Short Fiction

A thread to talk about short stories in collections, anthologies, journals and magazines, you name it. Novellas welcome too.

Although I haven't kept up with the most recently published ss collections, I'm a big fan of the genre. I truly believe it's the most difficult format to pull off successfully and the third-best path toward developing legit writerly skills (the 1st best path? Read, of course. Great writers were almost all voracious readers, the 2nd best path? A strong friendship with The Bedford Handbook.).

A post I read here not too long ago (I forget, was it Julie?), sparked my interest in reading some Sherlock Holmes stories. I'm not crazy about mystery/crime fiction, but I've always wanted to know what makes Doyle's characters so enduring. I have 2 very old and decrepit collections on my shelves, but I wasn't sure where to start, so I Googled "Sherlock Holmes best stories." Heh. There were plenty of suggestions, but I'm going with the one who wrote that "A Study in Scarlet" was the best place to start. He/she noted that this is where the reader is introduced to all (or most of) the important characters and background stuff that informs everything that follows. So, I'm going with the recommendation to start with the beginning. It's rather long; more like a novella, and for anyone interested there's online texts here:

A Study in Scarlet ~ by Arthur Conan Doyle

Thanks Lisapeet..my favourite genre. What would we do without the great Larry Dark?
I am crazy about novellas and if anyone knows of some recent ones (not Heart of Darkness please) I’d love to hear about them. I think the last collection I read was by Andre Dubus jr.. and it was so-so.
Has anyone checked out the guest editors for this fall’s Bass?
I think the art director must have been on drugs when she/he/them produced the latest cover. Yikes!
I mentioned earlier that I can find no information on the 2020 O.Henry Prize stories and they usually come out in September. So I looked up Laura Furman and sent off an email. I wonder if the series is discontinued after last year’s 100th anniversary.
Will report back if she gets back to me.
Was supposed to start a brand new collection by an Atlantic Canada writer today,I believe a story a day is just right,but I’m immersed in a novel rght now.

I was just going over a list of #great#novellas and I came across Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I had wanted to read the book for decades-who doesn’t love the song Moon River and I’ve actually heard brilliant versions of it played on the accordion-but the book was so dreadful and so irritating. For years I’ve heard that the film ruins the book but this was such a piece of crap. Holly Golightly is the worst,most pretentious,vacuous character ever written about and the fact that every man desperately wants to sleep with her might have been cool in the fifties,but today it is just gross. Terrible book,couldn’t finish it.

>4 alans:
Agree that "Breakfast at Tiffany's" hasn't aged well but don't give up on Capote. Have you read "A Christmas Memory"? Definitely worth a look. A longish story, maybe a novella by today's standards.

I quite like George Saunders and I think Pastoralia is his best collection. But he already gets a lot of attention.

Regarding less well-known writers: I enjoyed Stephanie Dickinson's recent story collection, Flashlight Girls Run.

And for flash fiction, Today is the Day That Will Matter by Debra Di Blasi is very good. Rather political, but I don't see that as a problem.

I have The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. There are 37 short stories and a complete novel from The Strand Magazine.

Thank-you Krolik,I will write the titles down. I love crime fiction but I never thought until a week ago that I would ever want to touch Doyle. I heard a podcast about him and he became more appealing to me.

I googled novella ,particularly contemporary and there isn’t much information out there. Wikipedia is very good but all of the other searches point to sci fi for some reason. Penguin has a large series of novellas which I’ve never heard of. But it is very difficult to find any from the last fifty years.
The only useful list was novellas written by contemporary women. Doris Lessing,Muriel Spark,Francine Prose all wrote novellas. I didn’t know Prime of Miss Brody would be considered a novella. The only one I read was Claire Messud’s The Hunters. I had wanted to read it for years but when I finally got to it I found it very ineffective. Listopia also has a long list of novellas but it’s the usual gang-Animal Farm,Metamorphisis .I also didn’t know Camus’s The Stranger is considered a novella.

I was a big fan of Flash Fiction but haven't seen much it around, lately. Thanks for the rec.

Every time someone mentions Flash Fiction, the story that immediately comes to my mind is the unforgettable Esquire story Incarnations of Burned Children by David Foster Wallace. Be forewarned: it's not for the faint-of-heart, but it's one of those stories that left a permanent imprint upon my brain.

One of my favorite non-fiction anthologies is The American Reader: Words That Moved a Nation. Everything is in this book from Benjamin Franklin to Betty Friedan.

