On June 9th, two of my all-time favorite short story collections will finally be released in eBook format. Both are by the inimitable Jeffrey Ford.

 

Three more shorts down for Short Story Month:

"The Lawnmower Man," by Stephen King (from Night Shift) - This was a re-read for me. I first read it when I was in high school and thought it was great at the time. A friend of mine recently posted a review of this story in which he expressed a deep and long-lasting hatred for this piece. I didn't like it as much the second time around, but I did enjoy it. I like the absurd nature of the story and can't really see anything about it that would inspire my pal to spit such venom over the poor little thing.

"Yvette's Gift," by Richard McGowan (from Short Fiction, Volume 1, The Erotica) - This story somehow manages to be engaging despite the fact that there is zero conflict. It's just a pleasant recounting of two people getting to know each other on a road trip. It didn't end the way I thought it would, but at the same time, the ending I did get didn't seem wholly earned either.

"Leaving Maverley," by Alice Monro (from The O. Henry Prize Stories: 2013) - This was interesting in that you didn't quite know who the story was focused on until a good way in. It had an emotional impact that was expertly and stealthily seeded throughout the narrative, so that the ending kind of creeps up on you. Nicely done.

I was thinking that I'd have to wait for Short Story Month to come to a close before I started reading Clive Barker's first horror novel release in 14 years. Then I saw that, according to Amazon, The Scarlet Gospels is a short story.

Shit!

I'm glad I happened upon this information.

Four more shorts read for Short Story Month:

"Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes," by Michael Bishop - An annoying inside joke (with a shitty title) that was written as a birthday present for a Tor editor. This kind of cute stuff is cute only between friends. The literary equivalent of reading an 'oh, so clever and mysterious' Twitter conversation.

"Catch 'Em in the Act," by Terry Bisson - A well-executed, if not particularly inventive or surprising, Amazing Stories-type read.

"When Barrettes Brought Justice to a Burning Heart," by John Everson - A bloody revenge tale that, thankfully, didn't end the way I thought it would.

And, by far, the best of the bunch:

"A Good Man is Hard to Find," by Flannery O'Connor - An excellent chunk of writing, if you forgive the incredible coincidence that the story is built around.

Don't believe the product description for Jedediah Berry's "A Window or a Small Box." This short story isn't 'magic realism.' But it is a light, dream-like adventure that falls somewhere between surrealist or absurdist fiction.

Think of it as PG-13 bizarro.