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The Little Fears

William Sansom

First published 1948
Type Short Fiction
Length Short Story

A story of paranoia. The narrator explains what frightens him about apparently mundane moments. He also tells about the time a man inexplicably attacked him in a cafe, and about the motorcyclist he believes is now pursuing him with murderous intent.

Weird, but not supernatural. If insanity-like and reality-distorting perceptions count as speculative fiction, then this qualifies.
First published in New Writing and Daylight, no. 7, 1946.

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
1948 Cover Something Terrible, Something Lovely Hogarth Press Collection 38
1948 Something Terrible, Something Lovely Clarke Irwin Collection
1948 Something Terrible, Something Lovely Oxford Collection
1954 Cover Something Terrible, Something Lovely Harcourt, Brace & Company Collection
December 2002 Cover Various Temptations Tartarus Press Collection 227