Books
In his first major collection since 2011's You Don't Have To Say, Birmingham-based Alan Beard returns with Afternoon Drinking.
Through Alan's richly textured prose, you will find unique insights on the often tender, frequently dysfunctional, hard won and hard lost paths of love, obsession, regret, longing and all the other flavours of human frailty.
A man slips loose his moorings and ends up imprisoned in his flat.
Two parties years apart are linked by one man’s obsession for a woman who doesn’t see him.
A woman plots revenge on her imaginary son’s bully...
Alan Beard’s long awaited third collection of stories finds him at the top of his game.
Told with unflinching honesty and compassion, Afternoon Drinking firmly establishes Beard as one of England’s finest short story writers.
Released November 6th 2025.
Pre-order now and receive your copy as soon as stock is available!
'Beard's stories take you right inside those sidelined lives trying to make sense of the world and their place within it and just before the world walks away again. From lost loves to pretend lives and those we inexplicably get mixed up in, these stories take you into Birmingham's darkest corners.’
Lisa Blower Winner of the 2025 VS Pritchett Short Story Prize, The Guardian’s National ShortStory Prize and the 2020 Arnold Bennett Prize.
‘Alan Beard writes with a candour and emotional truth that almost hurts to take in, awakening our humanity and attentiveness in a way that much fiction fails to.’
Luke Kennard Winner of the Eric Gregory Award 2005
‘Like Denis Johnson, Beard takes you down—down into a world of drugs, alcohol and despair, where people teeter on the edge of spiritual or literal death. His pared down prose reads, at times, like poetry. There are little moments of beauty, transcendence; they shine like shards of mirror. Sometimes the voice feels like an incantation, a rant. There’s humour, too.’
Amanda Smyth Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize 2022 and winner of the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger 2010.
‘I was completely absorbed by all the stories from first to last. Utterly interesting, utterly consistent too. The empathy for people, the feel for language and the telling details of daily life and failure, pleasure too. The compressed poetic line, the supple movement within sentences. I will need at least another read to describe the full effect of these startling stories.’
Alan Mahar, writer and publisher
‘The unsentimental but affecting way Beard writes about ordinary people (in Taking Doreen Out of the Sky) makes him irresistible.’
Nicholas Royle, writer and publisher
The Birmingham Blitz, November 1940
War kills, crime pays, no more so than when the lights are off and everyone’s looking out for themselves – or looking the other way.
After a young girl is found dead, Detective Sergeant Harry Marsh and his new partner, Policewoman Annie Scott, uncover a world of illegal immigrants, arms theft, domestic terrorism and police corruption – all against a backdrop of burnt-out houses and burnt-out lives.
In a world at war, only one thing is certain: life is the cheapest commodity of all.
“A highly enjoyable, big-hearted debut” Charlie Hill
“A pacy and exciting book" Elizabeth Lee
“A labyrinthine crime tale of courage and morality”
Jenny Lecoat
"A tense portrayal of wartime Birmingham, murder, and moral quandary."
Kate Mascarenhas
Night Time Economy
In this all-new collection of work from some of the West Midlands’ leading writers, you’ll find stories of forlorn 3am hopes and of nocturnal revelations. Of celebrations and hauntings. Of the lost and the found. Of the urban and the urbane. Of the all too real. And the all too unreal.
In 33 new pieces of writing you will experience the region in all the colours, scents and hidden sounds of the night.
‘Another collection of first-rate tales from the second city.’ Mark Billingham
‘This anthology is the best of the West Midlands… I loved it.’ Kit de Waal
‘What sharp insights these authors have… and with talent to burn. A delight.’ Paul McVeigh
Digbeth Stories
Social commentary and wry observation run through these tales of the city from the realistic to the speculative.
In 27 new pieces of writing - some truthful, some twisted, some heartfelt, some heart-breaking - we experience first-hand this unique urban quarter of Birmingham and the countless lives it has touched.
'An outstanding collection.' Jonathan Coe
'Readers will enjoy these brand new Digbeth voices.' Steven Knight
'A lively, inventive gifted diversity of stories!' Jim Crace
