Sunday Short Story Day
Week four, still going strong.
- Special Topic: Terrorism by Hal Niedzviecki from Look Down, This Is Where It Must Have Happened (City Lights) (01/22/2012)
- The Woods by Benjamin Percy from Refresh, Refresh (Graywolf) (01/22/2012)
- Pig Helmet & The Wall of Life by Pinckney Benedict from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/22/2012)
- An Orphan’s Tale by Jonathan Woods from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/22/2012)
- It’s Too Late, Baby by Annette Meyers from A Hell of a Woman (Busted Flush) (01/23/2012)
- The Sutton Pie Safe by Pinckney Benedict from Town Smokes (Ontario) (01/23/2012)
- Florianne by Daniel Woodrell from The Outlaw Album (Little Brown) (01/23/2012)
- Ballad of Larry Plank by Derek Nikitas from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/23/2012)
- Five Revelations Concerning Jenny L. As Told To Maura C. By A Compassionate Angel by Laura Benedict from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/24/2012)
- Falling Out Of Love by Larry Brown from Big Bad Love (Vintage) (01/24/2012)
- The Mud Below by Annie Proulx from Close Range (Scribner) (01/24/2012)
- Care of the Circumcised Penis by Sean Doolittle from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/24/2012)
- The Morning After by Jedidiah Ayres from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/24/2012)
- Underground Wonder Bound by Richard Thomas from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/24/2012)
- To Build a Fire by Jack London from The Great Adventure Stories of Jack London (Bantam) (01/25/2012)
- Hair’s Fate by Donald Ray Pollock from Knockemstiff (Anchor Books) (01/25/2012)
- Outside Lou’s by David Cirillo from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/25/2012)
- Everyone Grieves in a Unique Way by Anthony Neal Smith from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/25/2012)
- Big Artie by Malachi Stone from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/25/2012)
- Vampires are Pussies by Chris La Tray from Noir at the Bar (Subterranean) (01/25/2012)
- Peacekeeper by Alan Heathcock from Volt (Graywolf) (01/26/2012)
- Slippy for President by Steve Almond from The Best American Erotica 2005 (Touchstone) (01/26/2012)
- Good in a Crisis by Alethea Black from I Knew You’d Be Lovely (Broadway) (01/27/2012)
- Helper by Joseph Bruchac from Indian Country Noir (Akashic) (01/27/2012)
- The Killing by Benjamin Percy from Refresh, Refresh (Graywolf) (01/28/2012)
- Lusus Naturae by Margaret Atwood from McSweeney’s Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (Vintage) (01/28/2012)
I did more than two-a-day several days this week, because I wanted to wrap up reading that Noir at the Bar collection. Speaking of which, it was 2011′s #1 bestselling paperback at Subterranean Books in St. Louis, the store the collection was put together to benefit. That’s pretty cool. Another good indication that you should buy it if you haven’t already. Just sayin’. . . .
Read some great stories this week. That Annie Proulx story is probably the best story I’ve read all year. Which surprises me because she’s kind of hit and miss for my tastes. Ben Percy’s “The Killing” was the best of his I’ve read yet as well. That dude writes from a place I can relate to more than few other writers. Plus he seems to be a good dude.
Posted on January 29, 2012, in Uncategorized and tagged annie proulx, benjamin percy, noir at the bar. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
It’s been fun doing it. I try to read one at lunch every day. And I try to pick a different book or website.Normally I read right through a book of stories and this prevents that-consequently I getting a well-rounded group.
That’s basically what I’m doing too. I enjoy the jumping around. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and read through a couple stories on my phone until I got drowsy enough to sleep. Then I have all these wonderful collections I feared I’d never get through, and slowly but surely I’m making my way. I like that, and I feel like I am learning quite a bit too.
This is a great feature. I like to see the short story getting it’s due. I need to start getting more reviews up on my blog for what I’m reading. Am behind in that pretty far.
I’m a pretty recent aficianado of the short story; as an adult I didn’t really ever even consider reading them with any regularity until I took a couple fiction workshops a couple years ago. Which is odd, if you think about it, when you consider all the Conan stuff Howard wrote that I grew up with are all short stories. But I’m enjoying this little exercise.
I see that you perused one of yours in the lastest batch.
How did it measure up to the others that you have read?
After not having read it in some time, I found a couple things that I wish I’d caught, but nothing major. I was happy with it. It holds its own in the collection it’s a part of, I believe. I don’t think it’s going to cause a wave of editors from places like McSweeney’s or anything to come beating down my looking for stories to jazz up their collections, though. For what it is, I think it’s a fun read.
Glad to see the short story making such a comeback. And some damn fine reading there, Chris.
Yeah, I’ve read some great stuff this month, no doubt about it.