A current anthology that I liked was Anthony Doerr's The Shell Collector: Stories which are short stories about African life.

>9 Pat_D: I'm going to try to secure Burned Children, it is not the first time I've heard of this.

>8 alans:
Novellas don't get as much attention because magazines and book publishers find them hard to sell. So, comparatively, fewer novellas get published.

Generic definitions are pretty elastic, too. They change over generations. At the end of the 19th century, Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" was considered a short story. Now (at about 42,000 words) it would be marketed as a novel.

Nowadays, a novella is generally between 15,000 and 30,000 words.

I mentioned Saunders' collection Pastoralia above. The book is mainly short stories, but it also contains a novella of the same name, "Pastoralia," which is one of my favorite pieces of writing by a living author.

Another very interesting contemporary novella is Jennifer Egan's "Black Box." It came out in The New Yorker a few years ago and you can still read it for free online.

I'm pretty sure I have the Doerr on my shelves somewhere, but I never got around to it. I'll check.

Ooh, so much action here!

>2 Pat_D: Pat, the only Conan Doyle I've read is from those giant Sherlock Holmes anthologies, I think two volumes, that my dad bought me when I was a kid. That was the kind of thing he loved to get me, his little literary protegee. I'm pretty sure I read them all the way through, but I can't recall if "A Study in Scarlet" was in there. Let us know what you think, and/or maybe I'll check it out too.

>3 alans: The Granta Book of the American Long Story is a good look at some (by now) American canon novella work, and has a good intro about the history of the novella by Richard Ford. With the caveat that this collection is almost 17 years old, and—as clearly stated—American writing only, with no major surprises, it's a nice intro to the form. Melville House's Art of the Novella series has some good stuff too. I haven't gotten my hands on either the print copy or e-galleys of BASS or O. Henry Prize Stories 2020... One of the few things I miss about being in the physical office is being able to pick up books and see what I like. But yeah, that cover is no improvement on the series, as staid and unimaginative as they are. I think drugs—at least the right ones—would have made for something much more interesting.

I haven't even read last year's BASS, speaking of Anthony Doerr (who edited it) >10 Tess_W:. I haven't read The Shell Collector, but I loved Memory Wall (and always get the two confused because Memory Wall has shells on the front cover).

>6 krolik: I'm not familiar with either of those two latter authors. I'll keep my eye out.

Planning on writing down all of the titles mentioned and will definitely read the Jennifer Egan. I’m skipping this week’s Marilyn Robinson in the Nyer because I don’t enjoy reading excerpts. I’ve read maybe four stories from the Times Decameron issue and so far I’m blown away. The intro by Rivka Galchen is excellent and the first story in the collection just knocked my sandals off. Very good collection so far. I just really don’t like the lettering. I find the titles of each of the stories hard to read.
On to read some more now. Some of these stories will be definite contenders for Bass 2021. I inagine Heidi Pitolar is having a ball.

Ok I know it’s best to contain my enthusiasm,but I’ve just read another of the Decameron stories-Clinical Thoughts and I am completely bowled over. I have no doubt this story will one day be anthologized ,just a stunner. Reminds me of Lorie Moore’s very famous story about the child who has cancer.
This happened to me again and it never happens when I read a novel,but when I see I’m about a paragraph from the end of the story I put on the brakes as if I am driving a car down a mountain,because I know by now that the author is going to gob-smack me with the final sentences. Bravo!

Ok I’ll shut up now.

Alan, never shut up, please! I love your commentary. And now I really have to dig into the Decameron collection.

You’re very kind Lisapeet.,and as said last year you’re my go to person for the newest short fiction.
Read one more story-by Tommy Orange-very good and terribly sad. All of the stories are sad and full of feelings of helplessness

Battleborn by Claire Watkins is also a good book of short stories. There is about a 30 page novella in there about the 1848 Nevada silver or gold rush and also a short story about her father's relationship to the Manson gang...those are the two that stuck out to me.

>18 Tess_W: Agreed about Battleborn—she really came out of the gate swinging on that one. It won The Story Prize in 2013, out of a trio of really strong contenders (Junot Diaz, Dan Chaon), and I think another couple of awards. She had on the most fabulous green dress, too.

