Especially Loved Short Stories from my 2020 Reading

I read 142 short stories in 2020. This list has 26 of my favourite reads for the year––like always there are plenty of works not included that I still loved and admired. 

 ‘Orange World’ Karen Russell (Orange World originally in The New Yorker) 

 ‘Pharmacy’ Elizabeth Strout (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed.Richard Ford. Originally published in Olive Kitteredge)

 

‘The Dead Hand Loves You’ Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress)

 

 ‘Dark Lady’ Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress) 

 ‘The Deposition’ Tobias Wolff (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed. Richard Ford. Originally published in Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories) 

 ‘Alphinland’ Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress)

‘Soir Bleu’ Robert Olen Butler Block (In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper Ed. Lawrence Block)

 ‘Taking Care of Business’ Craig Ferguson (In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper Ed. Lawrence Block) 

 ‘Revenant’ Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress) 

 ‘Torching the Dusties’ Margaret Atwood (Stone Mattress) 

 ‘Geese’ ZZ Packer (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed. Richard Ford. Originally published in From Drinking Coffee Elsewhere) 

 ‘Drummond and Son’ Charles D’Ambrosio (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed. Richard Ford. Originally published in The Dead Fish Musem) 

 ‘The Store’ Edward P. Jones (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed. Richard Ford. Originally published in Lost in the City) 

 ‘Angel of Wrath’ Joyce Carol Oates (The Female of the Species originally in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine) 

 ‘The Walking-Stick Forest’ Anna Tambour (The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Ed. Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene. Originally published in Tor.com Ed. Ellen Datlow) 

 ‘Big Green Mama Falls in Love’ Eleanor Arnason (Eidolon 1 Ed. Jonathan Strahan & Jeremy G Byrne)

 ‘The Projectionist’ Joe R. Lansdale (In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper Ed. Lawrence Block) 

 ‘Girlie Show’ Megan Abbott (In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper Ed. Lawrence Block)

 

‘Black Corfu’ Karen Russell (Orange World originally in Zoetrope) 

 ‘The Wrong Grave’ Kelly Link (read in The Wrong Grave. Originally published in The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural) 

 ‘Adam’ Kurt Vonnegut Jr (Welcome to the Monkey House. Originally published in Cosmopolitan) 

 ‘High Lonesome’ Joyce Carol Oates (Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar Ed. Richard Ford. Originally published in High Lonesome) 

‘A Prayer for Lazarus’ Andrew J. McKiernan (The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Ed. Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene. First published in Last Year, When We Were Young Ed. Stephen Ormsby)

 ‘Kneaded’ by S.G. Larner (The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Ed. Liz Grzyb & Talie Helene. First published in Phatazein Ed. Tehani Wessely)

’Leviathan’ Simon Brown (Eidolon 1 Ed. Jonathan Strahan & Jeremy G Byrne) 

 ‘Night Windows’ Jonathan Santlofer (In Sunlight or in Shadow: Stories Inspired by the Paintings of Edward Hopper Ed. Lawrence Block)