Save our short story

One of the most delightful new additions to my blogroll is Bob Tinsley’s The Short of It, devoted to all things short fiction. Not only are his reviews of stories, available both in print or online, insightful and nuanced, but he’s been delving into the state of the short story and why it’s unjustly neglected. His comments on a recent study commissioned in the UK (leading to last year’s Save our Short Story anthology edited by Val McDermid) can be found here, here and here. It’s all worth reading, but I was especially interested in Tinsley’s comments about why people are turned off by short stories in favor of novels:

Another interesting tidbit was that most

readers felt that short stories were harder to read than novels. The

authors of the study believe that this attitude might just be the fault

of the educational system. Think back to your literature classes, both

in high school and college. While doing this, think not on your own

experiences, but on those of the others, the jocks, the popular crowd,

the science geeks. How did they react to reading the short stories and

answering the interminable and annoyingly vague questions at the end?

Personally, I think this conclusion might have some weight.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard from dedicated mystery readers that they simply don’t like to read short stories. A number of reasons are listed: not enough time to develop the plot or be engaged by the character, or they want to invest their energy reading a novel. I’ve said before and I’ll say again that I don’t get this attitude. When a short story is done well, it delivers a kick that’s immediate and satisfies an urge that novels can’t. It’s an art form to write a short story in general, but a mystery story requires greater command of structure and form. So when it works, the payoff is excellent.

Interestingly, there are still some stories I read in high school that

remain in my mind, although not all left a favorable impression. When I

was assigned William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily” (which seems to be a

requirement in many a local high school) I didn’t really care for the

content but did admire Faulkner’s writing and made a mental note to

revisit him when I was older (something I haven’t really done yet.) But

the first story I ever read of Alice Munro–and I’ve read quite a few

since then–still lingers in my mind. “How I Met My Husband” (from 1974’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You) is set in

one of the small Canadian towns she writes of often, and centers around

a girl whose first love goes away and promises to write back. The

entire story focuses on their relationship and how she waits and waits

for him to write–but the twist ending packs as much punch as would a crime story where all assumptions about the killer were turned on its ear. Munro’s storytelling power made a considerable impression, but her ability to suddenly change the story’s focus still leaves me in awe a decade after I first read it.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, can be done to increase the short story awareness amongst general readers. If even genre enthusiasts aren’t swayed by them, how can ordinary readers be reached? But I can’t help but be encouraged by what Akashic Books has planned over the next little while–not only with THE COCAINE CHRONICLES (out in April) but the expansion of the “Capital Noir” series, starting with a sequel to the extremely successful BROOKLYN NOIR (out in July) and later on, anthologies based in Dublin, Baltimore, Manhattan, Chicago, and DC. Sure, I’m biased because I’ll be contributing to the first two I’ve listed, but even if I weren’t involved I’d be awfully excited, considering how strong the content was in BROOKLYN NOIR. 

Other anthologies to watch out for this year include DANGEROUS WOMEN (Mysterious Press, January) the Robert Randisi-edited collection focusing around hitmen, and the US edition of MEN FROM BOYS (April, Dark Alley) which John Harvey edited and produced a Short Story Dagger nominee or two. The first paperback edition (trade, with mass market, oddly, being issued in 2006) of LIKE A CHARM will be available in the spring as well, and perhaps the publisher will finally drop the conceit of it being a “novel in voices.” There are some damn good short stories in there, but a novel it never was. All you have to do is check the MWA submission list and see what category it’s under…