Alan's comments (member since Oct 23, 2008)

Alan's comments from the Short Story lovers group.

Geoff wrote: "Unfortunately, I don't think short stories are going to get a lot of attention in America unless and until some publisher (one of the big boys) decides they've got a Raymond-Carver-like writer--i.e..."

That's very depressing, especially for the short story writer, but probably accurate now. I'm not sure it was true in the past - at least magazines that featured short stories and fiction mags in general used to thrive (Blackwoods, London Magazine etc here in the UK) - I think there was an appetite for stories that no longer exists. Due to TV, the net etc maybe?

It's very distressing to hear that members of an English department don't read. It's ludicrous, like a computer teacher not using the internet.

btw short stories get a lot more attention in the US than they do in the UK. Major magazines still carry them (eg New Yorker), there are so many prizes and outlets and anthologies produced, not so here...

Gabrielle wrote: "Personally, I think William Trevor's best stories are found in AFTER RAIN and THE HILL BACHELORS. CHEATING AT CANASTA is a pretty good volume, too.

I love James Joyce and Kafka.

I haven't read J..."

The Hill Bachelors is a great volume of stories (Trevor is always good, but this is one of this best). I've written a short article on it for beginning writers which may be of interest:
http://www.alanbeard.net/mynonfiction.ht...

D H Lawrence's best work, I think, can be found in his short stories. And yes I agree Mansfield should be better known. Recent collections I've read and liked are David Constantine's Under the Dam
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/124...
and Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them (especially the shorter pieces).
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/539...

Meg wrote: "Alan wrote: "I read a lot of short stories (mainly because I'm a short story writer) and review many collections.I also recommend - as Tim above the Short Review as a place to find new and old coll..."

Yes it is heavy! I think it's good that so many new stories were opened up to me, which you wouldn't get if you made your own books. It would be nice for your own shelves and for gifts but I think you can't beat buying anthologies for intros to new (to you) writers.
You may have read many of the Penguin one. If you like I can send you the contents which would help you decide.

Scott wrote: "Recently finished The Consolation of Nature by Valerie Martin, and Last Night by James Salter. Both of these have a few truly memorable stories (Martin: The Freeze, and Elegy for Dead Animals; Salt..."

I loved Last Night too, and the David Means one. Although I find with Means after two collections (I also read the Secret Goldfish) I didn't want to read any more from him for a long time.

HI Jacob, no don't know Powers. Looks interesting - I'll add him to my wish list. Thanks, Alan

Jacob wrote: "Has anyone here read The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake?"

Yes, he's great. My goodreads comment (5 stars of course) -
fantastic writing, grim subject matter, the trials of working class people in a small rural town. A precursor to Carver but also more expansive. Would have been a great writer had he not committed suicide.

Jacob wrote: "Alan wrote: "Yeh - The Pugilist at Rest. Great. For some reason I only gave it 4 stars on here, but I'll change that to 5's. I give a lot of 5s but then I seek out the best."

Check out "Cold Sna..."
Will do.

Jacob wrote: "I've been taking it in small doses (a few of the reviews said to do just that), and the stories are turning out pretty good so far. Reminds me a bit of Thom Jones. You ever read Jones?
"
Yeh - The Pugilist at Rest. Great. For some reason I only gave it 4 stars on here, but I'll change that to 5's. I give a lot of 5s but then I seek out the best.

I agree with Jacob that 'Knockemstiff' does need to be read in small doses, others can be read straight through I think. I usually read two or three stories a day though and go back and re-read like many here.
The two collections I'm reading at the moment are Lise Erdrich's Night Train and Yannick Murphy's In a Bear's Eye - both highly recommended. The Lottery is on my to-read list and I'll add 'Rust & Bone' to that. Thanks Jacob.

I read a lot of short stories (mainly because I'm a short story writer) and review many collections.I also recommend - as Tim above the Short Review as a place to find new and old collections reviewed. http://www.theshortreview.com/

My latest review below:

The Penguin Book of Internatinal Short stories 1945-85.In America it had the title 'The Art of the Tale' Here's what I said:

.. covers a lot of ground and all the usual suspects are there: Marquez, Borges, Singer, Pritchet, Achebe, Boll etc etc, but also some interesting selections I hadn't heard of - Leon Rooke was new to me, as was Leonard Michaels, Juan Rulfo, Luisa Valenzuela (my ignorance), and many stories were new (to me). A quirky selection too I think, going for the Less anthologised ones, and obviously dated (introdusing a new generation of writers such as Ian McEwan & Tobias Wolf!) but consistently interesting. Maybe has an American bias - 30 (of 85) of the stories are from the USA, but that's probably right given the pre-eminence of US story writers. Eudora Welty's story was one of her finest I think, and James Baldwin's burnt a hole in my brain.
If your wrists can take it - it's a very heavy paperback - this is 1000 plus pages of joy for fans of the short story.