Step inside to witness the shameful soliciting of fiction (1/16th my responsibility) - by Paz
Paz on 21/5/2007 at 20:50
What a stupidly long thread title ... oh, hello!
In order to AVOID A DRESSING DOWN, this thread is hopefully going to be about short stories in general. But first it's going to be about one (no, two!) written by me.
I'm in a book, released today, which you can view at the publisher's page (
http://www.tontopress.com/mtss/) here, if you wish. As a special bonus, you can also find a terrible picture of me by not looking around very hard. Add a haircut and a slightly more sensible expression. That's what I look like now.
Anyway, one of those sixteen (count 'em) stories was written by me. Mine is about false-consciousness and alienation ... unless it's about pirates and accountancy. The others that I've read so far have been about sex. That's the way it goes. If you've ever seen
The Crimson Permanent Assurance (otherwise known as "why hasn't
The Meaning of Life started yet, what's all this balls?) then you'll probably like my story. If you like EROTICA, you'll probably like at least four or five others.
But wait, maybe I'm a shit writer? Well! Luckily for you there's a freebie sample of what I will optimistically describe as my work (
http://books.guardian.co.uk/virginshortstories/story/0,,2006886,00.html) here. It's about the fourth one down with (spook!) "Looking Glass" in the title.
That's a different thing to the one in the book. Obviously.
So, short stories eh? I'm quite the fan. I've been reading a collection of Saki's (H H Munroe's) GREATEST HITS recently. They're pretty excellent, because either a well-to-do Edwardian aristocrat meets a sticky end, or a talking cat is sarcastic to people - either way, I'm happy. He doesn't dick around with words too much either, they're all extremely carefully chosen. Which means none of the stories are longer than about four pages.
Someone told me I should probably be reading Chekhov too, so does anyone have some compilations they can recommend in that department? Or just other short story CHAMPIONS in general, really.
Yes, it's the bootleg version of TTLG Book Club (short story edition)!
Spitter on 21/5/2007 at 21:10
he looked like the recent ttlg forum superstar Paz O_O
B-U mega-props B-U
Fuegan on 21/5/2007 at 22:30
Dude, I still can't take you seriously with those curtains.
Shug on 21/5/2007 at 23:13
Pretty rockin blurb, congrats!
edit: on second thought, your profile could have been at LEAST as uplifting as Katie-Ellen Hazeldine's
D'Juhn Keep on 22/5/2007 at 00:40
gg Paz :D
Scots Taffer on 22/5/2007 at 01:05
Congratulations, Paz!
Quote Posted by Paz
So, short stories eh? I'm quite the fan.
They are a dying art in most parts of the world. Although practiced they are rarely shown the light of day, small anthologies and occasional compendiums are really the only way for short stories to get out there, unless you're a best-selling author already that is. Sadly, the circulation of short story magazines has slowly been drying up for the past twenty years to the extent that you are really only left with a collection of genre-specific outlets (sci-fi and horror being the most plentiful).
There really is nothing better than a well written short story though, you get the same satisfaction as from reading a novel but it's just a tighter package with the author being forced to be spell-binding and work magic with every word in the economy of prose.
Quote Posted by Paz
Someone told me I should probably be reading Chekhov too, so does anyone have some compilations they can recommend in that department? Or just other short story CHAMPIONS in general, really.
I've heard of Borges so many times but still haven't managed to get around to reading any, but I imagine you might have read this. For good pulp, I enjoy King's short stories (I'm a pulpish writer so I appreciate good pulp) and found
Everything's Eventual to be quite a pleasant read. I also once enjoyed a
Collected Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald too.
Strangeblue on 22/5/2007 at 06:26
Good shorts are an art separated from novels by a common activity: writing. I rather liked the White Rabbit one. Congratulations on the anthology publication, Paz!
Raoul Duqette on 22/5/2007 at 08:22
The classic short story writer in English literature is Katherine Mansfield. My favourite story is Je ne parle pas Francais.
Schattentänzer on 22/5/2007 at 10:25
Oho, I'm positive you will receive
sparkling reviews, dear sir. I really like the Alice one, although it was a bit, ah well,
too short. Congrats for getting published!
I like short stories. If only because they help to preserve the sadly dying art of telling stories. Real stories I mean, not "lol did you catch the last office space episode" stories.
You can also read your current favorite one out to a nice girl, with enough time left afterwards. For in-depth discussion. Of the story. I mean.
Edit: Ah, and just to drop the name of a book, I picked up (
http://www.amazon.com/Fragile-Things-Short-Fictions-Wonders/dp/0060515228) Fragile Things yesterday. Haven't got far yet, though.
