#short-stories

#short-stories

When a new book is published by a writer dead for a decade, there is always some suspicion that the bottom of the barrel is being scraped. When the writer is Harper Lee, there is also the unpleasant aftertaste of the release of her second novel, 2015's Go Set a Watchman, which was promoted as a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, when in fact it was a formless early draft.

Helm by Sarah Hall Faber, out now Hall is best known for her glittering short stories: this is the novel she's been working on for two decades. Set in Cumbria's Eden valley, it tells the story of the Helm the only wind in the UK to be given a name from its creation at the dawn of time up to the current degradation of the climate. It's a huge, millennia-spanning achievement, spotlighting characters from neolithic shamans to Victorian meteorologists to present-day pilots.

Pamela Gullard's latest collection, Lake Crescent and Other Spirits, features 11 short stories set in the Bay Area and her hometown of Seattle.

Pynchon does not spare himself but, unfortunately, he is right. For aficionados only.

K.B. Dixon's most recent collection of stories, Artifacts: Irregular Stories (Small, Medium, and Large), was published in Summer 2022, showcasing his storytelling skills.

Erskine's stories display a capaciousness, a willingness to wander beyond the single epiphanic moment that is the traditional preserve of the short story.

Ted Chiang's lucid, understated prose paradoxically provides incredible space for his imagination, as he explores the cosmic potential of science fiction.

With the move away from Twitter and zines closing down, prizes are more necessary than ever for new writers of colour to make their voices heard.