TRACY FELLS finds the weird, the wonderful, the down-right uncanny, and the harshness of reality in Melanie Whipman’s collection Llama Sutra: ‘To me, this collection should be read only for pleasure, but also for instruction. If you’re a fiction writer hoping to hook the interest of a competition judge then you should study this collection with an analytical eye, learn what makes a winning short story…’
PODCAST: In the third instalment of this series of Short Story Masterclass podcasts, Zoe Gilbert interviews award-winning author Alison MacLeod. In the podcast they discuss fiction and the here and now, ‘what if’ scenarios and holding a short story together…
JENNIFER HARVEY finds wondrous, imaginative melancholy in Cees Nooteboom’s short story collection The Foxes Come At Night: ‘Death is at the heart of this collection; it is the central idea upon which Nooteboom – as in so much of his writing – meditates. But it’s a philosophical focus that can put him at odds with some readers, and writers…’
MORGAN OMOTOYE finds much to admire in ‘Murderers’ by Leonard Michaels: ‘Michaels has skilfully succeeded in making us understand the narrator’s wanderlust, his craven desire for motion, velocity, escape from the spectre of death, but he has also made us feel slightly uneasy…’
DAVID FRANKEL looks at Hubert Selby Jnr’s uncompromising story collection, Song of the Silent Snow: ‘Each of the stories offers a startling and vivid glimpse into the character’s life, the voices ranging from no-nonsense accounts of hard lives to poetic internal monologues…’
NOW CLOSED: You have until Sunday 05 March, 11:59pm (GMT) to submit your feature essays for the 2017 THRESHOLDS International Short Fiction Feature Writing Competition…
HANNAH BROCKBANK recommends the anthology that explores the experiences of refugees and those who work with them, REFUGEE TALES: ‘In tale after tale, physical environments are unforgiving and divisive. Conflicts are both physical and moral, and there is little resolution for the people described. The tales are challenging and resonate long after reading, not only because of their traumatic content, but also in the way they confront our attitudes and responsibilities to our fellow humans…’
FESTIVE STORY: Rounding off the THRESHOLDS year, we bring you a festive treat in the form of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Christmassy short story ‘The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle’…
ANUSHREE NANDE recommends Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory’: ‘Capote is a master of evocative simplicity that makes even the ordinary shine and sparkle until you feel like you know the characters intimately…’
PODCAST: Jac Cattaneo talks with award-winning author Kevin Barry about the short story’s lack of room for maneuver, the timing and rhythm of stories, mystery in your writing, and the relationship of memory to imagination…
