I'll read it if you send me an excerpt, either through this website or, if you want, I'll give you my email address It'll be interesting to read an Irish story. From Amazon it says you're from Derry?
Jakers it would be great to read an excerpt if you e-mailed me, I like Irish collections I've read so far so it would be good to read another. I've read a couple of Murakami's, they're very good too.
Two of my favorite short story collections are: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Minority Report by Philip K. Dick. I would highly recommend both of them if you're into science fiction.
I like them, very "Irish" in their themes, especially I feel The Emigrant in relating to present day, what with every second person loping off to Australia or Canada. Thanks for sharing them, I'll look out for your collection after I get through the bunch of collections I just purchased on some of your recommendations. Thanks everyone for your opinions!
i just read a collection of validamir nabokov short stories which i thought were great! better than his longer novels. and also Leo Tolstoy's short stories and Mark Twains short stories and "The Real Dope" by Ring Laudner...some of the best short stories i ever read, sooo sorry when id read them all. anniemule
Not sure whether to recommend this book, but from what i've heard it sounds quite interesting. That book is Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse. So if you like apocalyptic stories then I would definitely give it a try Also Best of SF Short Stories was really good, but once again depends on what you like!
I've read some sci-fi shorts before Daydream and would tend to prefer them to sci-fi full length novels so I might give that a try too. Of course, since I posted this thread my reading list has considerably lengthened...
Yeh I agree. A full length sci-fi is much nicer to read. Generally I find that comedy is best left for short stories!
Jhumpa Lahiri has two collections of short stories out called, The Interpreter of Maladies and Unaccustomed Earth. They are both fantastic. That said, although I am a huge fan of James Joyce (and I mean HUGE), I've never cared for Dubliners with the one INCREDIBLE EXCEPTION of "The Dead." For science fiction, I find Arthur C. Clarke's collection of personal favorites (the name escapes me...something like The Stories of Arthur C. Clarke) to be the gold standard.
Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly blobs, and some other things that aren't as scary, maybe, depending on how you feel about lost lands, stray cellphones, creatures from the sky, parents who disappear in Peru, a man named Lars Farf, and one other story we couldn't quite finish, so maybe you could help us out is a really cool collection.
your point about reading short stories in a busy schedule is so true, sometimes i can't even sit down just to breathe let alone read a novel. I just finished smoke and mirrors by Neil Gaiman. some of the short stories really evoke the imagination. and lolll HP bloody Lovecraft!
Kilter: 55 Fictions by John Gould -- Gould has created an amazing collection of 55 fictions that I don't think are more than 3 pages. But he crams everything in. AMAZING Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam -- These stories are based on Lam's experience as a medical intern. The Dodecahedron, or a Frame for Frames by Paul Glennon -- These stories are so self-conscious and Glennon is an incredible writer because he has linked each story within the frame of a dodecahedron. Check out this website for information, much too complex to explain here. http://www.goodreports.net/reviews/thedodecahedron.htm And as an aside, because I'm Canadian and love promoting Canadian authors, these are all Canadian collections of short stories
I love story collections. Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor are two of my favorite writers and they operate exclusively in the world of the short story. Anton Chekhov is widely considered, if not the greatest then, one of the greatest short story writers ever. Almost all of the classic writers have produced some short stories, whether it's Hemingway, Faulkner, Tolstoy, etc. There are also collections from a lot of quality current writers, some of which I've read, some of which are on my shelf waiting to be read - Nathan Englander, Lorrie Moore, Karen Russell, Julie Orringer, Richard Russo, Adam Johnson. (just some of many, many options) I think the reason the form may not be as popular as the novel is that while less time-consuming, in many ways they are more challenging reads. They tend to be less plot-driven, and a lot of readers need the story arc to be able to settle into a book. They want a cleanly wrapped up ending, and many short stories don't provide these, as they are just snippets in time. They are more about theme, capturing a moment and eliciting emotion. That's not true of all short stories or all writers of short stories, but in many ways it applies.
I loved Stephen King's Skeleton Crew. It's horror fiction, but has one of the best short stories I have ever read, "The Monkey".
I love short story collections! They are great to read, especially if you are busy and don't have time to read a novel from cover to cover. I like the Sherlock Holmes stories, Stephen King's Everything's Eventual has some great stories in it (I really enjoyed "Riding the Bullet"), Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things (it's been a while since I've read that book and I hope I got the title right), stories by Isaac Asimov, and 20th Century Ghost by Joe Hill also has some very interesting stories in it.
I love short stories, with some of my favorites being The Fall of the House of Usher and Harrison Bergeron. Unfortunately, these and other short stories I've read were obtained either by the Internet or the school curriculum; I have never owned or rented a collection. However, I am considering The King in Yellow. Can someone here tell me if it's any good?
