The Sleepers Almanac is the fourth such anthology of new short fiction from those young publishing dynamos Zoe Dattner and Louise Swinn. And first up - how beautiful an object is it! Dattner tells us the cover is based on the floral motif from her couch - nice couch! But whatever, it looks a treat, and the new smaller format makes the volume so much more tactile than in the past.

In terms of content, there are a number of established authors both from Australia and abroad with pieces: Steven Carroll, Tony Wilson, Max Barry, Sean Condon, Will Eaves and John Burnside all contribute - but the really exciting thing (one hopes!) about anthologies such as these are the new and emerging writers (the “lesser-known equals”, as the editors nicely put it), and of the four or five I read in recent days not one didn’t leave me with wide-eyed wonderment at the talent on display! And there’s even an ex-Readings staffer to boot!

So for a collection of over 35 stories I can only say: savour and enjoy!