In a evening of numbered list and referencing of old posts, I thought I would conclude tonight’s up date with the following. On Saturday, I posted an article from Carl MacDougall about Writing Short Stories. His main piece of advice was to read short stories. Cat Rambo agrees and, very helpfully, recently put up an article on her website about her favourite short story writers. Plus as Christmas is only days away it might inspire a few last minute Christmas presents!
- Kurt Vonnegut Jr. is the best of the best. Welcome to the Monkey House is a great collection to start with.
- Carol Emshwiller is amazing, so skillfully that plain language manages to become part of such a lovely construction that the grain of the words seems ornamental as well as story material. I Live With You and Report to The Men’s Club are great places to start.
- James Tiptree Jr. For some of the most wonderful titles around, for some of the most subversive and interesting spec fic ever, look no further than Tiptree, aka Alice Sheldon, who shaped the field to the point where they named an award after her. Her Smoke Rose Up Forever and Brightness Falls From Air are both good starting points.
- Philip K. Dick does ideas, and amazing ones, but he’s also a really solid writer. Start with the Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick.
- Donald Barthelme’s book Sixty Stories should be sitting on your shelf.
- Grace Paley only produced three books, Enormous Changes At the Last Minute, The Little Disturbances of Man, and Later the Same Day but they are just brilliant.
- O. Henry is a classic, prolific short story writer. Some stories have aged better than others, but going through his collected works is a good use of time for a short story writer. Three things he’s good at: plot construction, pulling on the heart strings, and dialogue.
- Joan Aiken writes a good short story. The Serial Garden is the place to start.
- Theodore Sturgeon was prolific and has done some amazing speculative stories. Started with Volume I, The Ultimate Egoist.
- James Thurber’s Fables For My Time is perfect for those who like flash fiction.
To Write Short Stories, Read Stories was first published on Cat Rambo’s website on Monday. 19th of December 2011. Cat Rambo is a Science Fiction and Fantasy author.