Battleborn has been on my list for years as it was spoken very highly of here or in Readerville for a long time. I think Andrea——she writes historical stories,writes novellas.
For fans of Phil Kaly and I thought his first collection was brutal and fascinating,he’s coming out with his first novel this fall. It’s about a country in South America. I wish him best of luck but isn’t this the sad pattern-come out with a successful collection and then move on to a first novel. I don’t know if there are many writers apart from Alice Munro who devoted their entire career to writing short fiction. I know one collection is called a novel-but it’s a collection off stories with the same characters. No matter how hard they tried to market it as a novel,it was still a book of short stories.

>14 alans:
Egan's novella "Black Box" is written as a series of tweets. It feels a little strange at first but once you get into the rhythm, it works.

Krolik..thus was my problem with this novella. I’m a very straight narrative type of guy which is why I really don’t like George Saunders. Saunders’ narratives are conventionally relayed but all the absurdity is too far out for me. I will return to the Prose(?) at some point but right now after suffering debilitating reader’s block for over a year,I just want a good yarn. But thank-you for pointing out the novella to me. I can’t imagine when the Nyer published a piece of fiction this long. Maybe Zaidie Smith’s story?
As for the Nyer..remember when they would publish four Updikes or Beatties in one year? I don’t think they repeat any short story writers anymore.

I think Anthony Doerr is a master of the form! Loved both Shell Collector and Memory Wall.

Very much on my list,heard all praise for his work.

I'm taking this with me for intermittent, quick reads during the storm--> Alligator ~ by Dima Alzayat. I read a couple of intriguing reviews that sold me on it.

I wound up binge-reading Alligator. Alzayat is an undeniable talent. One to keep on your radar. These 9 stories, scenes from Muslim life, are ridiculously current without being the slightest bit preachy or angsty.

"Daughters of Manāt" are fiercely unorthodox women and their refusals to cave under oppressive tradition whose stories open with a casually narrated jump out of a window.

"Disappearance" is a Muslim "Leave it to Beaver" episode that turns into a cruel shocker.

"Only Those Who Struggle Succeed" describes a poor, young intern's ambitions in the entertainment industry, a quid pro quo hierarchy, and sexual assault in an extraordinarily authentic and wise voice.

"In the Land of Kan'an" or one Muslim's closet life.

"Alligator" is a non-linear, historical review of some of the most horrific American treatments of her immigrants, inspired and anchored by a true Florida lynching at the turn of the 20th century.

"Summer of the Shark" is one morning at a random phone bank whose camaraderie is stung by the events of 9/11 as they transpire on the company's TV screen.

"Once We Were Syrians" or the fickle fate of power in an authoritarian regime.

"A Girl in Three Acts" follows a wise-cracking, jaded adolescent Muslim girl orphaned in America.

All of these stories are written with an acute observation that's interwoven with a delicate, humane hand, but it's the opener that left me deeply affected. "Ghusl" is a sister's "sinful" appropriation of her brother's postmortem care after his sudden, violent death. Her refusal to let any strangers' hands perform the intimate rituals does not anticipate the paralyzing grief she must overcome. Poignant memories of a closeness borne from much tragedy accompany and enable her while they inform the reader. This story will stay with me a long time, a former ICU nurse, who was all too familiar with that sad, reverent task.

Highly recommended.

I haven't even heard of this one, but will definitely keep my eye out now. Thanks, Pat.

I have a hold on Alligator at the library.

I just finished a new collection called A Dark House and Other Stories by ian Colford.
Most of the stories in this collection are exceptional,as good as they get,but three are such clunkers that it’s hard to love the book in whole now. The author says some of the stories were written 24 years ago and it shows. This isn’t supposed to be a collected works and the really bad stories sadly diminish the great ones. After quite a few gasps by the beauty and brilliance of the writing,a few should have been left back in time.

Me too - those sound right up my alley, Pat.

I have forty years of the Nyer at home,which I’ve never read. A neurosis of mine.
But this afternoon I read the current fiction and I thought it was just fantastic. Reads like a short story but could very well be an excerpt from a forthcoming novel. Very exciting stuff.

Which issue, alan? I'm chronically behind as well.

It is last week,this week should be out tomorrow. The date is-August 17. Wonderful,long treat.

I had written to the editor Laura Furnan of the O’Henry Prize stories because there is no information on an upcoming release. They always precede the BASS which has a release date of November. She kindly wrote me back and said last year,the 100th year was her last as editor and that she would pass on my inquiry to the publisher. Looks like they may be closing shop or are delaying the next volume because someone would have had to read those stories. I always found the O’Henrys and Bass has quite different stories which is interesting.

