For clarity, I’m talking about short story collections by a **single author that are published as such.**
Whenever I read short story collections, I usually walk away with mixed feelings. I love short stories as a literary form; I served as a literary review editor and read some truly magnificent pieces in this form. However, when they’re in a collection it seems like authors sometimes put in underdeveloped or poorer quality work just to add length to the book.
In general, when I read short-story collections, my assessment usually looks something like this:
* A few stories that are solid, polished, and perfectly suited for the short story format
* A few stories that showcase promising or interesting writing, but then just sort of end after 20 pages because it seems like the author doesn’t know how to end them
* A few stories that are decent, but are in need of some more editing
* A few stories that feel like discarded novel ideas
* A few stories that feel like the author is experimenting with a new form or style, for better or for worse.
Do you try to look for a unifying theme or pattern in all of the stories? Or do you consider them more as a collection of disparate stories?
Do you have any favorite short story collections? Or short story collections filled with such varying quality or range that you can’t believe a single author wrote all of them?
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by Book_Enthusiast64
12 Comments
I love them. My favorite are some of Stephen King short story collections. But I remember having an O’Henry short story collection as a kid. Depending on the author I think it’s a perfect way to get a dose of they many different ways they can approach a story.
I think your assessment is more qualified than my limited reading experience but I’ll share my experience anyway. Without fail if I like the first story I’ll like the rest of them, and without fail the last story is my least favorite one. This holds true for my favorite three: Tenth of December, Bad Behavior, and Florida.
There are very few I seek out. I have to really love the author. For instance, I love all the stories in No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July.
as any writer (or poet, or musician, or artist) will tell you, putting out a collection of work that contains *nothing* but fantastic work is nigh impossible. it’s rare to find an album where every single song is masterful, a gallery where every piece is well done – collections are no different. we’re forced to put out work that sometimes pales in comparison to the rest of our catalogue. if we didn’t, we’d never get anything done and published.
i’ll tell you my favorites, in no particular order.
i hold a wolf by the ears by laura van den berg
reasons to live by amy hempel
this is how you lose her by junot diaz
what we talk about when we talk about love by raymond carver
what’s not to love by jonathan ames
no one belongs here more than you by miranda july
venus drive by sam lipsyte
slapboxing with jesus by victor lavalle
the folly of loving life by monica drake
bad behavior by mary gaitskill
open by lisa moore
bark by lorrie moore
kissing in manhattan by david schickler
jesus’ son by denis johnson
head by william tester
the brutal language of love by alicia erian
the illustrated man by ray bradbury
farewell navigator by leni zumas
cane by jean toomer
I assume they’re a collection of disparate stories unless the author says otherwise. Two I’ve enjoyed in the past few years are *Love in Colour: Mythical Stories from Around the World, Retold* by Bolu Babalola and *Stories of Your Life and Others* by Ted Chiang.
Story of Your Life – Ted Chiang
Exhalations – Ted Chiang
Fragile Things – Neil Gaiman
Trigger Warning – Neil Gaiman
The October Country – Ray Bradbury
R is For Rocket – Ray Bradbury
I like to find a theme or patter to the collection so they feel cohesive within the collection itself. These are just a few of my favourites, but I would say the stories are fully formed and finished, especially the Ted Chiang which I’ve read most recently.
Burning Chrome by William Gibson has some pieces that didn’t feel fully formed or needed editing and character revision. You can really see how his style and his stories started off and developed.
I love Vonnegut’s short story style so those collections are my favorites. Also Michael Swanwick has some good ones like “Not So Much, Said the Cat” and “Tales of Old Earth”. Also Ted Chiang has “Exhalation” and “Stories of Your Life and Others” which are great.
Fortune smiles by Adam Johnson and A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson are my 2 favs.
A few all-time favorites that haven’t been mentioned
*Winter’s Tales* by Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen
*Dubliners* by James Joyce
*Winesburg, Ohio* by Sherwood Anderson
*Elementals* and *Little Black Book of Stories* by the recently departed A.S. Byatt
Flannery O’Connor’s *Collected Stories*
*Labyrinths* by Jorge Luis Borges
I prefer them to anthologies from several authors. Mainly because this way, I can focus on the authors I already know I like and see them explore more variations in their writing.
Oh I much prefer single-author short story collections. You get better variety with more authors, but I end up feeling like the shift between authors is too abrupt. I like to spend more time with the ~vibes.~
My favorites are by Raphael Bob-Waksburg and Julia Armfield. Both of them have such a unique style, but their collections showcase the breadth of their talent rather than are a dumpster for lesser works.
I have a hemmingway one and a stephen king one. Plus MR james, Chekhov, Blackwood, and Le Fanu.
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Honestly, I think I just enjoy the idea in itself. They’re just ideas the author had that didn’t become a fully fledged novel or was just a small idea in the grand scheme of things. Plus, it gives you a lot more material of that author to read in a short amount of time. I also just bought a lot of horror short story collections because I thought it’d be cool to tackle since Im new to the genre.