Maybe the Birds

A collection of 14 speculative and realist short stories exploring female lives and experiences.

After the apocalypse destroys most life on Earth, a woman makes artificial bird voiceboxes to try and keep birdsong alive. A young female vampire uses her knowledge of mirrors to save her village from the creature who turned her. A woman haunted by her past feels that the robins she has always loved are no longer her friends. These fourteen stories, largely speculative in nature, consider what happens when the world is no longer as it used to be—whether it be the postapocalyptic future, the paleolithic past, or the dark north of the present.

A. J. Ashworth’s second collection features “Leather” from Best British Short Stories and explores themes of love and loss, family and foe, as well as moments of disconnection and connection with those closest to us. All are interested in what it means to be alive in very difficult times.