Since 2015 the Pin Drop Short Story Award has discovered new and exciting talent from around the world and showcased new works from more familiar names. This anthology collects the 2017 final short-list, including the winning entry, ‘Morelia Spilota’ by Cherise Saywell - an absorbing tale of a priest, a hitchhiker and a snake together and alone in the Australian countryside; which of them should be most wary of being bitten, and by whom?

"Cherise’s story is a superb example of the short form: elegant, lyrical and with a quiet, restrained power. It is written with such surety of tone and pace that reading it, you feel at once you are in the hands of a master storyteller." (Elizabeth Day, Founder, Pin Drop)

These short stories, including titles such as ‘Feathers Thick with Oil‘, ‘These Silver Fish’ and ‘The Way I Breathed’, give us glances into other worlds whilst causing us to think about our own, all within a few minutes. Pin Drop champions the very best in short fiction, and this collection is no exception.

"The quality of writing and the ambition of the writers seems to get stronger each year. It was a pleasure and a privilege to judge the prize and to encounter this year’s short-list." (Tim Marlow, Artistic Director, Royal Academy of Arts)

"It was a privilege to judge this year’s RA & Pin Drop Short Story Award and select the winning story from such a strong shortlist. Cherise Saywell is a worthy winner for her superb story, ‘Morelia Spilota’, which is written with great confidence and verve. It is a brilliant short story." (Simon Oldfield, Founder, Pin Drop)

Narrators include Olivia Le Andersen, Richard Popple, Ronan Raftery, David Rintoul, Natalie Simpson and Kate Sissons, with Shalom Brune-Franklin reading ‘Morelia Spilota’.