My kid’s last day of school was this week. This means many things around my house: (even more) work hours in the day, (even more) exhausted wife and (even less) recreational time, which, for me, means less reading. The bathroom will become my official reading room, (as opposed to it’s unofficial status currently).
Thank goodness then for anthologies.
I’ve never been understanding toward the claim that short stories get you invested in a character and then leave you cold. If that’s your experience, you’ve been reading the wrong short stories, my friend. To me, a good short piece can deliver an emotionally satisfying tale in a fraction of the time you’d invest in a novel and they’re also a great way to test the waters on authors you’ve been meaning to check out. I’ve encountered many of my current favorite novelists through their short pieces in magazines, collections, and anthologies.
In his introduction to my latest acquisition, Blood, Guts and Whiskey, Max Allan Collins gives a concise history of the mystery/crime short story, tracing its roots back to the days of Black Mask and other pulps that were home to names like Dashiell Hammet, Erle Stanley Gardner, Raymond Chandler, Horace McCoy, James M. Cain, and Mickey Spillane. “These weekly magazines were mainstream entertainment, at least as popular as novels and probably rivaled movies.” Hard to imagine today, but it sounds like a nice time to be a writer.
Last year, I had Sex, Thugs, and Rock and Roll and Uncage Me as my literary vacation. The year before it was Hard Boiled Brooklyn and Damn Near Dead; the previous, Bloodlines and A Hell of a Woman. It’s become ritual. Want a hint? Probably in the bargain section of a Barnes & Noble near you is a reprint of a great book called These Guns for Hire featuring hit man stories from the likes of Ken Bruen, Victor Gischler, J.A. Konrath, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Ed Gorman, David Morrell, Lawrence Block, and Sean Doolittle among many others.
About the only thing better than a brand new anthology, is a brand new collection from somebody I already know I enjoy. A new collection from somebody like a Scott Wolven, Laura Lippman, or Donald Ray Pollack is a short fiction fan's dream. 2010 is off to a good start there, too. Jonathan Woods’ Bad Juju, Vicki Hendricks’ Florida Gothic Stories, and Dave Zeltserman’s 21 Tales have landed and Pinckney Benedict’s Miracle Boy and Other Stories promises to make my feet fall asleep while my children bang on the door and my wife grows impatient for her turn to tag team into the (ahem) reading room.
How ‘bout you? Any short story recs? I will need them.
Jedidiah Ayres writes fiction and keeps the blog Hardboiled Wonderland.
