Episode 127: Short Stories & Are too many books published?

[David]

Short stories seem to divide people. Some won't read them, and others love them (I suppose that's like everything about reading!)

I enjoy them, but I don't think that a collection of short stories is as easy to read as a novel of similar length. Each new story takes a little time to get into, to suss out who the characters are, where they are, and what's going on.

With a novel you only have to do that once, so less effort is needed. But effort is good! Life shouldn't always be easy! I think a good book of short stories can exercise the reading muscles very well, and reviewing them is a challenge too.

I also agree with Simon that Diving Belles is excellent (and I'm glad that Lucy Wood was able to follow up with a full length story that kept a similar magical atmosphere).

[Annie]

My big issue with the question of "Are there too many books being published?" is the same one Thomas had. Who gets cut if publishers scale back? Publishers will stick with the safe choices, bestseller-type stuff. We'll loose the weird, the diverse, the experimental, the voices from the margins, etc. If the numbers collected by VIDA and others are any indication, we're a long way from where we should be in terms of representation in publishing.

I think the only solution is to seek out reviewers and book news sources who can help you find the signal in all the noise. Oh, and make friends with librarians! Speaking for my profession, we're inundated with book news and reviews all the time and we're always happy to talk books. Most of us have long memories and can suggest stuff from the backlist. And we're happy to do it. ::gets off soapbox::

[Annie]

But prizes only raise the profile of maybe a dozen books a year? For me, that's about three weeks worth of reading.

[David]

I think I side with Thomas. I don't see how there can be too many books, really. Once they are past the number one can personally read - and that must have happened hundreds of years ago - I don't see any natural cutoff past which you can say "too much".

Yes, I may not be able to read most of them, but I'm only one of millions of readers each of whom will read a different selection. So it's all good, really.

One cheeky thought. Simon, you were lamenting the rise of self-publishing. I'm not actually a great fan of self-pub, but it did occur to me that you were doing this on a podcast and what's that if not self-publishing? OK, I know Gav does all the hard work really but I mean it's not like The Readers is broadcast by the BBC or someone.

Indeed, given the paucity of decent book programmes on radio, perhaps the excellent range of podcasts about books and reading (and SFF) is a perfect argument for a more open-access approach.

So that's made me think...

[Thomas]

David:

A. I agree about the effort that short stories require to get up to speed and then they are over and you need to get up to speed on another one.

B. I laughed out loud at your comment about our self-published podcast (and blogs).

[David]

Thomas

Thank you!

I really enjoy the podcast, I think you and Simon complement each other well...

David

[Karen]

When I saw David's comment re the podcast at first I thought 'got you there guys'. But then I started to think that there's a difference between podcasting and self publishing. In the former there is no money changing hands - Thomas and Simon are not paying anyone to produce their program. It's all their own effort whereas self publishing involves a fee paid to someone who does all the printing or formatting etc. Or have I completely misunderstood the self publishing model?

[Thomas]

Well there are some modest hosting fees that Simon pays for and Gavin donates his time to edit the show so there is a bit of expense. But I think David's point is valid in that getting someone to publish your book means that the work has gone through some sort of review and deemed worthy of sharing (and trying to profit from) whereas self publishing or blogging or podcasting don't have that same sort of sanction before being unleashed on the world.

[Thomas]

Incidentally there is a great book by John A Williams written in the 1960s called The Angry One but republished in 1970s as One For New York. It's about a young black man from the south who moves to Manhattan and ends up working for a vanity publisher that was essentially a con game. The story is an interesting look at race but I also found the details about the vanity press really fascinating.

http://www.amazon.com/One-New-York-Jo...

[Richard]

For a long time I wasn't very interested in short stories, but then I discovered Chekhov. From Chekhov, I moved onto some other great short story writers, such as Katherine Mansfield, William Trevor, Raymond Carver and Alice Munro.

Simon, since you asked for some suggestions, I'd recommend the following short story collections:

Love and Longing in Bombay by Vikram Chandra
The Boat by Nam Le
Any collection by David Malouf
Runaway by Alice Munro
The Empty Family by Colm Toibin

[Annie]

Simon wrote: "The prize I am currently judging, Fiction Uncovered awards 8 authors and promotes them. So if you look at it over a year it's a lot of books being promoted by prizes alone. And they do shift copies. "

(Also friendly and not grumpy) But when you compare it to the number of books being published and being marketed via other means, the number promoted by prizes is small. I purchase books for my library's literature and browsing (popular reading) collections. I have only so much I can spend on novels, poetry, short stories, etc. I try to buy titles that make it to the short lists, but I usually only have money for the winners of only some book prizes. The books I read personally and buy for my library are mostly recommended by 1) faculty requests, 2) multiple book reviews, 3) my own research to fill in gaps in the collection, and 4) word of mouth. In a sense, prizes are just a way for books to jump my queue.

[David]

I agree with Thomas - I think the key feature of self publishing is the lack an editorial process. I think you can pay to be self-published (& to get your book formatted etc) bit you can also do it for nothing e.g. on Am***n.

I imagine you could also spend money on production of a podcast if you wanted - you could even rent a studio and production staff I suppose.

I'm not sure that, even if there were more book programmes on the BBC etc, there would be no need for The Readers. Unless the whole of Radio4 was devoted to books you probably still couldn't reflect the diversity that comes from booky podcasts.

Having said all that, I still feel like I'm playing Devil's advocate though. I'm not really sold on self-publishing: there seems to be a lot of dross. on the other hand the standard of podcasts seems to be much higher. perhaps the technical side of podcasting - and the fact that in a way it's a performance - means there is a hurdle to be cleared, so those that get produced - or at least those that last - must have a degree of professionalism - unlike self-pub'd books?

[Eric]

For short story collections, I know Simon said he's only interested in reading books of short stories where all the stories are by the same author but I really like to try reading the Best American Short Stories every year. Yes, of course this limits the authors to American, but it gives a good diversity of writing from lit journals that probably only get a small readership. Most of the stories in these anthologies are of extremely high quality and have the same impact as a novel for the depth of their meaning. It also introduces me to many authors I haven't come across before. In last year's anthology I was thrilled to discover Stephen O’Connor, Lauren Groff and Karen Russell who are all brilliant and whose novels & books of stories I really want to read now.

[Eric]

Also, I LOVE Thomas' new chipper byebye at the end of the episode. Please end every episode so bright & bushy-tailed!

[Elizabeth☮]

I picked up a copy of short stories by Rose Tremain because Simon said he loves her writing. I am eager to get to it next.

[[deleted user]]

The 'byebye' made the podcast.

[Louise]

Eric wrote: "For short story collections, I know Simon said he's only interested in reading books of short stories where all the stories are by the same author but I really like to try reading the Best American..."

I agree with you Eric - I've also come across Australian and British equivalents, and I'm growing more and more fond of the Akashic Noir series
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/2... a great way to encounter new authors :-)

[Janet]

I don't read tons of short stories but there are two that I can wholeheartedly recommend
Stone Mattress: Nine Tales
and
Vampires in the Lemon Grove

There are a few stories in Redeployment that I thought were really well done (the one about the baseball uniforms is hilarious) but it's an uneven collection.

[David]

I recently read "The Way Out" by Vicki Jarrett. A short book, but they are amazing stories.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[David]

Didn't realise that. Well, great minds think alike obviously...