With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are reporting a surge in popularity for the form, commentators note publishers are buying more collections and issuing them with greater care and enthusiasm; in December the newcomer Kristen Roupenian cut five- and seven-figure deals in the UK and US after her New Yorker story “Cat Person” went viral. On top of all that, collections are being reviewed more than ever before, the Sunday Times EFG short story award (worth £30,000) has received its highest ever number of entries and the BBC national short story award continues to grow in popularity. We are experiencing the renaissance of the short story form, right?Wrong; which isn’t to say 2017 wasn’t a good year for the short story – it was, but the “renaissance of the short story” story is an old one that is rolled out year after year. Does that matter? I think it does. By getting caught up in this recurring phantom narrative, and dwelling on press release froth rather than the work being produced, we spurn the opportunity to talk about short stories in a way that might actually deepen how they are understood and engaged with by readers.How can the short story ever have time to wither, given the frequency of its rebirth?In the cases of Tom... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sci-fi and fantasy fiction is entering a golden age of short fiction thanks to social media, crowdfunding and a loyal community of ardent fansA man wakes up from a car crash to find that he is an "electric ant": an android programmed to believe it is human. At home he uses micro-tools to open... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We're in a new golden age of science fiction, especially science fiction short stories. These are some of the best stories you can read right now online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-01-09 11:35:44 UTC ]
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First Story and the University of Cambridge are the new partners of the BBC’s short story awards, replacing BookTrust, in a three-year collaboration starting in 2018. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-09-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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My Afghan godfather, a bristling military man, who at one time back in the 1930s held the all-India motorcycle speed record, spoke of A Sportsman’s Notebook as one of the two or three books that formed and continued to inform his mind. I remember his copy of it lying on his bedside table,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-07 09:48:06 UTC ]
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This week, Annalisa Quinn reviews John L’Heureux’s story collection “The Heart Is a Full-Wild Beast.” In 1984, L’Heureux wrote for the Book Review about “The Best American Short Stories 1984,” selected by John Updike. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-01-03 10:00:04 UTC ]
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If you find the holidays more foreboding than cheerful, find someone to relate to in these 4 free holiday short stories available to read online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-12-16 11:35:47 UTC ]
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Is your attention span ravaged by living in our hellscape of a modern era? Good news: 2019 brought us plenty of brilliant short fiction. We polled current and former Electric Lit staff and contributors about their favorite collections of the year, and their picks include debuts, National Book... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-12-11 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Voting has opened for the 2019 Costa Short Story Award, with the public invited to pick their favourite from three stories written by mystery authors. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-05 17:05:07 UTC ]
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The Desperate Literature Short Fiction Prize will be judged by Claire-Louise Bennett, Rachel Cusk, Niven Govinden and Ottessa Moshfegh in 2020, running in its third year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-21 15:02:31 UTC ]
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Duolingo's library of interactive short stories is finally available for mobile, particularly for iPhones. The language-learning portal's Stories feature, which offers over 100 fully voiced bite-sized stories designed to test your reading and listeni... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2019-10-29 11:00:00 UTC ]
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The “White Teeth” author is witty and eviscerating in stories sprinkled with current events. Continue reading at The Washington Post
[ The Washington Post | 2019-10-28 16:43:26 UTC ]
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Get more global with your reading, thanks to the Best Asian Short Stories 2019 collection. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-10-18 10:35:55 UTC ]
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Ashley Wurzbacher’s debut, “Happy Like This,” is among this fall’s standout story collections. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-10-15 09:00:08 UTC ]
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Translating one medium into another is tricky. Music is music and art is art and dance is dance; to try to convey the power of another art in fiction is its own sleight-of-hand. My own first novel takes on that challenge. In A Song For A New Day, musician Luce Cannon was on the cusp […] The post... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-10-07 11:00:15 UTC ]
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Whether you're looking to break a reading slump or prefer short form writing, we've got the deets on where you can find free short stories online. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2019-10-07 10:37:57 UTC ]
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Bloomsbury has acquired Irish writer Louise Kennedy’s debut collection of short stories and her first novel in a "fiercely contested" nine-way bidding war, ahead of this month’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-02 22:07:05 UTC ]
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Welsh writer Jo Lloyd has unanimously won the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award with Cambridge University 2019 for her story inspired by a real-life 18th century woman who claimed to be friends with an invisible family living in an invisible mansion. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-30 18:57:26 UTC ]
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HQ has scooped a short story collection including eight "lost" stories by acclaimed Harlem Renaissance author Zora Neale Hurston. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-13 13:50:04 UTC ]
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Irish writer Danielle McLaughlin has won the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award with her story "A Partial List of the Saved". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-12 12:41:46 UTC ]
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