satisfied and eager to read more. Edna has such a lively imagination, whether writing about themes from personal experience, comedy vignettes or bizarre tails of strange goings-on. Her use of language is very sophisticated but at the same time direct and understated. There’s an economy of words and meaning so that you are quickly drawn into the situation or dilemma. Classic short stories have an immediate momentum taking us directly to the action or the issue. They have an economy of time and place and a sudden resolution. Edna Taylor’s short stores are indeed such classics. - Dr Michael Liddle