#short story collections

[whilereadingandwalking]

Favourite collection of short stories?

Sorry I missed this! I have a couple all-timers:

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez tr. McDowell

Smoke & Mirrors by Neil Gaiman

Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

But here are some others that are by slightly lesser known / newer authors to check out! -

Underrated fantasy/magical realism:

The Rock Eaters by Brenda Peynado

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap

Jewel Box by E. Lily Yu (recent release)

Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker

When the Hibiscus Falls by M. Evelina Galang

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

[m-c-easton]

Book Picks: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

I'm still reading through the best books of 2021/2022, and my fav so far is The Haunting of Hajji Hotak. Masterful and riveting, these stories of war and diaspora will break your heart and bind it up again. Jamil Jan Kochai is an author to watch. #reading

I’m continuing to work my way through titles that made waves in 2021 and 2022, and this is my favorite so far. If you are in the market for masterful short stories, Jamil Jan Kochai’s collection will not disappoint. A National Book Award finalist, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak feels like it enfolds the entire world in its embrace, spanning the United States and Afghanistan, teen gamers and aging…

[literaryhypewoman]

Andrew Duplessie on LiteraryHype

This week on the podcast: Andrew Duplessie, author of "Too Scared To Sleep"

This week on LiteraryHype, we’re talking horror in a variety of forms. Andrew Duplessie appeared on American Horror Story: Freak Show as Troy, who meets an untimely death at the hands of a creepy clown. Later, his short stories went viral, and now, he’s published a whole book of them. Too Scared To Sleep [Buy Bookshop Amazon LibroFM ] is a YA horror short story collection, with a bit of a twist.…

[oliverspedding]

A Birthday Gift – this book is made up of 55 short fiction stories – adventure, drama, horror, love and a vast array of human experiences. Click on either of these two links for details: https://books2read.com/ap/RWQy18/Oliver-T-Spedding https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00J88UPLE?ref_=pe_584750_33951330

[coollovebibliophilethings]

A Universe of Wishes edited by Dhonielle Clayton

Title: A Universe of WishesAuthor: Dhonielle Clayton, Tara Sim, Natalie C. Parker, Libba Bray, Anna-Marie McLemore, Kwame Mbalia, V.E. Schwab, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nic Stone, Jenni Balch, Mark Oshiro, Samira Ahmed, Tessa Gratton, Zoraida Cordova & Tochi OnyebuchiIn: A Universe of Wishes (Dhonielle Clayton)Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)My Bookshelves: LGBTQI, Short…

[the-most-sublime-fool]

Following the rain of ghosts, the earth smelled of moss and black pepper, and buildings appeared to waver at their boundaries.

Kevin Brockmeier, The Ghost Variations

[ayanos-pl]

ザカリーヤー・ターミル、柳谷あゆみ訳『酸っぱいブドウ／はりねずみ』（白水社）

掌篇集「酸っぱいブドウ」は人が人為的災厄に見舞われる話��多い。「はりねずみ」は子供が主人公の中篇小説。暴力や性的描写は控えめだが、子供は社会の理不尽に少しずつ気づいていく。ときどき壁がしゃべったりする。

[canterbury-bell]

Quick little colored sketch for @beanandberry's wonderful Emotional Support Rabbit fic 🐇🧵💙

[have-you-read-this-short-fiction]

[reddish-ash]

haha, just some DCMK ideas

Kirishima George from "Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories"

[nonas-third-tantrum]

locked tomb fans if you haven’t read Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield you’re missing out:

woman’s wife goes to sea and comes back wrong? check

horror elements? check

grief? by the bucketful

people who are only mostly dead haunting the narrative? you betcha

women who are insane about each other? YEAH

[strangelittlestories]

Once upon a time, I was a Chosen One.

—

The spell spins through the air and I duck just in time. It turns a section of the wall behind me into a fractal skeleton of brick-shards.

—

Since all that was taken away from me, I had always expected to die forlorn, wistful and alone. But I had hoped that it wouldn’t be *today*.

—

The brick skeleton opens its red ribcage to swallow me and I scramble away.

The second mage's spell catches me in the shoulder. My tendons unwrap and attempt to burst out of my skin to strangle me. I push them down with my dwindling anima and they settle grudgingly back into place.

—

I’m getting ahead of myself. You may be wondering how someone becomes an ex-Chosen One. Well, being a Chosen One does not - contrary to popular opinion - make me special. 

I feel the absence of The Embrace constantly; like I’m stuck in the moment on a rollercoaster where your stomach falls away. This does not make me special either. There are a handful of other former avatars scattered about and I know they’re not doing well either (I scry on them from time to time). And besides, we hardly have a monopoly on the churning loss of purpose. 

—

I throw my anima into my fists. I don’t really have any to spare, but I’m done for if I just play defence.

There’s no clever working here, no cunning curse or complex incantation. I just ball up my hand, crush my spirit until it’s solid, then punch it out. The air ripples in a line of force connecting me and the second mage. It catches her in the stomach. I feel agony erupt as she collapses in three different planes.  

It is not nearly enough.

—

I have learned since I left the Mycelial Coven that yearning is a warm and open hearth. All are welcome to sit by the fire at the centre of the yawning void, staring at the flames until they burn the whole world away.

It is worse because I still think it’s correct. We designed The Embrace to be a temporary measure. A distillation of collective power, drawn from a collective of magicians distributed  across continents and consciousnesses.

Sometimes a crisis demands a champion. A single point of focus. A locus of amassed anima from around the world. It is given freely, and this avatar is Embraced; girded in belief, love and enough magic to jumpstart a star.

—

A third mage arrives. He is holding a curse above his head that spreads across the sky like wispy cirrus clouds made of animos (that rancid slurry of tainted spirit). The strands descend and wrap around the three of them, propping up the second mage like a puppet.

They surround me. Strands of sticky, bile-black poison rear up to strike.

I reach for The Embrace to help me. Of course, it is not there.

—

When I accepted The Embrace, I knew it was a once-only deal. It’s too much power to let any one person wield longer than one catastrophe. You get one quest. One war. One singularity. One chapter of the story where you’re the most important person in the world.

And if you survive, you leave the Micelial. That’s the deal. If the collective relies too long on an individual, it makes them a king. If an individual stands above the collective too long, it makes them a god.

So you save the world. You get gratitude. You get support. You get therapy. And you get shown the door.

I still think that is the right call.

But it’s not exactly helpful when you end up back in the life-or-death tangle again.

—

The curse wraps around me like a lover dripping venom.

My tattered anima burns to vapour as I try to stop it seeping into my skin.

I keep reaching. The Embrace is not there. It never will be again. But I reach still, grasping for the place where power once was.

And *something* answers. It offers me infinity. It gives me a price.

There are many sources of strength in the world beyond those made by the Mycelial Coven. The Embrace is only special because it is *benevolent*.

But I do not want to die. So I say to The Something: “Yes.”

[coollovebibliophilethings]

Huntress by Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge & Jenna Maclaine

Title: HuntressAuthor: Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge & Jenna MaclaineIn: Huntress (Christine Warren, Marjorie M. Liu, Caitlin Kittredge & Jenna Maclaine)Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Short story collections, Strong women, Urban fantasyPace: MediumFormat: Anthology, eBookYear: 2009 This is an absolutely…

[zivazivc]

my brainrot about these two can be measured in liters

[mayexiled]

‘He laid his hands on the sin offering.’