I haven’t tried any of the stories yet but am looking forward to digging in. I have had a blast through the preface though and the sentiment in it struck a chord. It opens with the statement I used as the title of this post:

‘The short story is a threatened species’

The short preface goes on to wring its hands over the vanishing of literary magazines and the barren publishing landscape remaining in which that most misguided of literary creatures, the short fiction writer, will surely perish. This was written and published in 1979. Since then there have been plenty of advocates for the idea that the short story is going the same way as the dodo or C90 cassettes. Yet the short story is thriving. How you ask? Well, like any creature under threat, it has adapted to its new surroundings and found new ways to survive in the changing literary landscape.

The short story is alive and well on the internet, in fact the internet is possibly the best thing to happen to the short story form. The nooks and crannies of the world wide web are crammed with a multitude of online journals and digital magazines. Some are shit. Many are brilliant. All are helping put short fiction back into the reading diet of the masses.

The short story is alive and well on mobile apps. iPhone and Android users have a positively bewildering choice of applications that provide access to quality short fiction. If I had to recommend one it would be the Ether app, not simply because they publish a handful of my stories though there is that, but because I was an Ether reader before I became an Ether author and on the app I have enjoyed loads of great stories from loads of great authors. And I get to carry them about in my pocket to read wherever I might be. It’s free to download on iTunes and an Android version is due later this year.

The short story is alive and well in the output of brilliant small presses like Roast Books and Salt Publishing. Every collection I have purchased with their names on, and there have been quite a few now, have positively bristled with energy and emotion. They also offer quality ebook versions of their titles. I’ve actually bought digital copies alongside the print editions, so that I can carry them with me when on the move. They are that good.

The short story is alive and well in the output of clever self pubs like Connor O’Brien whose Quiet City is that rarest of beasts, a brilliantly written and wonderfully designed self published ebook of short fiction. You can download it for the altogether far too generous sum of a tweet or a status update mentioning the collection. If you like it, you can also buy a hard copy. It’s the kind of clever use of social media that is raising the profile of both the author and the medium of the short story.

So I say, the short story is far from  a threatened species. The short story, diminutive and lithe and agile, is a still evolving species that will continue to change to fit the times it finds itself in.

This week I have been mostly reading:

how deadlines can give life to writing.

how hating your writing is a good sign

why writers abandon novels

Susannah Rickards arguing that the old writing advice ‘ get rid of all adverbs and adjectives’ might not be such a good thing

5 mistakes Adam Marek made while trying to get published and 7 motivational tools Adam Marek reckons every writer needs

and finally, what Nik Perring thinks about the importance of editing.

Hope you find these as helpful as I have.

There’s an interesting discussion going on in the comments to this post on Nik Perring’s blog re: reactions from folk when you tell them you write.

A week or so ago McSweeny’s tested a whole host of e-readers and, after a rigorous battery of tests, declared their winner ‘the best e-reader on the market.‘

Corpus Libris is a rather awesome blog showing just how much fun books/bookshops/libraries can be:

And finally, a reminder that my tumblr blog The Short & Long of It is being updated almost every day with short fiction related stuff I like from around the web. Lots of great stuff already up there for you to click through to.

Posts will be short and very, very sweet. I’ll chuck the odd video up there too. It’s really just a way of me recording the stuff I have enjoyed on the web, while also sharing it with all of you. If you like it and check in to see what I am recommending, great stuff. If not, then theshortandlongofit will be my private den of short short fiction and long short fiction contemplation. That said, I hope you’ll find a link or two to your liking.

Right now, there are links to Housefire, a lovely little interview with Lydia Davis, and an embedded Youtube video of Kenneth Branagh reading the best short story by the best ever short story writer: Misery by Anton Chekhov. Click your way over there and enjoy.

JONNY (aka Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub & Euros Childs of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) will release their self titled debut album on January 31st 2011. Their Free EP, which includes Continental is free to download here.

This made me feel good about myself:

Fellow Ether Books author Rebecca Emin has posted her recommended reading list of stories available on the app which, as well as featuring a fair few stories that I have enjoyed on the app myself, includes my story ‘Half-mown Lawn.’ So great to get that sort of feedback.

This made me feel old:

Please….Think of the words….

Seriously though, if you are an artist/illustrator/whatever and fancy providing pictures for those words, contact Dirty Bristow.

And one last bit of fun, How to confuse an idiot.

How to confuse an idiot found via my mate Rol.

Read the brilliantly observed and painfully funny ‘A Fork Brought Along’ here.

Read ‘The Massive Rat’ here.

Also, be sure to check out Nik Perring’s short story recommendations for National Short Story Week. These posts were his idea after all.