Sometimes I’ll read a short story or if lucky, a collection of stories and it feels like what people experience when they hear a wonderful piece of music.
Most of the stories in David Bergen’s newish collection of short fiction are unfortunately not very good. They’re bland and except for a few he doesn’t have a lot to say of interest. But the final work-a very long novella called Here the Dark has to be one of the most compelling and beautiful works I have read in a long time. Over and over again the story reminded me of Alice Munro,not in the complexity of her narratives-can anyone do what Munro does-but in the telling of a young woman isolated from her ignorant, small-minded community. Wonderful,very very beautiful.

Just heard from O’Henry Prize story publishers. The editor Laura Furman has retired so there won’t be a new edition this year. They will reappear in 2021 with a new editor and title.

Oh, that's too bad... I like the O. Henry collections, maybe even a little more than BASS.

I don't know David Bergen at all, but I'll at least check out "Here in the Dark." I just downloaded a galley of Best Canadian Stories 2020—haven't cracked it open yet (or whatever you do to ebooks), but the editor this year is Paige Cooper, whose Zolitude I read a couple of years ago and thought was very inventive and well done.

I’ve never followed best Canadian but I need to. The big annual prize in Canada is the journey prize. James Michener donated all of his earnings of the novel Journeys to create this prize. It’s been running a long time.

OK, alan, I'm reading for LJ's best short stories 2020 now! So far I've read about half of the new Susan Minot, Why I Don't Write: And Other Stories, Jen Fawkes's Mannequin and Wife: Stories, and now on to the late Randall Kenan's If I Had Two Wings, which is a National Book Award finalist.

I have the week off and am going to mostly spend it reading, I think.

I am finally reading Leskov's The Enchanted Wanderer 19th c Russian stories that are beautifully translated. They aren't short- more like novellas, but rich and strange and almost fairy tale like. Old Believers and icons that come to life, murderous wives and creepy servants and dense dense woods. So happy.

>39 laurenbufferd: Oh neat, I'll keep my eye out for that one... seems like the kind of thing that might show up at library sales when they exist again someday.

I very much liked, though maybe not loved, If I Had Two Wings, and am now enjoying Sarah Shun-lien Bynum's Likes.

The Leskov got huge praise.

I pulled down my old, dusty, doorstop copy of William Trevor The Collected Stories to follow along with Adam O’Fallon Price's project over at The Millions: The William Trevor Reader.

SS fans should check it out.

Lisa-when do we see your best of short fiction list?

I wasn't on the team this year. Or rather, there wasn't a team this year—I think it was just one person who wasn't me. That was both a blessing, since I'm slammed at work, and a bit of a sad thing, since I missed reading all that good short fiction. Anyway, here's the list.

thank-you for sending me the list-really looking forward to reading it.
Sorry they didn't include you in the group this year-well lots of reading ahead. I wouldn't be surprised if that young fellow who ended up tragically is on the list-although I have no sense who would be on it this year. I keep
trying to google best short story collections 2021 and can't find anything.
I think Kirkus might publish one. On to the list!

Very interesting list-haven't read any of them but my reading has been terrible this past year-lots of audio books but not paper books.
I am familiar with almost every title on the list except for the Kevin Barry (heard of him just didn't know he had a collection out),the JuanGabriel Vasquez,and I didn't know Ben Okri had a collection out. Just from random reading I know the Anthony veasna-So got huge praise-sadly he committed suicide last year, the Lily King was highly praised, the John Wideman and we both talked about wanting to read Filthy Animals. I've also heard very good things about the Elizabeth
McCracken. Will start putting holds on the library and try and read my way through the list.

The Kirkus list has about five books in common with LJ, and then some other titles I don't know.
I work in the largest academic library in Canada and they are slashing our
paper periodical collection. I loved reading Library Journal but along with American Libraries it's gone-online-no more paper. When they cut Publisher's Weekly I will quit. I still can't get over the mgmt cancelling the Village Voice
about twenty years ago.

My employer (sorry for going on about this) cut all of our papers so no more New York Times book review. I have to subscribe now-it's not terribly expensive for same day delivery but there is so much content in the rest of the paper that it makes me anxious to get all of that stuff. Incredibly they also cut the New York Review of Books. what philistines! Can anyone imagine a library cutting the New York Review of Books? They are planning on cutting everything but won't touch the New Yorker because there are no online editions. Otherwise it's the end of the world as readers once knew it. All of our literary journals-on the way out. Very very sad. the people in charge think people don't want to read paper anymore-which I guess is probably true. Covid, climate disasters, the dessimation of on-paper writing-is there anything left to live for?

