Friday, December 21, 2018

24 Superb Short Stories from my 2018 Reading.

Once again, this yearly list is about celebrating short fiction and hopefully playing a role in generating a little dialogue and conversation about the genre. These stories are all part of my 2018 reading rather than stories published in 2018. There are also several works from That Glimpse of Truth in previous lists.

‘Sea Oak’ George Saunders (Pastoralia)                                                                                          

‘The Deep’ Anthony Doerr (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                                      

‘Fialta’ Rebecca Lee (Bobcat and Other Stories first published in Zoetrope)                           

‘Slatland’ Rebecca Lee (Bobcat and Other Stories first published in Atlantic Monthly)       

‘Pulse’ Julian Barnes (Pulse)                                                                                                  

‘Boner McPharlin’s Moll’ Tim Winton (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                  

‘Beauty’s Sister’ James Bradley (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                              

‘Min’ Rebecca Lee (Bobcat and Other Stories)                                                                       

‘Confessions of a Con Girl’ Nick Wolven (Asimov’s Nov/Dec 2017)                                          

‘Trespass’ Julian Barnes (Pulse)                                                                                  
       
‘Nothing Visible’ Siddharta Deb (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                          

‘Escape from Spiderhead’ George Saunders (Tenth of December)                                           

‘The Cold Outside’ John Burnside (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                         

‘Two Boys’ Lorrie Moore (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                                       

‘Tenth of December’ George Saunders (Tenth of December)                                                       

‘Mixed Breeding’ Nicola Barker (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller) - humorous                   

‘Summer of ‘38’ Colm Toibin (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                                 

‘The Wavemaker Faulters’ George Saunders (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller & CivilWarLand in Bad Decline)       

‘A Real Doll’ A.M Homes (That Glimpse of Truth ed. David Miller)                                       

‘The Discrete Charm of the Turing Machine’ Greg Egan (Asimov’s Nov/Dec 2017)                

‘The Barber’s Unhappiness’ George Saunders (Pastoralia)                                                   

‘The Banks of the Vistula’ Rebecca Lee (Bobcat and Other Stories)                                      

‘Home’ George Saunders (Tenth of December)  
                                                                   
'Creek' Kaaron Warren (Through Splintered Walls)                                                             




                          

3 comments:

  1. Any favourites there, Anthony? And what are those about?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sue. All on the list are great reads. I suppose two ones to start with are 'Sea Oak' by George Saunders and 'The Deep' by Anthony Doerr. Completely different prose and themes, but both so effective. Saunders' work is a humorous satire exploring urban America with some dark fantasy elements, while Doerr's story is a beautiful historical narrative of a boy born with a shortened life expectancy due to an ailing heart.

      Happy to discuss any that you're interested or curious about, or provide more info.

      Delete
  2. Hi Sue. All on the list are great reads. I suppose two ones to start with are 'Sea Oak' by George Saunders and 'The Deep' by Anthony Doerr. Completely different prose and themes, but both so effective. Saunders' work is a humorous satire exploring urban America with some dark fantasy elements, while Doerr's story is a beautiful historical narrative of a boy born with a shortened life expectancy due to an ailing heart.

    Happy to discuss any that you're interested or curious about, or provide more info.

    Best

    ReplyDelete