"A while back, when I was going through a bit of a tough time, this guy I knew, Paul, bought himself a restaurant, and when it was still pretty new and he'd spent all his money on forks and skewers and real people who knew how to run a restaurant, he asked if I would help out, and I said yes because I didn't have a job and I didn't seem to be capable of getting a job and I didn't have a clue how to get myself out of the hole I'd fallen into." (The opening sentence of Work by Jo Lloyd). Celebrate the miracle of wonderful fiction with the best new short stories of the year from Jenny Barden, Claudia Boers, Ben Cheetham, Carys Davies, Carol Farrelly, Nick Holdstock, Jo Lloyd, Margot Taylor, Jill Widner and Morowa Yejid as selected by editor Stephen Moran and adjudicator Rana Dasgupta from over 600 submitted to the Willesden Herald.