I Love Short Stories. Do I Have to Write a Novel?

In 1993, I published my first decent story in a literary journal and a few months later received a letter from an agent whose name I recognized. I’d written short stories in college classes, sent them off, and typically the only thing that came back was a rejection, housed in the self-addressed-stamped envelope I’d sent […] The post I Love Short Stories. Do I Have to Write a Novel? appeared first on Electric Literature. Continue reading at 'Electric Literature'

[ Electric Literature | 2024-10-01 11:10:00 UTC ]

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Whose Community Is It Anyway?

I had begun to conceive this essay after rereading a magazine interview I’d done months prior. The interview was about my then new book of short stories A Dream of a Woman, and the interviewer had asked me about community. I’m a trans woman, and specifically the interviewer asked about community... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-11-07 09:30:36 UTC ]
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A Summary and Analysis of J. G. Ballard’s ‘Motel Architecture’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University) ‘Motel Architecture’ is not one of the best-known short stories of the British author J. G. Ballard (1930-2009), but it’s one of his most prescient. And this is an author who anticipated everything from Ronald Reagan becoming US President (in the... Continue reading at Interesting Literature

[ Interesting Literature | 2023-11-03 15:00:16 UTC ]
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Alexandra Chang Turns the Pain of a Friendship Breakup Into a Short Story

“The world here beats faster than a hummingbird’s wings,” writes Alexandra Chang in her new collection Tomb Sweeping. Chang, the author of Days of Distraction and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 recipient, writes poignantly about tenuous connection. In these stories, a wealthy housewife... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-11-02 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A Black Father Illustrated the Importance of “The Talk” in His Graphic Memoir

Darrin Bell didn’t set out to write his much anticipated graphic memoir, The Talk. He’d initially sold another project delving into the lives of three generations of men in his family, all descendants of an enslaved man named Addison Bell, in a two book deal to Henry Holt and Co. But as he was... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-30 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Myriam Gurba Isn’t Afraid of Being a Disruptor

In Myriam Gurba’s latest essay collection Creep, the Mexican American author interrogates both those who deceive, exploit, and oppress others as well as the culture that enables them. “People who hurt other people can be charming,” Gurba notes in the title essay. “It works in their favor.” In... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-26 11:00:00 UTC ]
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A Quiet Author’s Written Rebellion: An Interview with Ananda Devi, by Dinah Assouline Stillman

A Quiet Author’s Written Rebellion: An Interview with Ananda Devi, by Dinah Assouline Stillman Interviews [email protected] Wed, 10/25/2023 - 09:46 Photo by Harrikrisna AnendenAnanda Devi is a noted francophone poet, writer, ethnologist,... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-25 14:46:00 UTC ]
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20 spooky short stories you can read for free online.

The leaves are amassing, the skeletons are out, and enormous bags of candy fill the grocery store aisles and threaten to spill their chocolates right into your mouth, through absolutely no fault of your own. Yep, it’s officially spooky season. But if you still need some help getting into the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-10-23 16:13:33 UTC ]
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To Write Her Debut Novel, Molly McGhee Had to Leave Publishing

On March 11, 2022, Molly McGhee shared a resignation letter on Twitter. She was quitting her job as an assistant editor at Tor, despite the fact that her first acquisition, The Atlas Six, had debuted at number three on the New York Times Bestseller List. She cited “systemwide prejudice against... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-20 11:03:00 UTC ]
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8 Queer Historical Fiction Books Set Around the World

When you hear the phrase “queer history,” how far back does your mind go? For many, there’s a sense that LGBTQIA+ history is fairly recent, starting with Marsha P. Johnson or maybe Oscar Wilde. Beyond that, we start to get into murky territory: stories of “lifelong bachelors” and “happy... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-17 11:00:00 UTC ]
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How a Collective of Incarcerated Writers Published an Anthology From Prison

It would make sense that any history would begin at Stillwater Prison, where so much of the story and mythology of prison in Minnesota also begins. It is where Cole Younger of the famous James-Younger gang did their time, and where they spent their own money to start the Prison Mirror, the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-16 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Halloween Short Fiction: 9 Short Stories to Get You Ready for Spooky Season

These Halloween short stories are free to read online! They're deliciously unsettling, genre-bending, emotional, and even humorous. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-10-16 10:33:00 UTC ]
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When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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When Innocent Black People Die, I Mourn The Life, The Potential, And The Art

When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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An Epidemic of Loneliness In A Constantly Connected World

Athena Dixon’s The Loneliness Files: A Memoir in Essays opens on New Year’s Eve of 2021, with Dixon alone in her apartment in Philadelphia, thinking about death during a year fraught with pandemic fear. The first pieces explore her fascination with women who died on their own and, because they... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:00:00 UTC ]
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8 South Asian Novels About Falling in Love

My introduction to romance novels came when my high school crush handed me a book written by his mother’s friend under a pen name. It was all very hush hush, no one knew what the author’s real identity was, but he trusted me with this big secret (which might have been the first grand romantic... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-12 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Tobias Wolff Will Receive Our 2024 Hadada Award

“His memoirs, novels, and short stories express, in infinite variety, the human struggle to reconcile the truth we wish for with the one we get.” Continue reading at The Paris Review

[ The Paris Review | 2023-10-11 15:15:29 UTC ]
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16 New Books by Indigenous Authors You Should Be Reading

Encompassing a wide range of genres from historical fiction to fantasy to poetry to investigative journalism to memoir, this exciting abundance of books published in 2023 by emerging and acclaimed Native writers speak to the rich diversity of the Indigenous experience. From meditations on the... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-09 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Pratchett power: from lost stories to new adaptations, how the late Discworld author lives on

It’s 40 years since The Colour of Magic hit the shelves. As newly unearthed short stories are published, fans and friends celebrate the late author’s enduring legacy“Of all the dead authors in the world, Terry Pratchett is the most alive,” said John Lloyd at the author’s memorial in 2015. This... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-10-07 10:00:09 UTC ]
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Safiya Sinclair’s Journey to Finding Her Own Power

Safiya Sinclair writes in her memoir How to Say Babylon, “The perfect daughter was nothing but a vessel for the man’s seed, unblemished clay waiting for Jah’s fingerprint.” The memoir, Sinclair’s first, is about her journey to shaping a future that isn’t limited by the idea of the perfect... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-05 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Isle McElroy on the Art of the Sex Scene

This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. The sext, even more than short stories or poems or novels, is the ultimate plea for a reader’s attention. Stakes are rarely so high. John Gardner’s fictive dream is never more delicate and alive than when it’s being... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-09-29 08:30:13 UTC ]
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