The Allure of the Short Story

Introduction
There are occasions when concentration is poor or time is short and settling down to read a novel is not an option. This is when I turn to my collection of short stories, when I can read a complete piece of writing in a relatively brief period. This is a recent development for me, not having considered short stories much in the past, but thanks to Short Story Month earlier this year at Nextread’s blog I have become a fan. Since then I have acquired a number of themed anthologies, some author collections and found several useful online resources. The world of short stories is a veritable treasure trove of good writing, imaginative fiction and occasional surprises. Here I will share some of the stories that have made an impression on me and recommend anthologies and collections that now sit proudly on my shelves.

Author collections

Many authors began their writing career with short stories, especially in America. There has long been a tradition of this format in magazines such as Weird Tales in the 1950’s. Such esteemed names as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury and Fritz Leiber have all strong reputations as short story writers. Indeed, there are award-winning authors whose output is largely confined to this format, for example, Ted Chiang or Kelley Link.

Science fiction: Many of my favourite authors have written science fiction short stories, often in the early stages of their writing careers. It is a good way for a new writer to attract the attention of publishers and, sometimes the short story can be a useful exercise in developing new concepts or ideas. Isaac Asimov’s famous works, the Foundation series and the Robot series both began life as short stories, and in 1968 the Science Fiction Writers of America voted "Nightfall" the best science fiction short story ever written.
Although Marion Zimmer Bradley is probably best known for her fantasy novel The Mists of Avalon, she has written some quality science fiction short stories, published as a Best Of collection about 20 years ago. Some are set in her Darkover world, others involve alien invasion, but all have a leaning towards gender politics in varying degrees, similar to Ursula Le Guin or Sheri S Tepper. Ian McDonald’s Cyberabad Days, set in the future India of River of Gods is another notable collection.

Fantasy: The master of epic fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien has two collections of short stories, both set in Middle Earth. Personally I love The Silmarillion which gives us insight into the history and mythology prior to the time of The Lord of the Rings. More modern writers, such as Kelley Armstrong continue the tradition of short stories and I have enjoyed two of her collections, Men of the Otherworld and Tales of the Otherworld. Another favourite collection is Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber, a retelling of fairy stories more akin to the originals than the sanitised Disney versions. Neil Gaiman is also a great short story writer, Fragile Things being an excellent collection.

Horror: There are a number of authors who are particularly known for their short story writing and of these, probably H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe are the earliest exponents of the format. I haven’t read any Lovecraft (yet) but am well aware of his lasting influence on horror and ‘new weird’ writing. My own favourite is Edgar Allen Poe, whose Selected Tales I read many years ago. The Masque of the Red Death and The Fall of the House of Usher are classics but it was The Pit and the Pendulum that had a lasting impact on me. Descriptions of the evil nature of the Spanish Inquisition and the terrible torture inflicted on its victims terrified me as a teenager and I continue to use this story as a benchmark for all horror short stories. Stephen King has also written short stories, some of them excellent, all with a twist. Recommended collections include Night Shift and Four Seasons. His son, Joe Hill, has carried on the tradition of short story writing in his collection, 20th Century Ghosts.

Anthologies
For me, anthologies are an excellent way to discover new authors without committing to buying a novel. I enjoy dipping into an anthology, reading one or two stories, then leaving it for another day. I particularly enjoy collections of stories, from a range of authors all centred around a theme. There seems to be a growing number of these available today and I admit my collection is growing steadily. Many of these cover the range of speculative fiction, the uniting feature being the theme of the title.

Emerald Magic: This is described as “great tales of Irish fantasy” and includes authors such as Ray Bradbury, Jacqueline Carey, Charles De Lint, Tanith Lee and L.E. Modesitt Jr.

Other Earths: “11 original stories about the different paths our world might take if certain events never occurred” this is a collection of alternative history, or ‘what if…’ stories by a range of authors; Gene Wolfe, Lucius Shepard, Jeff Vandermeer, Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds have all contributed to this anthology.

Songs of the Dying Earth: “stories in honour of Jack Vance” intrigued me when I first saw it, and includes stories from Robert Silverberg, Tad Williams, Howard Waldrop, Elizabeth Moon and George R. R. Martin.
Future Primitive: “The new Ecotopias” is edited by Kim Stanley Robinson and contains stories from Ursula le Guin, Terry Bisson, Pat Murphy and Ernest Callenbach who wrote the classic novel Ecotopia which provides the theme.

Sympathy for the Devil: “Thirty-five stories, from classics to the cutting edge, exploring the many sides of Satan, Lucifer…” is a very recent acquisition with short stories from Stephen King, Robert Louis Stevenson, Charles Stross, Kelley Link, China Mieville, Holly Black and Mark Twain amongst others.

Dead Souls: "contains twenty-five stories that will only ensure the darkness without enfolds you in its cold embrace" This is another recent purchase, prompted by the amazing cover and a story from the talented Kaaron Warren.

Online resources
SciFiction
This is an archive of short stories that were previously published on scifi.com. I haven’t read many of them yet, but have found some gems including Passing of the Minotaurs by Rjurik Davidson and The Ugly Chickens by Howard Waldrop (as recommended by @kevmcveigh on Twitter). There is a wide range of authors who have stories published here and this is an archive I can spend several hours reading a mix of science fiction, fantasy, horror and just plain strange short stories.

Free Speculative Fiction Online
Here is another extensive archive of short stories. Many stories, novelettes and novellas are available in PDF and/or eReader formats or podcasts as well as standard HTML webpages. It includes recent award winning pieces such as One of Our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell and Palimpsest by Charles Stross. The range of authors is extensive and thankfully the search facility is good.

Conclusion
As evidenced by the large number of well known authors listed in this article, the short story is a popular form of writing. With the wealth of stories available I hope to see more anthologies appearing on the shelves and online. I am starting to really appreciate short stories and see myself continuing to explore this format further as there is something very satisfying about reading a complete work of fiction in the space of 30 minutes or less. I hope you agree. If you know of any good collections, anthologies or online stories, please add your recommendations to the comments section below.