Two of Rogers's short stories  a tall tale of a bush-taxi kidnap and an account of a magnetic but boorish politician's trip to a writers' retreat  end with the admission that they are just, well, stories. That's a ploy often overused in literature, but here the twists feel less a self-serving flourish and more a fitting nod to the glory of fiction. It's representative of a set of narratives that feel wonderfully natural, taking simple, intriguing beginnings  an estate agent grumbles about Christmas jingles, a daughter asks her mother where she was conceived, an academic decides to try an airport foot massage  and spinning them into thoughtful and joyously readable stories that rarely go where you'd expect them to. This collection takes in inquisitive barracudas, smug photographers, confused ghosts and young crushes. Its subjects are often downbeat, but the results  sprinkled with sharp observation and matter-of-fact magic  are strangely uplifting. Rogers won the Arthur C Clarke award with her recent foray into sci-fi; her first short story collection deserves just as much attention.