Focus on the Short Story

Last year I published my first book, a collection of short stories called “Shorts“.  It was the culmination of a lot of dreams and a steep learning curve.  Since then I’ve learned a lot.  One of the least enjoyable bits has been the low standing of the short story.  Once upon a time, the short story was a respected literary mode.  It was where writers proved their chops.  Today, it’s largely overlooked.  At times it is even sneered at by some.

So I’m going to push back.

Starting in July I will be putting up a review each month of a short story collection I’ve discovered.  Some will be classics, but I hope to offer some new collections as well.  If you are a short story writer with a published collection and would like someone to review your work, contact me.  you can check my review policy above.

My goal is to remind people what a wonderful reading experience short stories can be.  A well-crafted story is, I believe, writing at its very finest.

In doing a little preparation for this series, I’ve been looking at short story related websites.  It’s not as rich as I had hoped so far, but I’m still looking.  Again, if you have a blog or website that is short story related, please feel free to get in touch.  I’d love to build the community and find established communities to share.

One of the first posts that I found is this one from Clare at her blog “50 A Year“.  She really sums up a lot of my thinking on the subject.  Check out “Writing Short Stories“.

The first review will start us off with a bang.  Stephen King’s “Bazaar of Bad Dreams” was everything I could hope for in a short story collection.  King is a storyteller par excellence.

The short story reviews should (if I do it right) appear on the second Wednesday of every month, at least through the end of the year.

(“Shorts” is available in both e-book and paperback.  You can find it on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Itunes and Tolino)