Short Story News (2)

You may not have realized it, but the month just ending as I type this has been National Short Story Month. Yet another initiative from Dan Wickett of the Emerging Writers Network, and in only its third year, the month is designed to generate interest in a form too often relegated to the margins–much as the more established National Poetry Month has done in April. Though I’m late in stepping in to plug it, this is the internet: so follow the link and spend some time reading some of the (literally) dozens of posts from the last month, some from Dan, others from guest bloggers, profiling both collections and individual stories. There are also a number of links to various websites that, unlike LS, participated vigorously. Tania Hershman also did a great job of promoting the month, both at her own blog and at The Short Review. (I promise to do better next year.)

As previously noted, the online journal storySouth is the engineer of what they call the Million Writers Award, an effort to recognize the most notable online short stories of the previous year. Dozens of stories were deemed notable (find them here, complete with links). Of these, ten finalists have been named–follow the link to read them and vote for the top prizes. (Voting runs through June 17.)

Alix Ohlin (2)

I posted previously about Alix Ohlin’s amazing short story, “Simple Exercises for the Beginning Student,” and vowed to read and review the collection it’s from, Babylon and Other Stories. Well, finally, here is my review, in the April issue of The Short Review. This is a wonderful collection. Buy it at Powell’s or from you local independent bookseller.

Some Alix Ohlin interviews, and other odds & ends:

• a short interview at Hobart
• and a longer interview at About.com, which includes this fascinating metaphor: “When I’m writing I often think of the character as being underwater at the beginning of the story, and the action of the story is that character breaking the surface.”
• at Beatrice.com, her reflections on Greg Hollingshead’s The Roaring Girl
• a video of a talk she gave in 2007 as part of the Zocalo Public Square lecture series, called “Why Mysteries Matter: Detectives, Literature & Life” (it’s 53 minutes long, so wait until you have the time).

Ohlin is previously the author of a novel, The Missing Person.

The Short Review (2)

A few updates related to this terrific website devoted exclusively to reviewing short story collections, past & present:

• I’m late on plugging it, but in observance of Small Press Month, the March reviews are all devoted to small press releases, including new collections from Michael Martone and Kyle Minor.
• A book recently reviewed on the site, Sana Krasikov’s One More Year, just won the $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature.
• Short Review Founder & Editor Tania Hershman received special mention by the judges of the Orange Prize–who in announcing the 2009 shortlist, went out of their way to mention two who did not make the list: “We would also like to commend two other authors, Tania Hershman and CE Morgan, whose work stood out for its remarkable quality. We look forward to seeing more of their writing in the future.” Tania’s The White Road & Other Stories was published last year by Salt Publishing.
• And, coming soon in the April Short Review, my own review of Alix Ohlin’s Babylon & Other Stories

The Short Review

This is a terrific website devoted exclusively to reviewing short story collections, and started by a friend from Tin House, Tania Hershman (herself the author of a new collection, The White Road & Other Stories–more on that later). It has a number of great features, including author interviews, links to other reviews, and a big push on buying independent. There are ongoing reviews of both current and older titles, and a blog.

I have my first review up now in the February edition of the The Short Review–of A Happy Man, by Axel Thormahlen–a book I wanted to like more than I did. But it’s worth a look, and it’s published by a Los Angeles press, Les Figues, doing some very interesting stuff.