It's hard to believe this could possibly be the first (non-Who) book by Rob who is best known as a writer on Doctor Who, and it's hard to tell as much as I would like to about these stories without giving away some wonderful surprises. Think, if you can, of Michel Faber crossed with Ray Bradbury but still completely fresh and individual.The 14 stories in the book are all connected by death, either in the shape we best know it or as an allegory for the many other forms of loss and letting go Shearman's characters confront. Every story is a little gem and to pick out a shortlist of favourites is to be unfair to the stories not listed, suffice to say that each one is touched with its own little bit of magic. What makes the book so absorbing is that even when characters are confronted by amazing circumstances their reactions are wholly human. This is a warm, thoughtful and insightful book; a lump-in-the-throat book; a laugh out loud book. It is a book you will want to read again and again. It is also a book that you will want to be able to tell all your friends that you spotted 'before it was so well-known' because, if there's any justice in the world, this is a writer who is going to be very big indeed.

Tiny Deaths is a collection of surreal and very haunting short stories that linger on long after you have finished reading them. From a woman being haunted by her husband and a man sharing a room in Hell with Hitler's dog to a young girl reincarnated as a decorative ashtray and TV set that bleeds, all the stories bring a touch of the absurd to everyday life.Each story is a simple idea which is brilliantly written and after reading them I found my mind wandering from other things and dwelling on them instead. The ordinary is made extraordinary and the unusual becomes commanplace in Robert Shearman's world and nothing is quite what it seems to be.Robert Shearman is a playwright and a writer for the Doctor Who TV series and he has a writting style that appealled to me and spoke in a very unique voice. I look forward to reading more from him in the future and hope that this book gets the appreciation it so very much deserves to have.