More On the Same Theme; Day #20 of Short-Story Month.

Posted on May 23, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

What short-stories do I want more of? I’ve actually spoken (online) with Steve Berman, asking for more of his series set in the mysterious “Fallen Area,” a part of a city taken over by magic and shunted into another dimension. Berman has written four of these stories, all in his collection “Trysts,” and they have the flavor of the black-and-white “Twilight Zone” episodes. When I first read “The Anthvoke” I imagined it taking place on one of those studio sets TZ used to use, done up like a hotel room with the radiator on one wall. (Berman indicated he has a few more of these stories started. I hope he finishes them; a collection would be wonderful.https://www.lethepressbooks.com/store/p129/Trysts%3A_A_Triskaidecollection_of_Queer_and_Weird_Stories.html#/

One series which will never be resumed; the excellent Edward D. Hoch’s fine stories about Doctor Sam Hawthorne, who reminisces about solving “impossible mysteries” in New England in the 20s through the 40s. The series had moved into the war years at the time of Hoch’s sudden death a decade ago, and I was always hoping to see what happened in Northmont when WWII ended.

Posted in Edward D. Hoch, Fiction, LGBT, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Steve Berman, Uncategorized | 2 Comments

“Not In Kansas Anymore” (Ahem!) Two Masters of the short story for Day #19 of Short-Story Month.

Posted on May 20, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker (in Wichita, Kansas)

For Day # 19 of Short-Story Month, the theme is stories by an author from a country other than your own. I’ll recommend just about anything by two masters of the form.

First; “The Flung-Back Lid” by Peter Godfrey. Set in Godfrey’s native South Africa the mystery has Oom (“Uncle”) Rolf Le Roux solving the murder of a man stabbed to death while traveling alone in a cable car down from the top of a mountain. It is collected in “The Newtonian Egg” by Crippen and Landru, the title story being another fine impossible crime story. All the stories are full of vivid images of Godfrey’s home country. Godfrey stood up against the Apartheid regime and fled South Africa for England.https://www.amazon.com/Newtonian-Other-Crippen-Landru-Classics/dp/1885941692/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Newtonian+Egg&qid=1558343407&s=books&sr=1-1-catcorr

Second; Jorge Luis Borges from Argentina. Instantly associated with magical realism, Borges’ output of short stories is indescribable (“The Garden of Forking Paths,” “The Library of Babel.”) and the story I’m putting here is his homage to a writer from a country other than his; H. P. Lovecraft! In “There Are More Things,” Borges finds a twist that hadn’t been done by the jillions of Lovecraft imitators! I’ll recommend any of Borges’ stories again, and mention that I treasure my copy of the complete Borges stories.

Posted in Books, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Jorge Luis Borges, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Historical Fiction for Day #18 of Short-Story Month.

Posted on May 19, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

I love historical fiction, and there are plenty of short-stories in the genre. Steven Saylor wrote a series of novels and short stories set in Ancient Rome featuring Gordianus the Finder, basically a private detective. The short stories (most of them anyway) are collected in “The House of the Vestals” and “A Gladiator Dies But Once.”https://www.amazon.com/House-Vestals-Investigations-Gordianus-Finder/dp/0312154445/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1558250850&sr=1-1

Alternate History is a genre by itself, but the stories fit as historicals, especially if the history is well-researched and presented.  The only anthology of LGBT themed-stories of alternate history I know of is “Time Well Bent,” edited by Connie Wilkins https://www.amazon.com/Time-Well-Bent-Alternative-2009-10-20/dp/B01FGNSML4/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Time+Well-Bent&qid=1627720956&s=books&sr=1-1

(I should mention here that Steven Saylor is gay, and gay characters make their way into the Gordianus stories, as attitudes towards LGBT people were different in the Rome of 60-something B.C.)

There have been several “Mammoth Books Of…” featuring historical mysteries, usually edited by Mike Ashley. This one is a good starting point:  https://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-Book-Historical-Whodunnits/dp/1841193739

Happy reading! Remember that our times will be historical stories someday too!

