Against the Bar — Multiple Authors

From hard-boiled detectives to fashion-fail teens, from dissembling mothers to pre-assembled lovers, from advertising rodents to time-traveling girlfriends -- you've never read a collection of stories like this one!

The Literary Taxidermy Short Story Competition invites writers to stitch together their own stories using the opening and closing lines from classic works of fiction. For the 2018 competition, aspiring writers were given these choices: The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett; Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll; or “A Telephone Call” by Dorothy Parker.

AGAINST THE BAR contains the finalists from the Dashiell Hammett contest. Every story starts and ends exactly the same way -- with the opening and closing sentence of The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett -- and yet the stories themselves are nothing alike. Science fiction, mystery, erotica, humor. They are as different from one another as the sixteen authors who dreamt them up. Come, meet this year's finalists from the US, Canada, Taiwan, India, New Zealand, Colombia, and the UK. You won't be disappointed!

Learn more about literary taxidermy, as well as future contests, by visiting literarytaxidermy.com.

“A clever idea and an exciting contest.” -- Alison Portage 

“Each story is a complete surprise, despite knowing precisely how it starts and ends.” -- Cary Hammer

“It's hard to imagine so many different stories lay dormant between the opening and closing of every book. But they do, and you'll find them here.” -- re/ART 

“A great example of ‘what-if' fiction. Makes you wonder what kind of story you'd write!” -- Lively Fiction