Roy Lichtenstein’s Nudes In A Mirror: We Are Not Fake! is a clever, touching fictionalisation of the attack by a German woman on the painting while on display at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in Vienna.

Click over to Everyday Fiction to read the story.

Here’s the opening:

Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water. Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard. Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too.

He kept on putting his things into the suitcase………

Read the rest here: Little Things by Raymond Carver

Today Will Be A Quiet Day, like all of Hempel’s work, is deceptively simple, layer upon layer of imagery and dialogue building to a subtle crescendo in the closing lines. It rates as one of my favourite stories of hers as it powerfully and acutely nails that feeling of pride and astonishment you get watching your children being themselves.

It also wins a prize for the best description of a glare in fiction:

Go read the story already.

For my first recommendation I turn to the Daddy of short fiction, Chekhov. ‘A Joke’ is a beautiful little story all about the follies and foibles of young love and you can read a translation of the 1899 revision of the story (the better version – imho) here.

If that tickles your fancy you should grab yourself a copy of The Exclamation Mark collection published by Hesperus and translated by Rosamund Bartlett. As well as being a wonderful collection of Chekhov’s early stories, spanning a six month period of intense development of his skills as a writer, this collection also contains both versions of ‘A Joke,’ here published as ‘A Little Joke,’ along with quality translations of some of Chekhov’s best early work. I reviewed the collection earlier this year as part of my Short Story Challenge.

Playing the Erland and the Carnival album quite a lot at the moment. Trouble in Mind is easily the best track on an album crammed with top tunes and the video is a corker.

The Library of Lost Books sounds like something that should have been happening well before now. Top marks to Scott Pack and The Friday Project for getting this imprint off the ground. I’ll be buying the Eric Morecambe novel, for sure.

Robert McCrum’s thoughts on the modern propensity for loooooooong novels struck a chord with me. I’ve just finished reading Jonathon Franzen’s ‘Freedom’ and though I enjoyed it, like McCrum, I reckon it could easily have dropped a hundred pages, maybe more, and been a better book for that. Thinking of the best novels I have read this year, they are nearly all slimmer volumes. Chip Kidd’s ‘The Cheese Monkeys’ is a thoroughly reasonable 274 pages and left me both satisfied yet wanting to read more – a good thing considering there is a sequel novel, ‘The Learners.’ Andrew Kaufman’s ‘All My Friends Are Superheros’ is so short as to be practically a novella, but is perfectly formed and as brilliant as its title suggests.

David Mitchell’s ‘The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet’ stands as a contrasting example to the titles lambasted by McCrum in his article. Mitchell is nothing if not that rarest of beasts,  a pragmatic literary author, and in interviews has clearly explained his having trimmed this book and his celebrated 2004 novel Cloud Atlas to around the 500 page mark in order to make their translation into other languages more palatable to publishers having to pay translators by the page. Both books have benefitted from this approach. There isn’t an ounce of fat on ‘The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet’ and I would gladly read every single word of its 469 pages again.

As the wonderful Robert Louis Stevenson said, and McCrum quoted in his article,”If there is anywhere a thing said in two sentences that could have been as clearly and engagingly said in one, then it’s amateur work.”

Phillip Pullman’s plea in the Guardian back in September, for writers to stop using present tense as the default for fiction writing got me thinking about my own work. I’ve been guilty of writing a lot in the present tense myself over the last few months and reading this, amongst other things got me thinking that present tense perhaps isn’t the way to go with most work. The opening chapter of my novel written for my final OU assessment is one piece that, in retrospect, I should not have used first person for.

Reading Pullman’s piece has given me the urge to go back and tackle this work again using past tense. That decision also opened my head up to the idea of switching narrative viewpoints. So the structure of this novel in waiting is now up for grabs. Once I get done with NaNo, this project will certainly be getting more of my attention. I think my erroneous choice of tense was perhaps the reason why, without previously really knowing why, I have been avoiding continuing the piece.

In other news, I am in the process of sorting an interview with the talented Claudia Osmond, author of the young adult novel, ‘Smudge’s Mark.’ Those of you who followed my posts early this year detailing my Chinese Whisperings writing experience will recall that Claudia was my writing partner/counterpart producing her story for the Yin book at the same time as I was drafting mine for the Yang. It was my great pleasure to have Claudia feature my characters, Calvinsweetheart and his domineering mother, in her story ‘ The Other Side Of Limbo.’ The interview with Claudia will appear here in the near future.

Finally, two bits of story news. First, just a reminder that my womb exploring flash fiction trilogy, Ultrasounds, was published over at Metazen this week. Second, my short story ‘Third Party, Fire & Theft has been accepted for publication in a forthcoming edition of the print and online journal, Neon. If you aren’t familiar with Neon I suggest you head over to their site and have a rummage in the archives.

