25 Highly Recommended Short Stories from my 2012 Reading

25 Highly Recommended Short Stories from my 2012 Reading

I read 134 short stories in 2012 (most of them great). I thought a cut-off at my 25 favourites would be best -  I could have listed more but lengthy lists tend to be tedious. All are the meatier kind of short story. So for lovers of the ‘long’ short story here are some more recommended gems:

‘from Children’s Reminiscences of the Westward Migration’ (St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves) by Karen Russell      

“St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” Karen Russell (St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves)

‘Out with the Old’ (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness) Richard Yates

‘Ava Wrestles the Alligator’ Karen Russell (St. Lucy’s HOME for Girls RAISED by WOLVES)                                                                 

‘A Glutton for Punishment’ Richard Yates (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

‘No Pain Whatsoever’ Richard Yates (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

‘Singing My Sister Down’ Margo Lanagan (Black Juice)

‘The Star Gazer’s Log of Summer-Time Crime’ (St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves) by Karen Russell       

‘The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains’ Neil Gaiman (STORIES)

‘Z.Z.’s Sleep-Away Camp for Disordered Dreamers’ (St. Lucy’s HOME for Girls Raised by Wolves) Karen Russell                                                   

‘Haunting Olivia’ Karen Russell (St. Lucy’s HOME for Girls RAISED by WOLVES)

“The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” Angela Slatter (The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2011)  

‘Earthly Uses’ (Black Juice) Margo Lanagan                         

‘Images’ Alice Munro (Selected Stories)

‘The Stars are Falling’ Joe R Lansdale (STORIES)

‘Microscosmic Dog’ Michael Swanwick (Tales of Old Earth)

‘The Best of Everything’ Richard Yates (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

 

‘Jody Rolled the Bones’ Richard Yates (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

‘Walker Brothers Cowboy’ (Selected Stories) Alice Munro

‘The B.A.R Man’ (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness) Richard Yates

‘A Really Good Jazz Piano’(Eleven Kinds of Loneliness) Richard Yates

‘Doctor Jack-o’-Lantern’ Richard Yates (Eleven Kinds of Loneliness)

‘Perpetual Light’ Margo Lanagan (Black Juice)

‘Postcard’ Alice Munro (Selected Stories)

“The Hall of the Lost Footsteps” Sara Douglas & Angela Slatter (The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2011)