Short Stories

Chilling Illustrations of Edgar Allan Poe's Short Stories

Posted 05.25.2012

Read More: Dover Publishing, Short Stories, Edgar Allan Poe, Video, Illustrations, Slideexpand, The Raven, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Harry Clarke, Calla Edition, Arts News

The words of Edgar Allan Poe's "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" are nothing short of bone-chilling, and they certainly need no visual accompaniment....

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The Messiness of Love, Family and Identity: Q&A With Lysley Tenorio

Larissa Archer | Posted 05.23.2012

Read More: Literature, Short Stories, Filipino-American Artists, Author Interviews, San Francisco Writers, Books, Monstress, Lysley Tenorio, Books News
Larissa Archer

Monstress does what all the best art does: it reveals the nuanced depths of people one might otherwise overlook or casually judge and dismiss. And it does this without polemic or the tiresome earnestness some writers succumb to when doing or attempting to do the same thing.

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Crossing the Gulf: Tania James' Aerogrammes

Sean Carman | Posted 05.21.2012

Read More: Tania James, Gary Younge, Literary Fiction, Short Stories, Dc Around Town, Aerogrammes Collection, Aerogrammes Book, Tania James Aerogrammes, Aerogrames, DC News
Sean Carman

Like all great fiction, Tania James's stories emerge from a strange and beautiful source of inspiration, then proceed to transcend it.

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A Novel That Stirs Interest in Short Stories

Dave Astor | Posted 05.17.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Novels, Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout, Books News
Dave Astor

Olive Kitteridge is enthralling and appalling, and it might cause novel readers to find themselves falling... in love again with short stories.

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Excerpt: What Would Hugh Hefner Say About Sex In The Afterlife?

Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Book News, Hugh Hefner Sex in the Afterlife, Short Story Collection, Video, Chicago Writers, Famous Chicagoans, Chicago Stories, Chicago Writing, Hugh Hefner Sex, Books News

The following is an excerpt from "Chicago Stories" by Michael Czyzniejewski [Curbside Splendor, $14.99], a collection of humorous, fictional tales "na...

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The Weirdest Stories Of The Century

Ann VanderMeer | Posted 05.11.2012

Read More: Book News, Short Stories, Short Story Collection, Weird Story, Short Story Collections, Weird Stories, Short Story Anthology, Weird Short Stories, Short Story Anthologies, Slidepollajax, Books News
Ann VanderMeer

Of course, "weird" covers a gamut from the subtle weird to the more outré--and we encountered lots of the weirder material in compiling the anthology. So here, without further preamble, are thirteen of the weirdest stories from the past century.

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Fiction: 'She's Modest, But It's No Secret How Beautiful She Is'

| Posted 04.28.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Teen Fiction, Anorexia, Body Image, Eating Disorders, Fiction for Teens, High School News, Young Adult Fiction, Teen News, Figment Fiction, Teen News

This is a regular column featuring original poetry and fiction by and for teens, provided by Figment.com, an online community writing site for young p...

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You Don't Mess With Mr. Byng: A Two Minute Story

Steve Saylor | Posted 05.28.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Bad Teachers, Teachers, Elementary Schools, True Stories, Good Teachers, Education News
Steve Saylor

We are all busy humans living out our daily lives and it is hard to sit down and actually read a full-length book. With that in mind, here is a quick ...

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Sheila Heti's The Middle Stories, 10 Years Later

Brian Joseph Davis | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Sheila Heti, McSweeney's, The Middle Stories, How Should a Person Be, Short Stories, Author Interviews, Books News
Brian Joseph Davis

Do you remember the days of 2002? I remember Toronto author Sheila Heti's first book, The Middle Stories. I remember how different it seemed from all other fiction. I spoke with Heti recently about the new edition.

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Not Many Novels From Some Novelists

Dave Astor | Posted 05.02.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Religion, Politics, Europe, Gilead, Novels, Nonfiction, Marilynne Robinson, Death, Productivity, Novelists, Books News
Dave Astor

There are various reasons why some authors have sparsely populated canons. Some die young or relatively young. Some deal with ill health. Some feel they've said all they want to say in their minimal output.

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Eugene Cross: Stories for Our Time

Ru Freeman | Posted 04.30.2012

Read More: Eugene Cross, Awp, Graywolf-Press, Dzanc Books, Short Stories, Books News
Ru Freeman

Cross' stories reverberate with the idea that there was once, in each of these characters' lives, a moment when things may have gone differently, where youthful bravado and indifference could have matured into responsibility and self-worth.

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TEEN FICTION: 'The Day My Biggest Dream Came True'

| Maddy Munoz | Posted 02.28.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Video, Figment, Fun Stuff, Teen Romance Story, Teen Fiction, Figment Fiction, Teen News

This is a regular column featuring original fiction by and for teens, provided by Figment.com, an online community writing site for young people. B...

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A Factual History of Pulitzer-Winning Fiction

Dave Astor | Posted 03.27.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Novels, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Novels, Pulitzer Prize, Books News
Dave Astor

Seeking some compelling mid-winter reading? Try perusing the list of books that won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The winners, as you'll see in the links below, range from classic novels to now-obscure books.