HEY I AM NEW DOSE ANY ONE KNOW SOME GOOD BOOKS WITH A 4.4 READING LEAVLE

What kinds of things, Lalland?

>47 alans: I think I have just about every title on the list but haven't read them. I'd like to get to all of them at some point but oy, time is short. I've heard especially good things about the Lily King and Dantiel Moniz, and I've read a few out of Anthony Veasna So's collection that I thought were really good. He didn't commit suicide, by the way—he overdosed. From what I heard he was just a recreational user who messed up.

>45 lisapeet: is there a non-paywall version of that list?

>53 southernbooklady: Unfortunately not, but if you sign up I think you get five free articles.

Thanks Lisa. The link is to a paywall but if you just google it it will come up. I was able to access it yesterday.

Just finished To Be A Man by Nicole Kraus. Took me a long time to finish,not because I didn’t like any of it,but like the best of collections the stories were so intense that I just wanted to take my time. Exceptional collection,not a bad story in the bunch.

Have one and a half stories left in the new collection Filthy Animals and since the beginning reading this has felt like pulling teeth. I picked it because it was on several best of lists and it’s such a nothing book,the characters are uninteresting,there’s just nothing to the book. I agree life is too short to waste on books like this,even though I hate it I still find it difficult to bail.

Lisa are you still here? Can you post a link to your best short fiction? I have a feeling that collection about the Jamaican family will be short-listed for the Story Prize.

I've been getting into short stories lately. I was never a big short story reader, but then I read a few short story collections in 2022, and I really liked the experience, so now I'm making short stories a regular part of my reading diet, so to speak.

I'm partway through a collection of horror, supernatural, and Weird fiction called 100 Creepy Little Creature Stories that I'm reading between books, and I'm also participating in an online read-along of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories.

A new Race of Men from Heaven a pretty new collection of short fiction was for the most part very good. I try and make sure I’m reading one collection of short fiction,one Canadian novel and whatever at the same time.

I'll look for that, Alan. It sounds good.

I’m also almost finished two brand new collections of Canadian short stories-both first-timers. Have Mercy on Us by Lisa Cupolo is a mixed bag. It’s got the most exaggerated rave by Tim O’Brien on the cover-makes me lose a lot of respect for him. Some of the stories are better than others although none are beautifully written or especially moving except for one very sad story which takes place in Africa.
The second collection is called The Private Apartments by Idman Nur Omar and this is an exceptional first collection. Each story is about women in the Somali diaspora and the author is very clever.
Both books have been submitted to this year’s Giller prize-long-list comes out day after labour day-and I think the Somali story collection has a very good chance of being long-listed. The author writes with real assurance-its wonderful. I think we’re going to be-happily-reading a lot from her.

It is a click on that Somali story collection for me. Sounds perfect.

>58 alans: Yikes, just saw this... I haven't been on this site that much. Anyway, here's LJ's Best Short Fiction for 2022, though seeing as we're seven months into the year you may have found it already yourself:

Best Short Stories of 2022

I can't cop to having read them all, but of the ones I did read I think Nobody Gets Out Alive was my favorite, with Bliss Montage a close second. And now it's almost time to start gearing up for Best Books of 2023... where does the time go? (Don't answer that, please.)

I'm surprised my library doesn't have The Private Apartments—that one looks interesting.

I loved Nobody Gets Out of Here Alive. One of the best of the year for me.

Thank-you Lisa,I’ll check out the list.

Just finished The Disappeared by Andrew Porter a title recommended from Lisa’s end of last year list.. Just a wonderful collection of stories. The laconic reader of each of the stories is exceptional.
Each story is about that voice,it’s eerie ,it’s Hemingway/Carver tone is overwhelming. The narrator is always watching,bewildered, I will definitely turn to his previous collections of stories.thank-you Lisa for once again suggesting such a home run read . By far my favourite book of the moment, I can listen to this narrator read for an another hour this wonderful book.

