My Week in Short Stories – March 7th – March 14th

I think we can all agree, it’s been quite the week. If you’re reading this, I hope you’re okay, physically, mentally, and professionally.

I’m trying to remain as calm as possible for my family, and I think I’m doing okay. The reading continues, so here we go!

I read some tiny tales from Clare Fisher’s much-lauded, How the Light Gets In. They were literally about three or four pages each; that’s why I read so many. They were okay. Textbook Burglar was wonderful. Sad to say I don’t feel inclined to read the rest of them.

I’d not read any Chesya Burke for a while, and I’m not sure why because her stories are just incredible. The Unremembered, from her staggering collection, Let’s Play White, is about the challenges of raising an autistic child, and how people get “forgotten” from history. Incredible writing; Burke creates fascinating worlds.

I’ve been reading various Alison Moore stories in anthologies recently. Her stories are always very strong, and The Voice of the People was no exception. A factory slowly kills off the inhabitants of a village. You can find the story in its entirety here!

Turns out Leonora Carrington has seen my nightmares and put them into her stories. My spreadsheet notes on this one are literally: “Narrator comes across a ten-foot-tall lady in a house. They play horses together.” It’s like a fever dream, and I loved it.

I’ve just read Kevin Wilson’s new novel, Nothing to See Here, which I very much enjoyed. The theme of this novel is being thrown into an uncomfortable situation, where you unexpectedly have to care for children. Scroll Through the Weapons, the Wilson short story I read this week, is very much in the same vein. I think I’ll let the memory of the novel settle before I read more of his shorter works.

Lidia Yuknavitch’s new collection, The Verge, is very much an “it” book right now, and The Pull is a powerful opening story, with a real gut-punch ending. A necessary story given the state of the world. Can’t wait to read the rest of the collection.

So as we stride on into uncertainty, I think I’m going to focus on finishing the collections I’ve enjoyed so far, but still haven’t finished. These include:

• Let’s Play White – Chesya Burke
• Fen – Daisy Johnson
• At The Mouth of the River of Bees – Kij Johnson
• The Clockwork – Karen Heuler
• What It Means When a Man Falls From The Sky – Lesley Nneka Arimah
• Things We Lost in the Fire – Mariana Enriquez
• Gifts for the One Who Comes After – Helen Marshall

Take care. Wash your hands. Cry if you need to. Read some awesome books.