All About Books

It’s a pleasure to review this flash fiction collection, Seeing the Other Side, by Allison Symes, as part of the Reading Between the Lines book blog tour.

#SEEINGTHEOTHERSIDE

Blurb

Perspective can be wonderful but will you still feel the same if your view from the fence changes?

Allison Symes has long loved what can be done with flash fiction in terms of genre and even how it is presented. Here, you will find flash tales covering a wide range of genres. Some are written in acrostic format, some are linked flashes where a character will turn up in two or more tales revealing more about themselves as the stories go on, and many will make you laugh. Others will make you shudder. Justice is served in some of the tales too, though whether it is to the characters’ liking is another matter. Flash fiction is perfect for any mood or genre. Oh and a Canada Goose comes into the book too.

Allison Symes, author of Seeing The Other Side, Tripping The Flash Fantastic and From Light to Dark and Back Again is passionate about flash fiction and hopes her latest collection introduces more to the joy and fun of the form.

Review

Published in July 2026, this is Allison Symes’ third and largest flash fiction collection. Some stories are short, some very short – perfect for dipping in and out whenever you are looking for a quick read. Allison is a master of the short story – each one feels complete, with a beginning, a middle, and often a surprise ending, spanning a range of moods.

I grew up on Roald Dahl’s short story collections and have loved short stories ever since. Though in a shorter-form flash fiction format, Allison Symes delivers everything I look for. I was pleasantly surprised to find some characters re-appearing and some themes continuing into the next set of stories. With content ranging from fairies, dragons and ghosts to more, as well as different genres, including historical, there is something here for everyone, all character-led. With such a diverse range on offer, it’s hard to single out a particular favourite.

Allison Symes knows her craft. She writes in vivid prose that makes every word count. I recommend this collection to anyone who wants to read or write flash fiction. I now eagerly await her next collection.

About the author

Allison writes writes flash fiction and short stories, she has been published online and in print by Bridge House Publishing, Cafelit, Iron Press and Chapeltown Books, who published my first flash fiction collection, From Light to Dark and Back Again in 2017.

Her  second flash fiction collection, Tripping The Flash Fantastic, has now been published by Chapeltown Books.

She was one of the winners of the 2020 Waterloo Arts Festival Writing Competition with my story, Books and the Barbarians. I’ve been one of the winners for this competition three years in a row. Please see Transforming Communities, To Be…To Become and Transforming Being as these are the compilations of the winning entries. Later in 2020 there should be a paperback of these three ebooks.

She also blogs for Chandler’s Ford Today, an online community magazine, and usually on topics of interest to other writers.She also writes for online writing magazine, Writers’ Narrative, and is one of their team of editors and also a freelance editor and runs workshops on that and on flash fiction.

Links to buy

KINDLE – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeing-Other-Side-Allison-Symes-ebook/dp/B0H6MQFN8K

PAPERBACK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seeing-Other-Side-Allison-Symes/dp/1915762456

WEBSITE

Website: https://allisonsymescollectedworks.com/

SOCIAL MEDIA LINK

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Allison-Symes/author/B07T3HT18L

Books: http://author.to/AllisonSymesAuthorCent

YouTube:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCiePD4p_vWp4bz2d80SJA/

Facebook – Author Page – https://www.facebook.com/Allison.Symes.FairytaleLady

Facebook – Book Page  (called From Light to Dark and Back Again – I focus on flash fiction here) – https://www.facebook.com/fairytaleladyallisonsymes/

Substack – https://substack.com/@allisonsymeswriter1

Chandler’s Ford Today Author Page – Allison’s Weekly Column –  http://chandlersfordtoday.co.uk/author/allison-symes/