Posted in Books, Fiction, LGBT, Mystery, Science Fiction, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Steven Saylor, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Prize Winning Stories for Day #17 of Short-Story Month

Posted on May 19, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

On the subject of prize winning short stories, while I read the Hugo and Nebula Award anthologies, I generally don’t look for an award as criteria when I’m scoping out fiction to read. But some of the stories I’ve liked have won an award or two: I mentioned Manly Wade Wellman’s “A Star For A Warrior” earlier in these blogs, and I read Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon” in Jnr. High (in the English textbook!) I’ve entered a couple of contests and was an honorary mention in one, for a story that didn’t get published!

That last part didn’t keep me from framing the certificate and hanging it on my wall!

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Flash Fiction for Friday May 17, 2019

Posted on May 17, 2019 by jeffbaker307

An Old Love Story

By Jeff Baker

 

“Okay, so which one’s your nephew?”

“That one. Over there. Stage left.”

“The tall one? By the fake tree at the edge of the stage?”

“Yeah. Hey, remember when we were on stage here? Back in high school?”

“Uh-huh. Hey, wait! That’s the same tree! Plywood, plastic leaves…”

“I know. It must’ve been fifteen years old when we went here ten years ago.”

“No, I mean, that’s the tree, remember? We made out behind it when we were working on the show senior year? We carved our initials in it!”

“Huh? Oh, my gosh!”

“And our initials are V. D. and S.T.D.”

“I wonder if anybody’s noticed.”

“Not from out here, but I’ll bet they’re still there, but now the ‘D’ stands for the same thing!”

“Awwwwwww!”

 

—end—

 

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Since there was no picture prompt this week and I wanted to begin my fourth year of doing at least one flash fiction story a week, I remembered wanting to write stories prompted from the descriptive titles of some of Edward MacDowell’s piano pieces. So, I grabbed this one from a set called “Fireside Tales” from the turn of the last century and gave it a modern twist.—-jsb, 5/15/19.

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YA Short-Stories; Short-Story Month, Day #16

Posted on May 16, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

When I was a kid (I mean, really a kid) I had subscriptions to two magazines: “Jack and Jill” and “Golden Magazine.” (and I sent my first submission off to J & J about 1968, to one of their “Finish The Story” thingies.) and I’ve been looking for one of the short-stories for years, to see if it still holds up. I don’t remember the title but it was about 1969-70, and it was about a kid (who narrated the story) and bought a cheap camera and the pictures it took showed things the way they really were; a bin of apples at the grocer’s was seen as partly spoiled, the kid’s mean-looking dog was seen as nice and friendly, ect. It had the feel of a story by Robert Arthur or a YA Twilight Zone (or “Weekend Special,” if you remember those!) If anybody remembers the story, get a hold of me thru this blog and let me know!

Speaking of Robert Arthur, his anthology “Alfred Hitchcock’s Ghostly Gallery” has been reprinted, and while none of the stories were originally written for a YA audience (some from Weird Tales) the anthology was marketed for young readers.

About 20+ years ago, YA writer/editor Bruce Coville put out 12 theme anthologies, starting with “Bruce Coville’s Book of Monsters” (1993) and moved on through Aliens, Ghosts, Nightmares, Spine Tinglers and finally, Magic. Then, there were sequels to all of them, usually having a Coville story (and for a few books a serialized novel.) I read them all in the 90s when I was trying to teach myself how to write short-stories and reading all the anthologies I could. They’re still out there and I recommend them, a blend of new stories and classics (“To Serve Man” by Damon Knight is in one of them, “The Baby Sitter” by Jane Yolen is another.)

Coville’s excellent story “Am I Blue?” is the title story of a 1995 YA anthology of gay-themed stories.

 

 

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, LGBT, Science Fiction, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Holiday Stories, Short-Story Month, Day # 15

Posted on May 16, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

I have a tradition involving reading short stories around Christmas. I re-read two stories by the great British author Margery Allingham. The first, “On Christmas Day In The Morning,” involves her detective Albert Campion (a man who is not who he seems!) solving a Christmas morning mystery. The line “They sent me their love at Christmastime and I’ve still got it,” rings more true to me as I grow progressively older. Allingham’s stories often had an added “oompfh!” at the end and this is no exception.

The second Allingham story ties in with another Christmas tradition: the Christmas ghost story. “He Was Asking After You” is a fine chiller which doesn’t end at the point where any other writer would end the narrative. There is an added “oompfh!” here and it fits perfectly.