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Foxy Lady -- A Review of Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox

Joseph Sutton | Posted 03.14.2012

Read More: Book Recommendations, Short Stories, Novels, Book Reviews, Mr. Fox, Helen Oyeyemi, Mr. Fox Review, The Donnybrook Writing Academy, The-Donnybrook-Writing-Academy, Donnybrook, Denver News
Joseph Sutton

Oyeyemi excellently juggles a wide variety of narrators throughout the book, keeping the text always fresh; and stories vary greatly from sweet to foreboding and -- perhaps I am a tad bit sensitive -- sometimes horrifying.

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Fiction Writing for Beginners

Jennifer Langione | Posted 03.06.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Creative Writing, College, Fiction, College News
Jennifer Langione

You'll often find that taking chances with your writing will bring your story to new and interesting places that you never anticipated. Don't be afraid to fail the first, second or third time -- writing is all about delayed gratification!

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PHOTOS: Beautifully Illustrated Stories In Just 420 Characters

Lou Beach | Posted 02.05.2012

Read More: Slidepollajax, Illustrated Stories, Short Stories, 420 Characters, Really Short Stories, Illustrations, Books News
Lou Beach

These stories all began as Facebook posts, an exercise in compressing tales into the constraints of only 420 characters, including spaces and punctuation. I call them 'tales' for, in the ones that work best, there is a narrative arc that takes place in the space of a breath.

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Exclusive Interview With Award-Winning Fiction Writer Richard Burgin

Anis Shivani | Posted 01.29.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Gloria Vanderbilt, Writing Workshops, Jorge Louis Borges, Short Story Writing, Novel Writing, Creative Writing Mfa, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Richard Burgin, Middlebrow Culture, Criticism, Boulevard Magazine, Books News
Anis Shivani

Richard Burgin has long been a mainstay in American literary circles, as five-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, editor for more than a quarter century of the award-winning journal Boulevard, and author of numerous critically acclaimed short story collections.

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Edith Pearlman, PEN Award Winner, On Success Late In Life

Debra Ollivier | Posted 01.29.2012

Read More: Short Stories, Literature, Edith Pearlman, Writing, National Book Award, The Writing Life, Pen, O. Henry Prize, Fifty News
Debra Ollivier

Why Edith Pearlman is not known to a broader audience is a mystery on par with how the pyramids were built -- so suggests Ann Patchett in the introduction to Pearlman's Binocular Vision: New & Selected Stories.

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Can You Tell A Great Story On Twitter?

Posted 12.20.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Twitter, Books, Writing, #Talesontweet, Talesontweet, Urlesque, Penguin Books, Books News

Sure, there are dozens of stories told on Twitter throughout the course of a day, but finally, someone is pulling them together. An account by the han...

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The Lost 1001 Arabian Nights

Doug Lieblich | Posted 12.05.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Elephant, Crusades, Sultan, Arabian Nights, Decapitation, Beheading, Head Removal, Ottoman Empire, Comedy News
Doug Lieblich

There was once a pauper renowned for giving perfect impressions of the sultan...

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'Confessions of an Emetophobe'

| Leah D., 17, Vancouver | Posted 11.28.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Figment, Teen Fiction, Fiction by Teens, Emetophobia, Fiction, High School News

This is a regular column featuring original fiction by and for high school students, provided by Figment.com, an online community writing site for yo...

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Spoilers Don't Ruin Stories, Study Says

The Huffington Post | Gazelle Emami | Posted 10.11.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Ucsd Study, Book Spoilers, Ucsd, Pyschological Science, Spoilers, Spoiler Study, University of California San Diego, Story Spoilers, Ucsd Spoiler Study, Culture News

You don't hate spoilers. You like them. You really, really like them. Are you getting sleepy? This is what a University of California, San Diego, s...

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Heathrow's New Writer In Residence

Andrew Burmon | Posted 10.03.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Writers in Residence, Books, England, Heathrow Airport, Airports, London Heathrow, Tony Parsons, Video, Travel News

Heathrow Airport is getting into the literary game. The hub announced on Wednesday that Tony Parsons, the popular English novelist and documentarian o...

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The Story vs. The Novel: What Makes The Short Story Distinctive?

Anis Shivani | Posted 09.14.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Short Story Writing, Short Fiction, Novel Writing, Literary Fiction, Larry Fondation, Clifford Garstang, Writing, Aamer Hussein, Alyson Hagy, Books News
Anis Shivani

This is the latest in our series on the short story--its unique aesthetic, how it's different from the writing of a novel, who are some of the form's major practitioners, and what it takes to craft a successful short story.

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Fortune Teller Miracle Fish: The Short Story Is Back

Jenny Block | Posted 09.20.2011

Read More: Short Stories, Fortune Teller Miracle Fish, Cathryn Hankla, Flannery O'Connor, Books, Books News
Jenny Block

If you are new to the short story, if you think them above or beneath you, if you've never given them a second thought, think of this as an invitation to a genre that will certainly surprise you.

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