“Assured, dark, funny and sly, Happy Now brings nearly pitch perfect portrayal of a relationship turned sour. Brilliant female protagonist, great ending.”
London Short Story Prize
“The Tishman Review is chock-full of literary goods, stacked with a stunning array of quality writing. Alex Reece Abbott’s Tillie Olsen prize finalist story The Road to Leongatha is a snapshot of a moment in a family’s life, a coming-of-age story for a young girl, presented in prose so direct and visual that the whole thing feels effortless.”
Aran Singh, review, New Pages
“Relative Strangers is a cracking good story which mixes emotional / psychological interest and has a genuine character and atmosphere all of its own. In addition, it’s rich in unsentimental and sassy humour (some of it laugh-out-loud funny) with unusually finely honed cultural antennae.”
Anna South, The Literary Consultancy
“Lucky Country, the first in the Southcoast series, has intrigue, humour, well-defined characters and exceptional dialogue. Loved the narrator’s voice.”
Judging panel, Claymore Crime
“I love the originality of Any Eye But Mine…a real flair for a well-chosen economy of words.”
Amanda Lowe, Judge, The Lightship Short Story Prize
“I really liked this excerpt from Relative Strangers a lot – I definitely want to read more there’s a lot brewing and I’d love to know what happens next.”
Expert Reviewer, Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards
“Any Eye But Mine is a cracking story.”
Mandy Sutter, Ilkley Literature Festival
“One of my favorite stories was Moss by Alex Reece Abbott. She kicks off with the quote, ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss,’ and converts it into a whole new story and image. “She wanted to gather moss, bed in it like a nesting blackbird or rook. She wanted to stroke and admire the sporophytes, protonemas, gametophytes. Rhizoids. Seta and sporangium. Operculum, calyptra and gemmae. The peristome. Moss in all of its primitive, minute, leafless beauty.”
Al Kratz, review for Flash Fiction Festival One
“My Brother Paulie: A Domestic Space Odyssey is runner-up with an honourable mention. This is a very short, tight flash exploring the narrator’s somewhat whimsical, rather dark understanding of her brother’s altered state.”
Judge, Brenda Carre, Pulp Literature’s Raven Short Story Competition
“Alex Reece Abbott’s The Call of Blood, about one sister trying to reboot the selective memory of the other, leaves readers with a sense of fragile hope and invite them to begin again.”
Maryam Madani, Totally Dublin review for The Broken Spiral Anthology
“In Scratching the Matchbox, which takes its title from a phrase Virginia Woolf used in her diary about getting a conversation going, Alex Reece Abbott brings together simple, everyday associations in a gently poignant story.” Her Free to Roam is dedicated to Portadown author, Orla McAlinden. Set against a backdrop of segregation, the story “captures perfectly the sharp bite of teenage insecurity and competitiveness.”
Halo Literary Magazine (Embers Issue)
“Your story, Samson, did not just fit the criteria, but was interesting and unique.”
111 Emergency Words Flash Fiction Team
“A Little Kismet is a wonderful story, and our judge, Darcy Scott, thought so too.”
Katherine Mayfield, Editor, The Maine Review
“Very engaging stories, both direct and lyrical…the characters are productively ambiguous. In particular, the mother/daughter relationship in The Detention is heartbreaking.”
Emma Wright, Editor, The Emma Press
“Something Sweet to Finish is absolutely gorgeous. It seriously gave me chills, both for its sensuality and also the sense of menace.”
Editor, Stand Up Tragedy
“We enjoyed your dark and sumptuous nature of Something Sweet to Finish.”
Editors, Flash Frontier