Tell me a (short) story
For readers and writers, will the fun never end?
Hot on the heels on National Poetry Month, we roll into May and National Short Story Month. Now in its sixth year, Short Story Month was initiated by the Emerging Writers Network, a site offering reviews and interviews.
Joining the festivities, Fiction Writers Review is hosting The Collection Giveaway Project, a community effort to champion great short story collections.
To celebrate, I'm revisiting some of my favorite short stories, and looking for new collections to add to the list.
Death is Not an Option
by Suzanne Rivecca
In her 2010 debut, Rivecca delivers piercing prose. "Most of Rivecca’s ruthlessly frank and lonely characters have left religion, and the saving they seek in this modest, engaging and disquieting collection is from the plague of isolation," explains the New York Times Book Review.
Music Through the Floor
by Eric Puchner
"The nine stories in his debut collection are executed with such fluency, constructed with such surprising plot twists and blessed with so many bright, memorable lines that they rise above the contemporary din," the New York Times Book Review says of this 2005 collection.
Birds of America
by Lorrie Moore
A New York Times Book of the Year that is "at once wise, punchy, funny and sad," writes Powell's Books. "With language that is clever and crisp, Moore deftly strips the disguises and barriers we spend our whole lives building and exposes us for the quirky, vulnerable and often confused individuals we are."
My Life in Heavy Metal
by Steve Almond
"The big thing in Almond's stories is that his characters really like to have sex," notes the The New York Times Book Review. "Almond writes well about the act itself, a pretty rare talent. But his stories take off when he . . . looks beyond the bedroom at the world around him."
Chilly Scenes of Winter
by Ann Beattie
I came to appreciate short stories in the 1990s with the discovery of Ann Beattie, a master in the art and ache of yearning. She takes what her publisher calls an "uncannily accurate look at the nostalgia suffered by people yearning for deeper feelings in a culture that turns feelings into cliches."
Do you read short stories? What are some of your favorite collections?
Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 8:55AM
Reader Comments (6)
I've been meaning to read Chilly Scenes of Winter, now I really will :)
Stefanie
Hey Stefanie _
Ann Beattie is a classic in my book.
And speaking of books . . . I just ordered YOURS, "Surrounded by Water." Congratulations on your second book. Can't wait to read it.
Julio Cortazar is probably my favorite.
Thank you Drew! I threw in a copy of Glimmer Train because I'm doing a special on Facebook, to celebrate Press 53 Day today and National Short Story Month.
If you don't mind me posting this for your peeps here - if anyone else is interested in my newly released short story collection, Surounded by Water (Press 53) I'll throw in a free copy of Farallon Review or Sierra Nevada Review if you mention DREW when you order link below (Paypal button)
:)
http://www.stefaniefreele.com/id30.html
Sweet deal, Stefanie!
Shawnte - Thanks! I had not heard of Julio Cortazar, and will now add to my reading list.