21st Century Literature discussion

Did you discover any new-to-you short story writers in 2023 that you would recommend others read?

I tend to prefer novels, but it seems like there's a tidal wave of great short story writers who write in my preferred genre of "what the hell genre is this?"

We Are Here to Hurt Each Other by Paula D. Ashe.
The Black Maybe: Liminal Tales by Attila Veres
Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird by Agustina Bazterrica
Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung

Bending the rules a little, there were two anthologies that had writers both familiar and new to me, but which had a great range of diverse voices.

Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology and
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror

I started dipping into Clarice Lispector's short fiction, which I had not read before. I'm finding it an accessible way into her writing, perhaps a more approachable entry than her novels which tend to draw more attention.

Like Whitney, I am not a big short story fan, but also enjoyed Never Whistle at Night and Out There Screaming. So I should check out the others you listed. Cursed Bunny is on my TR list for this year.

I did read The Dew Breaker and Light Skin Gone to Waste, both of which were interconnected, novel-ish short story collections. I also read Old Babes in the Wood: Stories, Margaret Atwood's latest collection.

I find it hard to rate/evaluate short story collections, because usually there are some stories I like and some I don't.

I found Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein on the new books shelf at my library, assuming it was published this year, but it's actually from 2016. I loved it - all the stories deal with life in a future permeated by virtual reality. His writing has a George Saunders vibe, but isn't a copy by any means. His protagonists are male, and there is a maleness to the writing, but the characters and circumstances all felt totally relatable to me. I read many of the stories back to back, and found a sameness in tone, but I liked it. The stories are probably best consumed over time though. I see he also published a collection in 2020 that sounds similar in theme. I will definitely read it.

What great suggestions . I recently joined The Short Story Book Club on Goodreads and am enjoying Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, one story a week . Its really well curated by Alberto Manguel and I particularly liked The Mysteries of the Joy Rio and House Taken Over. I loved the collections by Mavis Gallant , Denis Johnson Claire Keegan and Bernard MacLaverty.

For stand alones The Swimmer , A Conversation with my father , Sonny's Blues , Good Country People were all new to me and I continue to explore Ray Bradbury, Raymond Carver and Good Citizens Need Not Fear: Stories.

Like Whitney, I really enjoyed Paula Ashe's collection, and started following her.

Unlike Whitney, I tend to like short stories more than novels. Another discovery this year:

Allison Wyss, Splendid Anatomies

Then two authors who have been active for decades, but have not been on my radar:

Susan Taubes, Lament for Julia (her novel Divorcing was a disappointment though)
Grace Paley, The Little Disturbances of Man

I think it was Paley who said something like "In my opinion, all novels can be shorter." Heh.

(These are all the short story authors I discovered in 2023. I just realized they're all women, hmmm.)

I read Kevin Wilson's Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories and really enjoyed his stories. I'd only read his novels and his short stories are just as interesting and quirky.

I also read and really enjoyed George Saunders's Tenth of December. I'm probably the only person who hadn't read his stories before though, ha.

Hester wrote: "What great suggestions . I recently joined The Short Story Book Club on Goodreads and am enjoying Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, one story a week . Its really we..."

I also read Black Water this year and really enjoyed the spread of authors I was revisiting, had been meaning to get to, and figured I'd get to eventually. As for favorites, I liked Francis King's "Scent of Mimosa," but the other two standouts were both rereads (Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" and Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"). I will say that the Dickens inclusion was surprisingly effective, while the Kafka one was Kafka and thus irreproachably inimitable.

I enjoyed Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine a lot.

Aubrey wrote: "Hester wrote: "What great suggestions . I recently joined The Short Story Book Club on Goodreads and am enjoying Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature, one story a week ..."

Ooh . Something to look forward to . Have to be honest and say I wouldn't have picked up the collection on my own ( tend to avoid ghostly stories and its a thick 949 pages ) but I'm very glad I did . As a complete novice to the genre I'm learning such a lot and enjoying the journey . I'm fascinated by the way in which the mystery of the human psyche is explored through the existence of other worldly creatures at periods when new technology was forging ahead and disrupting established norms of experience.

Whitney wrote: "I tend to prefer novels, but it seems like there's a tidal wave of great short story writers who write in my preferred genre of "what the hell genre is this?"..."

Whitney! I thought for sure you would mention


Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.

Definitely the best single-author collection I've read this year.

I've tried to read short stories more consistently, especially from authors I'm not familiar with. Some of the authors I've tried and enjoyed this year (thank you especially to the Short Story Book Club here on GoodReads) include:

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nikolai Gogol
Herman Melville
Gustave Flaubert
Henry James
Guy de Maupassant
Kate Chopin
Julio Cortázar
Robert Smythe Hichens
Tennessee Williams
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Rudyard Kipling
Manuel Mujica Lainez
Max Beerbohm
L.P. Hartley
Saki

...and a few Science-Fiction authors as well, in addition to Tiptree:

A.E. van Vogt
the husband and wife team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore
Cordwainer Smith
C.M. Kornbluth
James Blish
Jerome Bixby
Poul Anderson

RJ - Slayer of Trolls wrote: "Whitney! I thought for sure you would mention Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.

Definitely the best single-author collection I've read this year..."

It was one of my favorite reads as well (especially combined with the great discussion). But Tiptree wasn't new to me this year, so it didn't fit the prompt.