Featuring fourteen essays from international experts, this Companion provides an accessible overview of English-language short fiction outside of North America. It discusses the development and impact of the short story - including a variety of subgenres such as detective fiction and flash fiction - from the early nineteenth century to the present.

Introduction Ann-Marie Einhaus; Part I. Contexts: 1. Writing and publishing the short story Paul March-Russell; 2. Social realism in the short story Anthony Patterson; 3. The short story and the anxieties of Empire Barbara Korte; 4. The short story, identity, space, and place David Malcolm; Part II. Periods: 5. Romantic short fiction David Stewart; 6. Victorian short stories John Plotz; 7. The short story in the early twentieth century Ann-Marie Einhaus; 8. Mid-twentieth-century stories Victoria Stewart; 9. The short story from postmodernism to the digital age Maebh Long; Part III. Genres: 10. Comic short fiction and its variety Kate Macdonald; 11. The detective short story Martin Priestman; 12. The gothic in short fiction Luke Thurston; 13. The British science fiction story Andrew M. Butler; 14. Microfiction Marc Botha.