The Short Story Lives?

What I thought I would get with this edition of The Best American Short Stories, guest edited by Stephen King, was a look into the stories that inspire Mr. King. In the introduction he claims, “There isn't a single one in this book that didn't delight me, that didn't make me want to crow 'Oh man, you gotta read this!' to someone.” While there were some very good stories in here, there were also some that made me shrug and wonder how many pages remained to the next story.

In his introduction, Mr. King does talk about the declining readership and dwindling markets for short fiction. I believe the short story's days are numbered and well not quite as pessimistic he does talk about how hard it is to find short story magazines in bookstores and how difficult it is to get motivated to write for a dwindling audience and how many stories out there seem to be designed to be in the mold of previously published stories rather than are excited page-turners. He's right – the market is incestuous enough that the readers are the writers who want to be read – by other writers.

There were some highlights in the volume -

My Brother Eli by Joseph Epstein – Eli was a famous writer, a self-centered wrecking ball who destroyed lives. His older brother recounts Eli's life and contemplates the question, do artists have special license for bad behavior.

L. DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story by Lauren Groff – this story was truly beautiful. A polio victim falls in love with her swimming instructor, a former Olympic medalist. It's set among the class disparity and political turmoil of 1918.

Wait by Roy Kesey – this is a fantastical story of the terrors of humanity brought to the microcosm of a group waiting for a much delayed plane flight out of a war-torn country. The satire makes it fun.

The Boy in Zaquitos by Bruce McAllister – my favorite story of the book and not surprisingly it was originally published in the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This story is told about a boy who was used by the government to spread a deadly disease through other countries.

Sans Farine by Jim Shepard – A crushingly emotional story about the man who was the executioner during the French Revolution. The ending wasn't a surprise but the journey was wrenching nonetheless.

Most people's favorite seems to be T.C. Boyle's Balto. It's a very good story but seemed mechanical to me.

Here's the table of contents:

Introduction by Stephen King

Louis Auchincloss – Pa's Darling

John Barth – Toga Party

Ann Beattie – Solid Wood

T.C. Boyle – Balto

Randy DeVita – Riding the Doghouse

Joseph Epstein – My Brother Eli

William Gay – Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?

Mary Gordon – Eleanor's Music

Lauren Groff – L. DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story

Beverly Jensen – Wake

Roy Kesey – Wait

Stellar Kim – Findings & Impressions

Aryn Kyle – Allegiance

Bruce McAllister – The Boy in Zaquitos

Alice Munro – Dimension

Eileen Pollack – The Bris

Karen Russell – St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

Richard Russo – Horseman

Jim Shepard – Sans Farine

Kate Walbert – Do Something

 - CV Rick, July 2008

Comments

[petra]

I agree with you about "Balto"--not one of TC Boyle's best.

I read this anthology from start to finish, and almost threw the book across the room after reading the first few stories.

It wasn't until William Gay's story "Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?" that I thought "wow"!

That story sent me back to Poe, and then to Flannery O'Conner. I read William Gay's collection "I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down". That sent me back to Faulkner, specifically to his story "That Evening Sun Go Down" and the spiritual that inspired both titles. I'm looking forward to more stories from William Gay.

Back to the anthology though--I liked "Wake" and "St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." I hadn't expected to, so they were both a pleasant surprise.

What really impressed me for some strange reason was Heidi Pitlor's intro. She's the series editor. She read 3000 stories in one year in order to narrow it down to 100 for Stephen King to winnow further.

3000! At the same time she wrote a novel and had a baby. Well, I guess I expected the stories in that anthology to all be as amazing as that feat, but whatever!

[CV Rick]

I agree that's an amazing feat. I wish I could read that much and write a novel all in one year . . . without the pregnancy and labor to endure.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting.