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 ]
“You Made Me Love You” collects short stories from throughout Wideman’s acclaimed career. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-03-26 20:23:09 UTC ]
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Whether it’s vampires or werewolves or mysterious patterns in wallpaper, writers of Gothic short stories have used all sorts of horrors and frights to chill our blood, ever since the horror short story developed in the early nineteenth century. Below, we pick ten of the very best Gothic horror... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-03-18 15:00:00 UTC ]
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Short, fun erotic short stories that will leave you wanting more! Check out the best erotic short stories that you need to pick ASAP. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2021-03-05 11:35:00 UTC ]
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Jojo Moyes’ Night Music (Hodder & Stoughton) has orchestrated a rise into the Bookstat e-book number one spot, for the week ending 27th February. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-05 00:55:29 UTC ]
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‘The Minister’s Black Veil’ is one of the best-known and most widely studied short stories written by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Subtitled ‘A Parable’, the story originally appeared in a gift book titled The Token and Atlantic Souvenir in 1836, before being collected in Hawthorne’s... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-02-27 15:00:46 UTC ]
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I also love the way that surreality and exaggeration can work in short stories in ways that they don’t often in novels. The wilder the conceit, the harder it is to sustain, like it’s rocket fuel. The post Resisting the Easy Impulse: Te-Ping Chen in Conversation with Brenda Peynado appeared first... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-02-26 10:59:07 UTC ]
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Charles Dickens (1812-70) is best-known for his fifteen novels and for shorter books like A Christmas Carol. However, Dickens’s was a restless talent, and during his publishing career that spanned more than thirty-five years, he also wrote countless articles, essays, and short stories. Although... Continue reading at Interesting Literature
[ Interesting Literature | 2021-02-25 15:00:13 UTC ]
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What stands out in Ernest Hemingway’s short stories is their humanity, their feeling for human fragility. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-02-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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In short stories like “The Immortals” and novels like “The Listeners,” Mr. Gunn helped prepare readers for the future. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2021-02-11 17:10:44 UTC ]
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There’s so much contemporary fiction released every day, it’s hard to keep track—and it’s hard to know which works will still be remembered in a year and which will slip into obscurity. Luckily, we have George Saunders to guide us. In an interview with Los Angeles Review of Books, Saunders was... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-05 16:37:34 UTC ]
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At the Southern Review of Books, Justin Evans reflects on Breece D’J Pancake‘s celebrated collection of short stories from 1984, published five years after his death. “The stories of Breece D’J Pancake, by their own merit, are remarkably tied to the rural home of their author,” Evans writes.... Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2021-01-29 21:30:19 UTC ]
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Exploring the diversity of The Atlantic’s original fiction: Your weekly guide to the best in books Continue reading at The Atlantic
[ The Atlantic | 2021-01-29 15:30:00 UTC ]
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In this ambitious anthology, short stories sit at various intersections of smolder and technical accomplishment. Continue reading at New Yorker
[ New Yorker | 2021-01-23 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Nielsen BookScan has estimated the full-year print market for 2020 at 202 million books sold for £1.76bn, a 5.2% rise in volume and a 5.5% increase in value compared to 2019. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-22 10:32:48 UTC ]
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Do you like the Best American series? Of course you do! Each book in the annual series showcases of best short fiction and nonfiction in a given year, from short stories to essays, travel writing, to food writing. Each volume’s series editor selects notable works from hundreds of magazines,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2021-01-19 15:00:26 UTC ]
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University of East Anglia publisher Boiler House Press is to publish Ben Pester’s debut short story collection Am I in the Right Place? Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-13 04:00:35 UTC ]
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Publisher Martine Paulais wants her new French publishing house, L'Ourse brune, to produce 'beautiful books' of short stories. The post France: A New Small Press in Normandy Champions Short Stories appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-01-07 15:21:11 UTC ]
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Translating novels, short stories, and poetry into English in a way that remains true to their original form can take years, even decades of dedication. And then there is the job of persuading the Anglophone publishing world to take chances. Translators’ labor is ultimately rewarding for readers... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2020-12-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
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These free holiday romance short stories are ready for you! Choose the magic of kisses under the mistletoe and read them right away. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2020-12-24 11:34:00 UTC ]
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George Saunders’ new book, A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life, is out next month and promises to be a literary master class on the short story. Drawing from his teaching career at Syracuse’s MFA program, Saunders walks readers... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-12-17 17:00:15 UTC ]
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