The brand new collection by Joyce Carol Oates
Zero Sum is really great. The book is broken into three parts-the third being too sci-fi-y for me,but the second part is a phenomenal novella-I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. At the time I read the book there was no press yet so I had no idea the novella was based on the life of a famous author.
I always thought Oates deserved the Nobel Prize-not merely because of her output but because she has written in so many different genres, the depth of her work is extraordinary. I think had she been a man she probably would have received it a long time ago. But because she is a woman who tends to repeatedly write about such dark subjects people used to think-like the Times-that she was something of a freak. I remember reviews of her books in the eighties when you could hear the reviewer sighing at the start of their review-but yet another book by Joyce Carol Oates. She’s a writer of a generation all gone now-I hope she will be remembered at some point with more respect then she seemed to get during her life-time.

I am iffy on Oates but that sounds interesting.

I just read I Meant it Once - a new collection of stories from Kate Doyle. These stories are mostly about young women in their mid-20s to early 30s adrift in their current relationships or stuck in the past and unable to move forward. For that reason, my initial feeling about the stories was - not for me.

However, Moment's Later was such a striking story that I went back and read everything again, this time, really enjoying the language and the subtleties of the stories, especially the linked stories about the three siblings in a highly dysfunctional family.

The stories do capture a very particular time in a person's life - and there is a sameness to the collection but Doyle does write extraordinarily well about uncertainty and blindspots.

I'm, glad I gave these a second chance and am curious about what Doyle will do next.

Now I remember this book and it’s so funny because I have it here to read next. I got an early copy a few months ago and hated the first story and at the time I felt I couldn’t go on. It just really annoyed me in that smarmy hip young way. But I’m going to return to it now and share what I think. I just want to finish it because I don’t think I will care for it much-the beginning sounded very much like mfa groovy writing-but I’ll see.
Oates doesn’t always work for me-some of her stories read more like sketches and some are too much genre-fiction cookie mole. But when she’s on she really hits it out of the park. She had a great story about a young woman who finds a passport on a commuter train. It was very thrilling.

I read a new collection about a month ago-can’t remember title-first time author- the blurb on the cover and the short intro was by Tim O’ Obrien who I really respect. The blurb said something like every sentence in this collection is brilliant, I wish I could write this well. The collection was so mediocre I thought-was he high when he wrote that? There was absolutely nothing remarkable about the collection. Besides has any writer in the history of literature ever written anything where every sentence dazzles? It was such an idiotic comment.

I tried I Meant it Once four times-actually started and had to start the same story over and over again and I couldn’t continue. It’s really difficult for me to put down a book and maybe it will work at another point in time,but I just couldn’t care about her characters. I was also annoyed by the thinness of her paragraphs-like vignettes-to me it’s a sign of underdeveloped writing and it just didn’t interest me.

Alan, I found this to be true as well but for some reason Moments Later clicked for me and I quite enjoyed the rest of the collection. I do think the opener is a bit of a stinker and I'd be pissed at whoever thought it should go first.

I’ve started reading through this year’s Giller long list. First up -Diane Williams-The Islands. One of the best collections I’ve ever read. Not one less than perfect story.wonderful.

I just finished this year's judging. Some really good short fiction this year—I could only read a few stories into each collection, which was frustrating, so I'm going back and reading a few I loved all the way through. Right now I'm reading Jamel Brinkley's Witness, which is a terrific slow burn with a lot of unexpected (but not unearned) endings.

i liked that Jamal Brinkley a bunch.

I found out that Emma Donogue did a book of short stories astray that are actually on my self, unread. Well not now Enjoyed her take on headlines from lesser known events

Also eager to read Kate Atkinsons normal rules dont apply

Lisa p..I guess you get advanced copies? I hope you’ll share your list when it’s published.
I noticed that for the first time The Story prize has listed all submitted books for 2022. I wrote them and thanked them for that.

Sarah Silverstein’s collection of short fiction, Study for Obedience has been short-listed for the Booker and long-listed for the Giller. My favourite Book tuber-super smart guy-loathed it so I’m reluctant to read it but it’s up next on my pile.

We Have Never Lived on Earth is the second collection of stories long-listed for this year’s Giller prize. It’s the weaker of the two collections. Some of the stories are very witty and amusing,too many read like incomplete sketches. The stories also suffered from the me-me syndrome which I find hard to take.

Had no trouble finding Publisher’s Weekly top books of the year list but Library Journal has a pay wall.Can you please share your short fiction pics with us Lisapeet?

Was a huge fan of Claire Keegan until I read the first story in her collection Antartica. It’s such an ugly misogynistic work that reads like Looking for Mr. Goodbar or Dressed to Kill. Just a really reactionary piece of writing,very unsettling.