James Murray-White weighs up the recently-published collection of Smiths-based tales in TheShortReview.com:

the short review: Paint a Vulgar Picture: Fiction Inspired by The Smiths edited by Peter Wild

"In the same way that Morrissey surveyed the aspirations and gritty reality of life around him in the 1980s, during a Britain dominated by politics and the bitter divisions of class, so do all the writers in this curious anthology – all responding using the short story form to The Smiths' song title given them by the editor.

As writer Rhonda Carrier says of The Smiths in her intro to her story of adolescence, Girl Afraid, the band created a unique mood of "fatalistic miserablism meets intense yearning". Some of these stories are small in scope and forgettable, others soar up full of imagination and a gripping style, much in the way many albums of 24 songs contain some great tracks and some forgettable ones.

Alison MacLeod, in her intro to her sometimes caustic story about dying, inspired by the rare Smiths instrumental track, Oscillate Wildly, says of how it inspired her: "the song is…all coolness and melancholy – very haunting – until it suddenly lifts off into something joyous, something big. I wanted to write a story that took that kind of running leap.." In the story, the family of a dying man gather, as his mind fixes on an image from the past – a fallen angel. Macleod's piece is a gem of deathly energy...

There's also an interview with editor Peter Wild here.