As mentioned in a few recent posts, or at least hinted at, I hit a wall somewhere in the middle of 2021 and stopped posting to my blog. I felt guilty about it, of course, but the motivation just wasn’t there. That means it’s been six months or more since any of my intended regular features appeared. So I thought I’d use the first post of 2022 for each feature to re-introduce them.
Welcome to the first Sunday Shorts of 2022.
I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. I’ve considered promising to review a short story every day, like ‘Nathan Burgoine did a while back on his blog, but that’s a lot of pressure. And while no one will fault me if I miss days, I’ll feel guilty, which will lead to not posting at all. So better to stick to a weekly post highlighting a couple/three stories, as I’ve done in the past.
The stories featured will range in length from flash fiction to novellas, because I love all the lengths. And this seems like the right time to mention what those lengths are, at least according to The Hugo Awards:
· Novella: 17,500 – 40,000 words (roughly 58 – 133 pages at 300 words/page)
· Novelette: 7,500 – 17,500 words (roughly 25 – 58 pages)
· Short Story: less than 7,500 words (roughly 25 pages or less)
In addition, many organizations/websites break “Short Stories” down into smaller categories, such as:
· Flash Fiction: 1,000 words or less (some sites say 1,500 or less and some say 750)
· Micro-fiction: 500 words or less
· Drabble: precisely 100 words
although there seems to be a lot of disagreement out there when you get down to these finer categories.
My rule of thumb regarding novellas is that they’re eligible to be featured in this column if they appear in a larger book (say, as part of an author’s collection, or a collection of several novellas, or as an addition at the back of a novel) or if they’re published on an author’s Patreon. Novellas published for sale as single volumes (regardless of who the publisher is) count as “books” and usually get reviewed that way. (Otherwise, the constant stream of excellent novellas from TorDotCom would take over this column!)
For the time being, I’m focused on short fiction in print/digital formats. At some point, I might delve into individual stories/episodes of anthology formats in other media, like television and comics. I consider it every year and haven’t made that jump yet. Maybe that should be a separate regular feature. Feel free to weigh in in the comments.
The stories I’ll talk about come from a variety of print and online sources. I tend to read a fair number of anthologies and single-author collections, and occasionally will focus on stories from those even if I’m publishing a review of the entire book. Favorite anthology editors include Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling, John Joseph Adams, dave ring, Paula Guran, and Rhonda Parrish to name a few. (I could go on and on … that’s also probably the subject of a separate post.)
I am also subscribed to a bunch of magazines that I try to read at least semi-regularly, and some of those are even free to read online. When I do my monthly “Reading Round-Up,” you are likely to see stories from the following venues listed on a regular basis:
· The Dark
· The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction
· Tor.com
· Mermaids Monthly (now defunct, but I have several issues to catch up on)
That said, I do try to vary the sources for the stories I review in-depth for this column, so you shouldn’t see any one of the above magazines appearing any more regularly than the others.
(In the interests of full disclosure: I’m the proofreader for the e-book editions of Lightspeed and Fantasy, and so they account for 12 of the short stories I read each month. I tend to feature them in this column less often to avoid accusations of “favoritism.” I am NOT the proofreader for Nightmare, from the same publisher.)
I also enjoy reading short fiction on authors’ websites/Patreons. Seanan McGuire is an example. For $1/month, you get access to every short story she’s published on her Patreon – all original works when they first appear. ‘Nathan Burgoine has also posted some great short fiction on his blog, including annual queer retellings/reinventions of classic Christmas carols and stories. Lucy Snyder occasionally posts short stories on her Patreon as well. Again, I could go on and on and on…
Have a favorite anthology, collection, magazine, or other online venue for short fiction that I haven’t mentioned above? Again, feel free to weigh in in the comments. I’m always looking for new places to read short fiction (as if I don’t have enough to read already!).
And of course, let me know who your favorite short fiction authors and editors are!