Why Anthologies Are Like Buses
A quick shout-out for two fun anthology projects in which some of my stories are featured – and National Flash Fiction Day (today!)
Story anthologies, like rag rugs, are much greater than the sum of the parts. (I made this rag rug too!)I’m a big fan of short story anthologies, which serve as a sampler of the work of different writers, usually offering one story from each of a number of authors.
NB An anthology is a different animal to a collection, which features the work of a single author, e.g. my short story collections Marry in Haste, Quick Change and Stocking Fillers.
Think of an anthology more as a tasting menu – a small sample of lots of different authors, so you can try all kinds before deciding which you like best. Yum.
I was pleased to have had stories featured in two anthologies in 2014:
the 2014 National Flash Fiction Day anthology Eating My Words , the brainchild of NFFD founder and director Calum Kerr
Change the Ending , an interesting project celebrating public services through flash fiction stories by a mixture of seasoned writers and public servants with now authorial experience, curated by the inspirational Dawn Reeves
One of my stories was also included in the Hawkesbury Upton Literature Festival 2015 anthology, H is for Hawkesbury, which featured samples of work from all of the festival’s featured authors and poets. The 2016 edition is now in production.
Companion piece for 2016 festival to follow shortly…This month I’ve added two new anthologies to my portfolio (like buses, you wait for ages then two come along at once):
The Box of Stars Beneath the Bed , the 2016 National Flash Fiction Day anthology for which I was honoured to be asked by Calum Kerr to write a story (the result is On the Invisibility of the Deaf on page 111)
Out of the Shadows , a set of stories by indie author friends, under the strapline “Strong Writing by Strong Women”, curated by Mohanalaskshmi Rajamukar, which reproduces my flash fiction story Out of the Mouths of Babes, as featured in Quick Change
For the reader, anthologies present an easy way to test-drive short samples of work by a wide range of authors, without having to buy all of their books. Of course, anthology authors hope you will go on to buy at least some of their books – and for this reason, appearing in anthologies is a handy marketing strategy for any author.
There couldn’t be a better time to sample the work of new authors in this way, because today just happens to be the fifth National Flash Fiction Day. (More information about that on the event website here.) They’d make fun holiday reads too.
On the subject of flash fiction (which, by the way, is just another term for very short stories), if you sign up to my book launch emailing list (only used when I’ve got a new book to shout about), you’ll be able to download a free ebook of my own flash fiction collection, Quick Change.
In the meantime, happy Flash Fiction Day, and happy reading, whatever you choose to read!
All of the books above available as ebooks at very low prices, and all but Out of the Shadows are also out in paperback too, from all good retailers, online and on the high street.
I love patchwork too, for similar reasons – a bit of the quilt from my bed here, also made by me. #busybee
Filed under: flash fiction, writing Tagged: anthologies, Flash Fiction, short stories, short story collections
