Extended Play is a collection of slightly longer short stories with music as a central theme. Interspersed with the stories are short essays from some contemporary songwriters detailing how fiction has affected their music.

'The Little Drummer Boy' is a rather sad story of a young boy, Frankie, who is trapped in an abusive family. Despite the external signs his father somehow manages to convince people that everything is fine and that it is his son who is troubled.

'Tremolando' is am emotional story of an elderly violinist and his relationship with his young prodigy, Tamsin. As he trained her over the years he knew it was inevitable that one day she would out-grow him and want to leave.

As I have said previously, I do enjoy collections of stories where there is a common theme running through them and, being a bit of a musician, this collection definitely appealed. However, there was one thing about Extended Play that didn't quite sit right for me. This book incorporates a number of stunning stories and, I suppose in keeping with the musical theme, the editors decided to intersperse the fiction with essays by songwriters detailing how fiction had affected their writing. Now there was nothing wrong with any of these essays but personally I found them unnecessary and by the end of the book they actually started to get in the way of the fiction (so, I just skipped over them!).

Don't let this minor complaint stop you reading this book. The stories are superb and my feelings on the essays are purely personal. The essays are also well written and it is interesting to discover the inspiration behind the songs from some of our better known writers – I just didn't feel that they enhanced my personal enjoyment.

If you are a music fan and enjoy good fiction then this book is one for you. There isn't one weak story within the collection. Every one of them is a gem in it's own right.

Synopsis
What does music do for you? Is it an art form, mood enhancer, or just something to jump around to? From the orchestra pit to the mosh pit music inspires our lives, is universal and personal, futuristic yet primordial. As the soundtrack trigger to a thousand memories it can be seductive yet soulful, energetic and prophetic. But the immediacy of music has rarely been exploited within literature. Until now...

In these stories writers use music as a springboard for their fiction, their characters lives entwined with the metaphorical music of the spheres as well as that played upon the stage.. Like the mid-length EP, Extended Play showcases work of longer length than the average story, allowing greater characterisation, depth of theme, and complexity of plot, whilst still benefiting from the conciseness of the short. This anthology brings new meaning to the phrase one hit wonders.

Accompanying the fiction some contemporary songwriters comment on how fiction has affected their music, looking at the influence from the other side of the coin.

Writers: Marion Arnott, Becky Done, Andrew Humphrey, Emma Lee, Tim Nickels, Rosanne Rabinowitz, Philip Raines, Tony Richards, Nels Stanley, Harvey Welles.

Songwriters: JJ Burnel (The Stranglers), Rebekah Delgado (Ciccone), Catherine and Susan Hay (The Tall Poppies), Lene Lovich, Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol), Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak (Mercury Rev), Jof Owen (The Boy Least Likely To), Iain Ross (Bearsuit), Chris Stein (Blondie), Chris T-T.