SOPHIA KIER-BYFIELD explores the similarities between the short form and photographs: ‘…the essence of the person or scene is entirely dependent on the viewer’s response. So much is left unsaid, so much more to tell that can’t be told. Similarly, short stories offer us something restricted, abruptly ended, or open to interpretation. When it comes to these forms, so much more lies beneath or beyond what we see and read…’
Editor of Unsung Shorts, GARY BUDDEN, takes us into the weird depths of speculative fiction: ‘There is one sub-genre particularly well-suited to the short form, that goes under a number of names: the weird tale, the strange story, the New Weird, interstitial fiction, and many more…’
PROFESSOR CHARLES E. MAY examines the battle between romance and realism in Daniel Defoe’s ‘A True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal’: ‘Short fiction lies between the romance convention of presenting marvelous events and the realistic convention of presenting events as if they actually happened’.
SUSAN JAMES profiles the life and work of Ann Petry: ‘She wrote about black lives, but her characters weren’t heroes or martyrs. They were flawed. They struggled, and they were often desperate…’
KATE JONES profiles the career of Grace Paley: ‘The stories she left behind tell the tales of the everyday, ordinary people, often women, who live and breathe both on and off the page.’
FARAH AHAMED considers the life and work of Saadat Hassan Manto: ‘His characters are not defined by the way they look, but by what they are doing in the present moment. His descriptions are not sensory observations but rather unsentimentally observed settings for particular events.’
SOPHIE REID reveals the unsettling depths in Daphne du Maurier’s short stories: ‘… they offer complete worlds, ask questions, and leave you wanting more. Many explore themes of what it is to be human, the darkness in our minds, and the darker sides of life.’
Longlisted in the 2016 Competition, GINA CHALLEN discovers Australia through the tales of Louis de Bernières: ‘The tales themselves are straightforward in the telling, uncomplicated, and de Bernières’ simple language creates a style that resonates with the rhythms and cadence of the spoken word…’
Author ERINNA METTLER explores the various options available for publishing a collection of short stories today: ‘Sadly, many agents don’t take on short story collections because publishers won’t read them … No matter, this is the way it is, so we will have to find a way around it…’
NICOLE MANSOUR looks at the tradgedy and comedy in Donald Antrim’s debut collection, The Emerald Light in the Air: ‘Antrim’s prose is vivid yet uncluttered, bringing to mind the economy of John Cheever, as well as the fairy tale surrealism of Donald Barthelme…’
