Rob Shearman and Adam Marek

Rob’s first collection of short stories, called TINY DEATHS, was published by Comma Press in 2007. It is currently a nominee for two World Fantasy Awards, both for best short story and best collection, and was also shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize and nominated for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Prize.

His second collection, LOVE SONGS FOR THE SHY AND CYNICAL, is to be published in early 2009. Christmas 2008 sees the publication of the Doctor Who novel he has co-written for BBC Books, called THE STORY OF MARTHA.

He's written over twenty plays for the stage, and won many awards for them, including the World Drama Trust Award, the Sunday Times Playwriting Award, the Sophie Winter Memorial Trust Award, and the Guinness Award for Theatre Ingenuity in association with the Royal National Theatre. Most recently, he directed a revival of his play 'Shaw Cornered' as international representative at the Old World Theatre Festival in Delhi.

A few years ago he was lured to the world of radio and television; he's written many plays for BBC Radio 4, usually produced by Martin Jarvis, and his most notable TV credit was as writer for the first series of the revived 'Doctor Who' - the season as a whole won a BAFTA, and his episode was nominated for a Hugo Award. Earlier this year his short story project for BBC7, 'The Chain Gang', won him a Sony Award.

Adam Marek’s short stories have been published in Prospect magazine and in anthologies including Parenthesis and The new uncanny from Comma Press, two Bridport Prize anthologies and New Writing 15.

His collection of short stories Instruction manual for swallowing was published by Comma Press in 2007, and was described in The Guardian as a 'transgressive thrill to read' and The Independent as showing a 'genuine unsettling talent'. It was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor prize – the biggest prize in the world for a collection of short stories.

He has read at many events, including the Manchester Literature Festival, the London short story festival, Lancaster Litfest and the Frank O’Connor festival in Cork, Ireland. Right now, he is working on his first novel.

In this debut collection, the English short story receives an injection of something new and compelling and spooky. Alex Linklater

Marek’s fabulously meaty, funny writing makes the short story look really exciting again, pulling you, frame by frame, into a bright, strange future. Maggie Gee