Reading: A Binge of Short Fiction
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that my writing output and my reading input have increased at the same time. Finishing Hater helped a lot I think. I mean, it’s the first horror novel I’ve finished reading since Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box in August last year.
The office today is virtually empty as there’s something going on in Dandenong that I managed to get out of. I’m kind of kicking myself because I wanted to write last night but didn’t get the chance, but today is the perfect opportunity and I haven’t done anything yet. Still an hour and forty-five minutes until home time though.
Anyway, the point of the post was to highlight that as well as reading Hater, I’ve surprised myself by getting into plenty of horror short fiction, mostly written by my peers, those fellow horror writers that blog in much the same way I do – minus the hatred of capitalism mostly.
It would be slightly bad of me if I didn’t read much of Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association after I’ve submitted to it and I’ve been getting into that. Felicity Dowker’s story, ‘They Live Under the House’ was great and very original. I’m just getting into Stephen Dedman’s story now and will provide a full review of the first issue of Midnight Echo at a later date.
Also 52 Stitches is an online fiction publication in blog format featuring some awesome horror flash fiction. Firstly, the design of the blog is awesome and stands out. It looks very professional. And secondly but most importantly, I’ve been wowed by the writing after reading L.R. Bonehill’s chilling tale, ‘Mother’s Love,’ and just this week, Jameson T. Caine’s ‘Nuts.’
But L.R. Bonehill recommended me the best of the lot, published in February, Donna Taylor Burgess’s piece, ‘Vorhang’ is so fucking chilling and creepy it amazes me it’s online for free.
In the past week, my short fiction binge has currently also included:
- ‘Wine For Two’ by Jamie Eyberg in issue three of Ruthless Peoples Magazine
- The May edition of the Flash Fiction Carnival Facebook: Facebook Edition, including my story ‘Blank Eyes.’
- Brenton Tomlinson’s story ‘Winged Shepherd of Innocence’ in Fear and Trembling.
- Aaron Polson’s ‘To Make Things Right’ at Every Day Fiction.
I list this lengthy list to not only show off that I’ve been doing some reading and claim credit from the friends in that list, but also to highlight these works to the few of you who read this blog.
I will be the first to raise my hand and admit to not having supported my peers enough until recently. Discovering that much of it can be found online helped me to get myself into gear and do some reading, because it’s easy to do at work or whenever I’m sitting at my computer at home.
And from that I’d recommend reading Aaron Polson’s post about fiction in print or online. It certainly has me thinking I might have to weigh in myself in a future post.
Image by Daniel H. Agostini aka dhammza
Yep, reading is the best way to influence creativity, isn’t it? And there’s plenty of good short fiction out there in free e-zines. And you’re right again, it can be very easy to forget to read what our fellow writers are doing. But it’s always worth it when we do.
Isaac Espriu’s last blog post..What’s with male writers and beards?
I’m going to have to keep an eye out for more short fiction by others.
I tend to review every novel I read and through Goodreads.com keep track of everything I read or intend to read. I’d like to do a similar thing with the short fiction I read but not sure how…
Yeah, short fiction’s a bit more difficult to keep track of. I am subscribed to a couple of my favorite magazines and regularly check others for new material (those ones are ones like Strange Horizons which update weekly). But i’ll never be able to read everything out there.
Isaac Espriu’s last blog post..What’s with male writers and beards?
Yeah, I guess there’s a few magazines like Midnight Echo (must read!) that I’ll regularly read but I’m more thinking in terms of keeping track of what I have already read.
Is it even worth keeping a list?
No, I don’t think so. Some short stories will stick in our minds and others won’t, regardless of a list to keep track. Same deal with novels, at least in my experience. And when it comes to reading the same thing again, we can usually tell within a few sentences if we’ve read something before and if we read the whole thing again then it’s not quite the same as reading a whole novel right through again.
Though maybe keep a list of stories you especially liked?
Isaac Espriu’s last blog post..What’s with male writers and beards?
Hey B!
You have just given me a whole new list of books to read now I think. I’ve been wanting to read Heart-Shaped Box but I’ve gotten mixed reviews… did you like it?
happy writing
hinny
Thanks for listing my short story on your post. I feel humbled being grouped with the other stories on your list. Having said that, I don’t read nearly enough. I just barely get through a book a month.
Jamie’s last blog post..Author Interview, Ransom Noble
Thanks for linking to my story and glad you read Vorhang at 52 Stitches. It really is a fantastic tale.
I’ve just finished reading Hater too (and, strangely, I’m now reading Heart Shaped Box) and was disappointed to be honest. There are a couple of sequels already planned, but I don’t think I’ll be checking them out. A clear case of don’t believe the hype.
Boney’s last blog post..Acts of Blatant Plagiarism
Interesting post. I never thought about it before, but you’re right. My writing output tends to increase with my reading input as well. And now you’ve given me more reading to do. Thanks Benjamin!
Carol’s last blog post..Depression and the Writer
All of us at RPM are grateful for your mention.
Jamie’s “Wine for Two” is an unquestionably beautiful story. I cannot help but commend it. (It is in RPM after all!)
You have also mentioned Aaron, whose work “Man Bites Man” appears in Ruthless Peoples Magazine, issue 1. The link to that story can be found here:
http://ruthlesspeoples.com/node/5?ID=1
and I very much look forward to working with both these and all other RPM writers in future.