In Search of Adam – Caroline Smailes – a powerful, heartbreaking story of abuse and abandonment. This brave, challenging novel is an important book that addresses themes that most writers would shy away from. That this is a debut novel makes it all the more remarkable. I will be reading Caroline Smailes’ other novels in due course, make no mistake.

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet – David Mitchell – a fantastic book that manages to be an historical drama, a heist movie, an account of a naval engagement, a love story and a thriller all at the same time. Mitchell once again proves he can spin genre plates like no other living British author.

The Cheese Monkeys – Chip Kidd – a brilliant novel by the graphic designer most famous for his book covers. The character of tutor Winter Sorbeck is a real find. The structure of the novel follows that of the academic year and the best bits of the book detail the graphic design course Sorbeck teaches. Like the students, you will squirm as the volatile, scathing Sorbeck lets rip at his woefully unprepared students. Looking forward to reading the sequel, The Learners, as soon as I can find a copy at a reasonable price.

The Exclamation Mark – Anton Chekhov- Anyone following my short story challenge posts will know I’ve already discussed this collection at length. I’ll simply reiterate that this collection of Anton Chekhov’s early work will astound you with its breadth and scope. You will marvel at how much a master can develop his craft in a little over six months.

The Floating Order – Erin Pringle – I am part way through this short fiction collection and am being repeatedly blow away by the author’s control of narrative voice. Contains some of the most convincing first person narrators I have come across. I reviewed the title story as part of my short story challenge and will be reviewing the rest of the collection once I have completed it. On second reading, the title story is even more convincing and gripping. An impressive collection from what I have read so far.

…….writing my first draft for the Chinese Whisperings Yang book (due to be published later this year); but more on that whole process in a future post.

…….reading a lot of intresting stuff about Andy Devine’s Words. Looking at the site and the ‘story’ “As Day Same That the the Was Year” confused me at first. It seemed all a bit arty and irritating if I’m honest. Having thought about it a bit more and read through the elimae interview I am warming to the concept. This video is as intriguing as the work itself and swayed me more than anything else I have seen.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10594096server=vimeo.comshow_title=1show_byline=1show_portrait=0color=fullscreen=1

Andy Devine’s WORDS from Little Burn Films on Vimeo.

……getting excited about seeing how Steven Moffat’s vision of Doctor Who will ultimately shape up. Yes, I know Matthew Smith and Karen Gillen seem hand-picked to appeal to the Twilight fans out there (understandably, considering their number) and yes, before they were cast, I was hoping that we might see a return to an older Doctor. Still, I am prepared to give the young’uns the benefit of the doubt as Moffat has consistently proven himself capable of crafting high quality Who scripts. I’ll be watching to see what happens with him masterminding the show, hoping the new faces will have something more than just freshness going for them.

….. feeling sad about the news of Mark Linkous’ tragic suicide.I managed to miss this on the internet over the last month and was stunned to find him featured in Uncut’s May 2010 ‘And It’s Good Night From….’ column. Sparklehorse have long been one of my favourite bands and their first two albums soundtracked a wearying few years of my life, brightening dark corners with their emotive music and striking imagery. Too many truly beautiful songs to list from the 15 years of output, but I leave you with, probably my favourite, certainly the track that helped me deal with things beyond my control way back when. I picked this video for the cool animation, particularly the dancing man midway through.

Even better news is the announcement of the release date for 100 Stories for Haiti. The charity collection will see publication on March 4th, with all the royalties going straight to the British Red Cross. My story ‘Impact’ is one of the 100 stories in its pages. I hope you will join me in supporting this worthy project as both a great cause and a great collection of writing.

Finally, for those of you who like a little horror On Valentine’s Day, check out the Soft Whispers Valentine Horror collection, which features my flash fiction ‘Love Is….’ The collection is available to download on, as you might expect, on Valentine’s Day itself, so look for that this February 14th.

What she wanted: for him not to think so much, just let the sex happen, block rocking with a Chemical Brothers’ style beat.

This incongruity of ideas led to their awkward bedroom fumblings, a clash of genre as much as any incompatibility of personality, physicality or chemistry. Afterwards, at least, they could agree, slipping into sleep to the lilt of Nick Drake on the stereo.

This week’s #fridayflash is full of some great fiction – check out the links over on the full report for 50-odd great pieces of free flash fiction, all from seriously lovely people.

Robert McCrum has provided an antidote to all the books of the decade blog posts, looking at the decade a hundred years ago and the books that made it great. I like the idea that some of the books being celebrated in a hundred years time will be the unsung gems of 2000-2009.

In my Sunday morning Google Reading the ever excellent ‘May Contain Nuts,’ had me laughing more than is right and proper on the Sabbath. Check out Michael Malone’s ‘Kidstuff’ post for chuckle. Even the picture on the post is full of awesome.

