Fauna

Short Story Collection - weird tales about animals & humans
Fly on the Wall Press, 2021

Some we love, some we hate, some we eat.
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Some can time-travel through a telepathic equine network. Some can collaborate in avian theft. Some are trained to build canine cyborgs, while others are nothing but a figment of a bloodthirsty imagination; a fake elephant in a virtual room.
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Tales of animals in all the wrong places. Stories that seek the minds of our fellow-feeling beasts. Yarns as old as Dragon herself, and just as angry. Vegan noir.

Edge Hill Short Story Prize, Longlist 2022
Saboteur Awards, Best Short Story Collection, Shortlist 2022

"Fiercely original, these are stories that are at times disturbing, absurd, and darkly comedic, and which refuse to conform to the constraints of time and space. A startling collection, that begs to be read aloud. Hartley is a brilliant storyteller, with the kind of imagination that leaves you feeling a bit fearful for your own safety.”

- Lucie McKnight Hardy, author of Water Shall Refuse Them

With humour and an incredible versatility in voice and style - not to mention technology-hacking rabbits and horses who time travel - Hartley asks us to look hard at our own world and never, ever, underestimate the animals. "

- Tania Hershman, author of Some Of Us Glow More Than Others and My Mother Was An Upright Piano