A Brief Interruption

I am riding RAGBRAI this week and will be away from computers, so there will not be regular posts of short story reviews. Rest assured, I'll still be reading a story a day and writing the reviews by hand. I'll post them when I have the chance, possibly a few Tuesday night, or a week's worth next weekend.

Story Count as of May 31, 2009

The project – a new short story read and reviewed a day – is still going strong (unlike other ambitious plans). As of today, the Escape Pirate has read 160 new short stories. There have been a few – 6 – instances where the story was read, but the review was not posted until the following day (in each instance the Pirate fell asleep in the Chair of Unexpected Sleep and did not wake until after the midnight deadline had passed).

Still, I’m happy to have made it as far as I have. Five months down, seven to go. And worry not; I’m in no fear of running out of material – new stories. The shelves are still well stocked, and I’m as anxious as ever to continue reading the stories gathered in these collections.

Week of Double Stories

I decided to take the extra time (vacation) this week and use part of it to dig deeper into the shelf of short story collections I've amassed.

I toyed around with the idea of picking a theme, or genre, or single author, but instead decided to double up with a different author each day. Reading Calvino, Doctorow (both of his on the iPod Touch with the Stanza e-book reader application), Hill, Brown, Lansdale, Gaiman, and King, I found that most days I'd find one story I enjoyed more than the other. I don't know if this tendency toward comparison would occur as naturally if I hadn't read the two stories essentially back to back, but it does make me curious. Three days (Hill, Lansdale, and Gaiman) I found the stories equally enjoyable, but the rest of the week was rather uneven.

I would still like to try a theme week, or single author week, but not for a little while. Two stories a day, in addition to other reading and life, was a bit of a challenge.

Vacation Plans

Check out the vacation plans for the week.

There will be more story reviews (twice as many) this week as part of my vacation. Return here for twice the fun, daily, this entire week.

Monthly Summary - February

# of stories read: 29
# of stories read this year: 61

# of 5 star stories: 6
# of 1 (or fewer) star(s) stories: 1

Genres read: supernatural, humor, realistic, science fiction, crime, suspense, essay, children’s, fantasy, fable, memoir

Most read genre: realistic (16)

Story of the month: “Blue Yodel” by Scott Snyder

[This was a tough decision because there were quite a few very great stories this month. It’s the time period and the Ahab-like hunting for the blimp that locks “Blue Yodel” in as the monthly best.]

Why We Read

“The true reason remains the inscrutable one - we get pleasure from reading. It is a complex pleasure and a difficult pleasure; it varies from age to age and from book to book. But that pleasure is enough.” - Virginia Woolf

I found this quote in an article that I thought was very interesting. I had high hopes of using this quote as inspiration to write up some kind of explanation for why I read, but time passed and the inspiration faded. I didn't want to lose the quote, and maybe one day, inspiration will strike again.

Monthly Summary - January

# of stories read: 32
# of stories read this year: 32

# of 5 star stories: 6
# of 1 (or fewer) star(s) stories: 1

Genres read: supernatural, horror, humor, realistic, science fiction, crime, pulp, suspense, essay, children’s, fantasy, parable, memoir
Most read genre: realistic (9)

Story of the month: “A History of Everything, Including You” by Jenny Hollowell

Sundays with Uncle Stevie

The idea came to me today – and when I checked back a few posts to “Willa” and found that serendipitously it would work – I was pleasantly pleased.

Sundays, for the foreseeable future, will find me enjoying the company of a short story written by Stephen King (“Uncle Stevie”). I currently have two short story collections of his on my shelf, which should get me through half a year of Sundays. From there we’ll see where things lead me. I know he’s written more short stories; it would simply be a matter of tracking them down. Or I may take a break and spend my Sundays with some other author, or many.

For now, it’s Sundays with Uncle Stevie.

The Trouble with Horror

After reading my third story of this nature in less than a week, and struggling to classify it as simply Horror, I find myself changing my genre categories already.

It was “Willa” that brought me to rethink my Horror category, and “The Wedding Present” that forced me to edit my previous posts and correct such an error in classification. Stories such as these are more apt to be categorized as Supernatural than horror.

More on this troubling genre of horror to come…

A Little More Information

I thought I’d provide a little more information about my short story adventure.

I will read a short story – new to me – each day for the entire year. I will not cheat by reading or writing reviews prior to the day they will be posted. In my collection of unread stories I have tales of varying lengths, from sudden fiction (stories of only a page or two in length) to almost-novellas (50+pages). This allows me to select stories of shorter lengths on days when I may be pressed for time.

The one exception I may make to my rule will involve the week of RAGBRAI. Depending on the route, camping accommodations, and/or my cell phone signal and battery life, the timely posting of posts (not the actual act of reading a story and writing a review a day) may be affected.

The format I’ve decided upon begins with a short - non-spoilery – summary of the story. I then add whatever thoughts and feelings and praise and faults I find once finished.

I am starting with the following ratings system:
* * * * * (Excellent)
* * * * (Great)
* * * (Good)
* * (Okay)
* (Eh)
No Stars (Bleh)

I am also categorizing the stories - as best I can - by their genre.

If you have comments or advice or suggestions of stories, please let me know. Drop a comment.

The Format for Now & "The Bees"

Here is a sample of how you can expect to see the stories reviewed/discussed for the time being. As things do do, I’m sure even this will change over the course of 365 stories.

When I first thought of this endeavor, I knew the story I would begin with. As I’ve already enjoyed this story (7 years ago), it doesn’t count for anything more than an example. I just hope to experience stories as impressive in this adventure I’m beginning.
---

“The Bees”
by Dan Chaon
McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales (2002)

* * * * * (Excellent) Supernatural

It’s the scream that stays with him. The kind of scream you never want to hear from your child. Gene’s son wakes him up some nights with a scream that has brought back memories of his past life. A life of drinking and actions he is not proud to remember. Gene is haunted by his first son. A boy who suffered. A boy in search of revenge?

As Gene’s life slowly begins to unravel over the course of 18 pages I became increasingly unnerved. The suspense builds, the terror silently sneaks up on you. I think it’s the words that work their magic here. From the feeling they convey of bees trapped inside a child’s head - tapping and buzzing - just trying to escape, to the bird-like affectations and over-the-shoulder glances in search of his stealthily odd first son, to the restless rubbing of feet together under the covers of a man unable to find comfort, the words craft images and scenes that build a truly suspenseful and horrific tale.

I’m trying to think of a scarier short story and I can’t.

Inspiration

I came up with the idea a few weeks ago to read a short story a day - every day – during the year 2009. I knew I enjoyed the format. I was pretty sure I had more than enough short story collections not-yet-read sitting on my shelf. It was simply a matter of “is this possible?”

I didn’t want to start something so ambitious and then quit after a week, or month.

I wasn’t entirely sure I could do this – wanted to do this – until I read the comic, Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. In the comic the main character, Snow White, has to entertain through stories to keep her head, the same as in the original Arabian Nights tale.

And I thought…

I thought, yes. This is possible. I can – and will – read a (short) story a night for the next 365 days. I’ll keep my head – I’ll save myself – through stories.