Short Story Collections

Archer, Jeffrey. To Cut a Long Story Short Chivers Press, 2000.

Unabridged audio of short stories of psychological fiction performed by Bill Wallace. From the cleverest of confidence tricks, to the quirks of the legal profession, to the intrigues of love at first sight, Archer keeps listeners guessing at what is truly as it seems to be and what is a hoax, what is real and what is a red herring. His mastery of character and suspense is apparent, each word is necessary and each ending will shock and surprise.

Contents: Death Speaks, The Expert Witness The End Game, The Letter, Crime Pays, Chalk and Cheese, A Change of Heart, Too Many Coincidences, Love at First Sight, Both Sides Against the Middle, A Weekend to Remember, Something for Nothing, Other Blighters’ Efforts, The Reclining Woman, The Grass is Always Greener.

Carroll, Jonathan. The Panic Hand. St. Martin’s Press, 1996.

"I want you frowning now, knowing something is very wrong with your parachute even before actually pulling the cord and praying it opens. P.S. It won't." So Jonathan Carroll addresses his readers in this much-awaited collection of 20 stories. Author of several wry and dark novels, Carroll has a considerable following, but his books are difficult to pigeonhole, so some horror and fantasy readers are still unfamiliar with him. This collection shows off his talents admirably, in tales that range from bittersweet sadness over God's failing memory, to a disturbing friendship between a dog and a dying child, to a macabre fantasy about how men and women manipulate each other. Carroll at his best explores the psychological and social consequences of "impossible'' situations (an "imaginary friend'' who comes to life when his playmate reaches adulthood, a house that "remembers'' its former occupants) with a deadpan clarity. Also included in this collection is a novella, Black Cocktail, a strange tale of symbiotic relationship and conflict spun from the notion (well concealed till late in the story) of how a human soul is constructed and what this implies about the nature of friendship and sexual attraction. Best of all is the story Friend's Best Man (winner of a World Fantasy Award), about an amputee's bewildering relationship with a dying girl and a talking dog that can predict the future. Carroll's best stories are among the finest fantasies being written today. As The New York Times put it, "Carroll's world is one that is subtly out of kilter, and which can take a turn for the sinister at any time." This volume is winner of the 1996 Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story Collection.

Cash, Rosanne. Bodies of Water : Short Fiction. Hyperion Books, 1996.

The singer/lyricist whose words put a cerebral edge on country/western music moves into fiction with this impressive collection of nine short stories. Rosanne Cash's first literary collection shows her to be a gifted, lyrical prose writer, utilizing the same candor, wit, and sophistication evident in her groundbreaking songs. From delicate, luminous "prose poems" to straightforward, even comic autobiographical essays, Bodies of Water showcases Cash's profound reflections on art, motherhood, spirituality, and performance. These stories are a series of portraits of the inner lives of women seeking self-forgiveness, resolution, and freedom in the face of the familiar betrayals of everyday existence. A mother spends a comically forlorn New Year's Eve alone with her young children. Alone in Paris, a traveler faces her loneliness as middle age approaches. A dinner party becomes a battleground of concealed disappointment. It is at the margins of reality and dreams, the boundaries between art and insanity, that Cash's characters come to learn that their redemption is to be found in facing the past, and finally, in retrieving power.

Clinton, Catherine. Civil War Stories. G. K. Hall Large Print American History Series, 2000. Originally published: Athens : University of Georgia Press, 1998, in series: Jack N. and Addie D. Averitt lecture series.

In her effort to illustrate the human dimensions of the Civil War, Clinton, an authority on Southern history and American women's history, presents startling narrative essays on the everyday and extraordinary women, men, and children caught up in the turmoil. Throughout, she skillfully contrasts the perceptions of whites and blacks and offers insights into the social, cultural, political, and ideological aspects of the sectional conflict and its often divisive impact on families. These essays provide both a base and new directions for Civil War and Reconstruction historiographies and also raise new questions about tragic conflicts, real sufferings, human adjustments, and personal passions during the war. Helpful explanatory notes are included. This is an enlightening addition to works such as Gerda Lerner's The Grimke Sisters of South Carolina (Oxford Univ., 1998) and Divided Houses: Gender and the Civil War (Oxford Univ., 1992), edited by Clinton. Both scholars and informed lay readers will find it enjoyable, useful, and informative.

Davis, Chuck. Winter Spirits, a Collection of Ghost Stories for the Holidays and Beyond. Brilliance Corporation, 1994. Unabridged audio in various voices.

Feeling a chill amidst the warmth of the season? Sensing a shadow lurking behind the tinsel and lights? Experience the darker visions hidden within our brightest holiday. Listen to the water ghost’s story as she spends Christmas Eve haunting Harrowby Hall. Charles Dickens examines the figure which haunts The Signalman, and Edgar Allen Poe details the secret of The Oval Portrait. You’ll shiver as The Monkey’s Paw twitches grimly in the cold and enjoy Mark Twain’s fascinating yarn about a ghostly giant warming himself at the fireplace.

Contents: The Traveller R.H. Benson, The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall John Kendrick Bangs; The Oval Portrait and The Black Cat Edgar Allen Poe; A Ghost Story Mark Twain; The Wolf Guy de Maupassant; The Adventures of the German Student Washington Irving; The Monkey’s Paw W. W. Jacobs; From the Tideless Sea W. H. Hodgson; Madam Crowl’s Ghost J. S. LeFanu; The Canterville Ghost Oscar Wilde; Doctor Heidegger’s Experiment Nathaniel Hawthorne; The Old Nurse’s Story Mrs. Gaskell; The Black Veil and the Signalman Charles Dickens; Selecting a Ghost Arthur Conan Doyle.