Two LGBT-themed reads now; Greg Herren edited a fine collection of gay Christmas tales “Upon a Midnight Clear,” which is easy to find and worth the time. ‘Nathan Burgoine wrote a fine Christmas novella “Handmade Holidays” which should be a yearly holiday reading tradition. Here’s a link to my review:https://authorjeffbaker.com/2017/11/23/handmade-holidays-nathan-burgoines-new-christmas-story-review-by-jeff-baker/

Happy Holidays and Happy reading!

Posted in 'Nathan Burgoine, Books, Christmas, Greg Herren, Handmade Holidays, LGBT, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Short-Story Month, Day #14, Sharing the World.

Posted on May 15, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

This one’s going to be short—This post is supposed to be about my favorite shared-world anthologies. I really haven’t read many of these! I’ve written a story for one but that was three years and three jobs ago, and I haven’t heard from them since! I do know that the first shared-world anthology (or at least group of stories) was “Mugby Junction,” set up by Charles Dickens for his magazine “All the Year ‘Round,” back in the 1800s. But, I do know that they are still going on, so I recommend seeking them out. (I’ll add a few to my growing TBR pile!)

Posted in Books, Charles Dickens, Shared World Anthologies, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Horror Stories, a few classics for Short-Story Month, Day #13

Posted on May 14, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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By Jeff Baker

I’m one of those readers who believes that the short-story is the perfect form for the horror story. M.R. James’ ghost stories for openers, like “The Haunted Doll’s House” which blends terror with laughs. H.P. Lovecraft was a mixed bag, but I’ll recommend a few classics like “Cool Air,” “The Color out of Space” and “The Haunter of the Dark.”

Robert Arthur is largely forgotten today (there needs to be a retrospective anthology) but he wrote short mystery, fantasy, sci-fi and horror. I’ll list a couple of his horror stories; “Footsteps Invisible,” and “The Believers.” Arthur was a radio writer who co-created “The Mysterious Traveler” radio show and “The Believers” is about a live radio broadcast gone horribly wrong.

Fritz Leiber wrote all kinds of speculative fiction, and helped modernize the horror story. His stories “The Girl With the Hungry Eyes,” and “The Button Molder” are still chillers.

The contemporary writer Ramsey Campbell has written novels but he does not neglect short-stories. He follows in M. R. James’ footsteps but also walks his own, dark paths. I’ll recommend anything by Campbell but start with his collection “Waking Nightmares.”

For LGBT-themed fiction, “Bending The Landscape” was a 2001 anthology of gay-themed horror stories; think of it as a precursor to the recent boomlet of LGBT fiction, such as the Wilde Stories and Heiresses of Russ anthologies, which collected their fair share of horror. Lethe Press also publishes original anthologies of horror, such as their takes on Poe and Dracula. (“Where Thy Dark Eye Glances,” and “Suffered For the Night.”)

Speaking of Poe, he was the Grand Master. Seek out his works, like “Fall of the House of Usher,” “Pit and the Pendulum” and “Masque of the Red Death.” And pleasant dreams!

Posted in Books, Fiction, Horror, LGBT, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Steve Berman, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Where I Find Short Fiction. Short-Story Month, Day# 12

Posted on May 12, 2019 by jeffbaker307

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How do I find short-stories to read? For openers, I subscribe to a buttload of magazines, like Analog, Asimov’s, Ellery Queens, Alfred Hitchcock’s and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I also scope out anthologies in The Science Fiction Book Club and the bookstores. (Used bookstores too!) And I keep my eye on market listings and publishers like Lethe Press. I also follow the internet posts of a lot of authors I like (‘Nathan Burgoine and Greg Herren, for example.) Sometimes an offhand reference will set me off to finding another short-story to read ( I grabbed Jerry L. Wheeler’s fine “Strawberries and Other Erotic Fruits” after seeing a Facebook post.) or I’ll get on a jag about an author I’ve heard about perhaps in a chance read of a story in an anthology. (which is how I found William F. Wu’s “A Temple of Forgotten Spirits,” or Rand Lee’s “The Green Man.”)

I’ll recommend a couple of Facebook sites for Flash Fiction that I’m on; the other participants provide some fine reading and I certainly try! “Friday Flash Fics” and “Monday Flash Fics.”

Happy reading!

Posted in 'Nathan Burgoine, Books, Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, LGBT, Monday Flash Fiction, Short-Stories, Short-Story Month, Steve Berman, Uncategorized, William F. Wu | Leave a comment