On a more serious note, Bea Ballard remembers her father, the great J. G. Ballard, in a touching post over on the Guardian.

If, like me, you’ve spent the week up and down the loft ladder retrieving baubles, tinsel and annoying novelty reindeer that play annoying novelty Christmas songs then you’ll be feeling distinctly un-festive. Last night I downloaded Sufjan Stevens’ excellent ‘Songs of Christmas’ set from iTunes. These excellent alternative versions of Christmas classics and oddball original soon-to-be Christmas classics finally got me in the Christmas mood. Now if we can only get the presents wrapped this week, we’ll be in good shape to relax once the kids are off school.

For those of you still to get the decorations up, here’s a great piece of Sufjan’s Christmas collection to kickstart your efforts, courtesy of the tube of You:

Ten Things For NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo Web Aids

9 Ways To Prepare For NaNoWriMo

Write Anything is also posting a series of NaNoWriMo prep workshops this week so be sure to check the site for the latest advice from NaNoWriMo veterans.

Lastly, while I was unable to post a #fridayflash this week, due to the death of my Zxyel homeplugs denying pc internet privileges, an impressive 62 stories were posted. Check out @jmstro’s #fridayflash report for the full list of links.

This weeks #fridayflash saw a massive 62 flash fiction stories posted on blogs across the interweb. Check out @jmstro’s #fridayflash report for the full list of links.

Booksprung posted a refreshingly honest picture about the issue of e-book piracy earlier this week. As an e-book owner frustrated by either the pricing or poor backlists of most e-book publishers I fully agree with the points here. Publishers are in danger of driving readers to piracy because to avoid DRM, being fleeced by extortionate pricing, or simply because it is more convenient.

For a look at how to offer e-books properly, check out those on offer on the Two Ravens Press website. While they only have a handful or so of titles available at the moment, the lack of DRM and the sensible pricing have led me to purchase three books from them already, with a fourth on my to-buy-very-soon list.

Last but certainly not least, Roast Books are about to publish a quirky box set of fiction by A.C. Tillyer. An A-Z of Possible Worlds is a box set of 26 interlinking short stories, each autonomous in its own right. Each Story booklet (from A-Z) is a destination.

You can read O is for Orbital via a widget over on Scott Pack’s blog, Me and My Big Mouth, which is well worth a click to find; on the strength of the story I have pre-ordered the collection.

This award is meant to be passed on to bloggers who post from the heart. The rules for receiving this award are simple, pass the award on to seven worthy blogs and list ten honest things about yourself. It’s all about driving traffic to your favourite sites so here goes.

Seven ‘Honest’ bloggers and their blogs:

J.M. Strother’s Mad Utopia – for providing honest characters in his flash fiction and coming up with the honest to goodness good idea that is #fridayflash.

Jeff Posey’s Anasazi Stories – for creating an honestly awesome fictional insight into the lives of the Anasazi

Jentropy – for writing some honestly challenging flash fiction that delights and intrigues in equal measure

Jodi Cleghorn’s Writing In Black And White – for her honesty in all things writing

Paige Bruce – for daring to be honest about the subjects that matter to her and happy to reveal her inner geek

Laura Eno’s A Shift In Dimensions – for crafting some honestly clever flash fiction

Pippa Hennesy’s The Old Bat – for being honest enough about her writing on her blog to try new things in public.

As for the Ten ‘Honest’ things about myself:

1. I suffer from ‘writer’s grump.’

2. Spend far too much money on music. My Amazon order history is like HMV’s stock list.

3. Have a severe and long standing addiction to cake.

4. All too often blame my wife for moving my stuff around the house when, in reality, I have moved it and simply forgotten where I put it.

5. Am bored by pretty much all sport.

6. Though I do like watching rally driving, yet have never tried it.

7. I can be obsessive compulsive about things like locking the house or car. It is worse the more rushed I feel.

8. I sometimes use nipping to the shops as a way to get a breather from the kids. If my wife reads this she will realise why I am so happy to nip out for the couple of things we need for dinner.

9. I have been know to talk too passionately about the books, films, TV, videogames and music I like, boring pretty much everyone within a twenty foot radius of my ‘conversation.’

10. I always feel I haven’t spent enough time writing, even on those days when it is all I do.

Thanks to Wildernesschic for thinking of my blog for this and to my seven awardees, keep doing what you are doing.

I’m gonna write more tomorrow. Have to spend some time with my girlfriend now

Meanwhile:
- Kudos to Louis Gray for keeping us updated on maybe the hottest thing of early 2008: Linkblogs

- Congrats to Benjamin Golub for creating a cool (and in some things better) ReadBurner clone

- Another project to think of: LinkRiver