Drake, David, Eric Flint, and Jim Baen, editors. The World Turned Upside Down. Baen Books, 2000.

Since Hugo Gernsback established the magazine Amazing Stories in 1926, short fiction has been a favored genre of science fiction writers and readers. Readers can feast on such diverse offerings as the Orbit collections selected by Damon Knight, the Nebula awards anthology, and the annual Year’s Best Science Fiction edited by Gardner Dozois. There is also the memorable Omnibus of Science Fiction assembled by Groff Conklin in 1952, which set the bar very high for collections of science fiction short stories that would come after it. The World Turned Upside Down, edited by David Drake, Eric Flint, and the late Jim Baen, easily clears the hurdle established by Conklin. Drake, Flint, and Baen have chosen stories that they found memorable and affecting, stories that influenced not only their writing styles but also their ways of thinking and their lives. Each story is presented with a foreword and afterword on why it was included, and these insights into the editors’ minds are well worth reading on their own. As for the stories themselves, all are worthy representatives of the genre, with suitable selections for many tastes. Long-time readers will recognize such classics as Rescue Party by Arthur C. Clarke and The Menace from Earth by Robert Heinlein, as well as Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, which served as the inspiration for the film The Thing. There are some surprises as well: who knew that Michael Shaara, most famous for his Civil War novel The Killer Angels, had written science fiction? For creepy thrills, there is Shambleau by C.L. Moore, a tale of shape-shifting and tainted passion that will have readers checking under their beds; for contrast, there is Robert Sheckley’s lighthearted Hunting Problem, in which a very unusual Boy Scout is determined to earn his merit badge. Fans of the genre will find The World Turned Upside Down a quality addition to their libraries. Highly recommended.

Gilchrist, Ellen. Nora Jane: a Life in Stories. Little Brown and Co., 2005.

This volume of short stories brings together the author's writings featuring the character Nora Jane Whittington. I'm glad I found the anthology as it takes Nora Jane from New Orleans to Berkeley and from being the daughter of an alcoholic mother to being a very conscientious mother of three children. Nora Jane grew up in New Orleans with her grandmother who was the major influence in her life. Her father had been killed in Vietnam and her mother turned to alcohol to deal with life. After her grandmother dies, she strikes out on her own. At her job, she meets Sandy who teaches her the fine art of disguise and robbery. Following Sandy to San Francisco and not finding him at the given address, Nora Jane eventually decides all she can do is what she knows--robbery. However, her choice of victim turns out to be Freddy Harwood, the owner of a bookstore, who not only doesn't cooperate with being robbed but also falls in love with Nora Jane. Their life journey, with a few asides involving Sandy, is a story of love, friendship and dealing with whatever life has in store for you.

Huff, Tanya & Alexander Potter (editors). Women of War. DAW, 2005.

This is a good science fiction short story anthology from DAW. As the title suggests, this anthology highlights women warriors. The first story by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller is a Liaden Universe story about Miri Robertson. Julie E. Czerneda’s She’s such a Nasty Morsel: A Web Shifters Story was a very intricate story about an alien observer who becomes involved in a human war. Tanya Huff’s story was a disappointment as well as Michell West’s The Black Ospreys. West’s story was too long and vague. Overall, Tanya and Alexander do a good job of editing but they need to try to use the “less is more rule” as far as story length is concerned.

London, Jack. Earle Labor & Robert Leitz, editors. Short Stories of Jack London: Authorized One-Volume Edition. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1990.

"Raw and Raked, Wild and Free" …...that was the way Jack London saw life, and the more he lived it the more enamored of it he became. London’s writing was brilliant, poetic, and swift with violence and action; his stories clearly illustrate the unique spirit of his unbridled genius. Critics admitted that the Jack London -- "while frightfully primitive" – yet was challenging Poe, Kipling and Melville as a one-in-a-million storyteller. The tales in this volume have been thrilling readers for nearly half a century. Of the many collections of Jack London short stories, this one has to be the best. Of the 50 stories authorized by Jack London's family, there are two versions of London's famous To Build a Fire -- the original he wrote in 1902 and the the more famous one that he rewrote in 1908 from memory of the original version. Notes at the end of the book give insight to each story detailing his struggles to get many published, the amount he was paid, and commentary from Jack on some of them.

Varley, John. The John Varley Reader : Thirty Years of Short Fiction. Ace Books, 2004.

This is a definitive compilation of short fiction from the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author.

Contents: Picnic on Nearside, Overdrawn at the memory bank, In the hall of the Martian Kings, Gotta sing, gotta dance, Barbie murders, Phantom of Kansas, Beatnik bayou, Air raid, Persistence of vision, Press enter, The Pusher, Tango Charlie and Foxtrot Romeo, Options, Just another perfect day, In fading suns and dying moons, Flying Dutchman, Good intentions, Bellman.

The Worst Noel: Hellish Holiday Tales. Harper Collins Publishers, 2005.

Writers from Neal Pollack to Marian Keyes to Ann Patchett tell their tales of holiday woe. Comical, spot-on, and above all, reassuring, these stories are sure to make you thankful to have your own wacky family and strange holiday traditions. Cynthia Kaplan describes the holiday horror of hitting a deer (or a reindeer, as her young son presumes) in Donner is Dead, while Mike Albo shares his tale of a romantic Parisian holiday with his boyfriend….and his boyfriend’s boyfriend in Christmas and Paris. Neal Pollack delights in baking his first Smithfield ham (despite being Jewish) with his very Southern (and very Christian) in-laws in The Jew Who Cooked Ham for Christmas and Stanley Bing chronicles the unexpected joy in spending the holidays alone in Twas the Bite Before Christmas. The stories are as different and funny as their authors, and the collection is a real holiday treat.