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Below are reviews for Naked City:
The excerpt below is taken from a feature written for the BBC website, 26th January 2005: Naked City is a collection of short stories based around the concept of analysing life in regenerating British cities through fiction, bypassing the “PR spin and glossed commercial brochures”. It includes a wide range of works set in various locations, including Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Glasgow and, of course, Nottingham. The collection also features a very literal take on the theme by photographer Kevin Reynolds who arranged nude models into typical urban situations. This maverick approach from the publishers was one of the factors that inspired author James Walker to get involved. “What I like about Route,” James says, “is the way they are exploring different areas of writing. They have a great range and that suited me because I like to extend boundaries in my work.” James’ story, ‘Why I have to wear a pair of Wranglers everyday for as long as I live on this street’ tells of how a well-intentioned attempt to find the owners of a dog, involved in a road accident, backfires. James says the road where all the action takes place is based around the kind of areas he has seen living in Nottingham. He says: “There are a lot of characters in Nottingham. I find the people to be very honest and down-to-earth.” James Walker's first novel, This Is All I Know, is due for publication and he is also working on another-Nottingham based project, a local lad’s view on Brian Clough. Naked City is available from all good bookshops...
Printed in The Big Issue in the North, No. 555, 14th February 2005: If ever there was a concept that needed explaining in these New Labour, new jargon days, its urban living. It's bandied around freely in all quarters of the media, but what exactly does it mean? Needless to say you won't be any wiser for reading up on glossy regeneration supplements or attending urban summits. Nor can we expect any dazzling insights from the hubbub of self-congratulation and civic boosterism that you'll find in many northern city councils these days. But if you want to find out what life's really like in the redevelopment north, you could do a lot worse than start off with a book like this. As a recognised champion of bold and original fiction, Route deserves immense credit for assembling this gritty crew of urban voices (most of whom are largely unknown) to capture the essence of today's big northern cities. From Manchester to Leeds and Liverpool to Bradford a huge social revolution is taking place. Yet how are these changes impacting on those living through it? There is of course a much more vivid picture of modern life than skinny lattes and loft apartments and these are some of the stories that tell it. Whether it's doomed romance in Newcastle or casual violence in Leeds, Naked City is a roll call for those who aren't riding the cusp of relentless social change. Beyond the council-sponsored veneer of civil renewal Naked City unveils a new identity that's shaping up. And with some of the sharpest, on the button writing you'll come across all year, Route's new writing series (this is the 15th in the series) could soon start taking on a Samizdat level of importance as it quietly ushers in the beginnings of a much-needed northern literary renaissance.
Reviewed in Artscene Magazine Route has arrived at a format which could be described as a northern Granta. For any broad-minded soul that cares to check it out, it remains hard evidence of a valid literary sensibility beyond London.
Reviewed in the Manchester Evening News, 22nd January 2005: This collection of short stories from northern-based Route is described as a revealing look at the nether regions and it is indeed an intriguing insight into city life and the people living it. The stories take us beneath the fabric of the modern, changing city, well beyond the lattés and designer loft-living, and into the minds of the generation going through all the social upheaval.
The excerpt below is taken from a feature written for the BBC Bradford website, February 2005: Once upon a time there was a TV programme set in New York called The Naked City which declared: "There are eight million stories in this city and this has been one of them." A new collection of short stories published here in West Yorkshire aims to take us inside the modern British city. Of course, Naked City tells of lives beyond West Yorkshire - there are also stories set in Newcastle, Dundee, Glasgow, Manchester, Hull, Nottingham, Durham and Liverpool, and if this wasn't enough the collection is accompanied by a series of photographs. Kevin Reynolds looks through his lens at naked people (volunteer models) in everyday situations. I came to this collection as someone who has been evading short stories for a good few years, even though some of these have been amongst the best stuff I have ever read. The Naked City shows that the short story is the perfect medium for laying bare glimpses of people's lives.
Reviewed in incorporating writing [The Incwriters Society], April 2005: This is Route all grown up, a collection of thought provoking stories, well edited by two individuals who know what makes a collection tick. Short stories have been battered over the last few years, a major source of ignorance, they have been pushed to the back of the classroom cupboard, forgotten and shunned but thanks to the likes of Granta and Route, with the unwavering support and war cry of such institutions as the Save Our Short Story campaign we are seeing the long overdue return to form in the UK. Readers, once over, forced to read the short stories of one writer now have the choice to read a collection bringing some of the finest next generation Booker authors to our shelves. The eclectic, the humorous, the heartbreaking, the psychological, the fear and angst are all here in a collection that not only embodies the city but occupies the very soul of the urban landscape. This is the regeneration of Route and the start of the renaissance for the short story on these isles, no longer will we have to submit to American editors or write for middle aged women’s magazines. If Granta have the south, then Route have the north and it’s only a matter of time before they take the capital.
Reviewed in The Herald [a.k.a. The Glasgow Herald], 19th Februrary 2005: The modern city has been ploughed endlessly by writers in search of a backdrop upon which to hang their ideas. Why not? Urban angst and alienation are supreme bedfellows. Gleaned from the length and breadth of the UK, this anthology from the pens of unknown writers, for the most part, does not disappoint. There is grittiness to these tales, variously dealing in love and fading or faded dreams and a commendable lack of adornment and sentimentality in a well-chosen collection.
Visit Route, Yorkhire publiser of Naked City: http://www.route-online.com/ Order Naked City from Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/ Visit The BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ Visit The Big Issue In The North website: http://www.bigissueinthenorth.com/ Visit the Artscene website: http://www.artscene.org.uk/ Visit the Manchester Evening News website: http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/ Visit The BBC Bradford website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ Visit The Incwriters Society UK website: http://www.incwriters.com/ Visit The Save Our Short Story campaign website: http://www.saveourshortstory.org.uk/ Visit The Herald website: http://www.theherald.co.uk/
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