Why I Love Short Story Anthologies

And no, I’m not just saying this because I happen to be in a few. I’ve enjoyed anthologies and collections since I was a teenager, picking up any book I could get my hands on. At the time, I read a few horror ones, and fell completely in love with short stories.

In terms of writing, short stories and novels come with their own difficulties. A novel has time to meander a little, to slowly build up the world and its characters. Yes, there should be a connection from the moment you start reading, but I think most readers are happy for a little leeway on this. A novel can flash back and forth between past and present, allowing deep glimpses into characters and why they might be the way they are. The main trick with a novel is to keep the reader completely invested for 50K+ words.

It’s easier to keep a reader interested in a short story, but there’s obviously a lot less room to play around. Character and plot have to grab the reader from the first word, and what could be a flashback scene in a novel, to explain an important turning point in the MC’s childhood, must become a single sentence in a short story.

Good writing amazes me, no matter the length, but something about a fantastic short story just feels different from reading a brilliant novel. To me, a novel is like a TV show; more time, more depth, more subplots. Characters A & B can study moral philosophy & ethics, while Characters C & D can fall in love without even realising they’re doing it.

A short story feels more like a film. Less time to really delve into the characters, pace needs to remain high, and the focus should be on one MC, maybe two or three at a stretch, if done well. And that’s not even going into POV.

Good writing is good writing but it does feel like all too often the short story gets overlooked. Yet it is everywhere. Online fiction magazines, in-print mags, short story competitions and anthologies. Personally, I like in-print magazines and anthologies (not to mention author collections). I love reading short stories, and one of my favourite things about anthologies/magazines is discovering new-to-me writers.

I remember picking up horror anthologies as a teenager – Mammoth Books springs to mind, but there were a number of others buried among my brother’s Horrible Histories, Goosebumps, and Point Horror books. I devoured them. In my early twenties, I read collections by Stephen King, and later, after finishing the Song of Ice & Fire series, I picked up Dreamsongs by GRRM. After that, I started Wild Card.

The last few days, I’ve been reading issue 60 of Black Static, containing stories from Carole Johnson, Tim Lees, Ray Culley and Stephen Hargadon. My favourite story, by far, is Johnson’s Skyshine (or Death by Scotland). It does everything a good short story (or, in this case, novella) should do. Captures you from the moment you start reading, keeps a tight hold, and doesn’t let you go. And Skyshine feels very much, in a good way, a story for the #MeToo era, as a young woman struggles with how, exactly, she is supposed to deal with men who make lewd comments as she walks past. (This issue is actually from Sep – Oct 2017, meaning the story predates the movement)

As soon as I finished reading it, I looked up Johnson on Amazon, and added to my Wish List more of the anthologies she has been featured in.

It’s something I find myself doing often with short stories.

I’ve been doing it while listening to old episodes of Starship Sofa, or Tales to Terrify. Especially if I can find an anthology with the story that’s been read on the podcast.

Novels are like new worlds, but short stories are the gateways to those worlds. Anthologies (and podcasts, of course) are a great way to discover new authors, or even reading where some favourites started. They’re samples, in a sense, and when they work, they work so brilliantly well, it’s hard to not want to instantly read more by the same author.

Do you have any favourite anthologies, or any authors you discovered through anthologies? Let me know! I am, after all, always looking for me to read.