Category: short story

"The Plate" by Roddy Doyle This is the first piece I've read by Roddy Doyle and I across it quite by accident. I was searching for "summer short story" and one of the results was a Summer Short Story Special at The Guardian. This was one of the five contributions by established writers whose most well-known books were also listed, and though I haven't read Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha the title rang a bell. The first line grabbed my attention. I love you but I think I'm dying. Maeve watches her husband, Jim, walk back out of the house, staggering and clutching his stomach, like he's been shot. Concerned she asks him what happened and eventually loads him into the car to drive him to the hospital. We learn about the couple by their actions and conversation that night, but more through a flashback to the night before, the night when a plate was thrown during one of their usual drunken arguments. The relationship between...

"Near Grenoble" by Félix Fénéon Murder, affairs, secrets all come together in this incredibly short piece. Bones have been discovered in a villa on Ile Verte, near Grenoble, those—she admits it—of the clandestine offspring of Mme P. I marvel at how much drama is packed in those few words. It's from Novels in Three Lines, and I can totally see how completely flushing out the plot, the characters, telling the events behind this discovery and the consequences of the bones being found could result in a full-fledged novel. I love this distilled version though, this condensed new story. Not a single word is wasted, each has to sparkle. John hosts Short Story Monday at The Book Mine Set. Head over there to see what he and others have been reading....

"Judgement" by Brenna Yovanoff I hadn't picked out a short story to read this week, but when I received The Replacement in the mail today, I noticed that the author, Brenna Yovanoff, writes at Merry Sisters of Fate. This is the first piece of fiction by her that I came across. The story is set in a high school on a rainy day. A flood warning is issued and all the students are to stay in the building, but when the story moves to Clemmie's  locker, the school is now all but deserted. Clemmie sees no one she knows until a dead girl passes her, dripping blood along the hall. Clemmie eventually finds two other teenagers she knows, the first a girl crouched in the shop room. “It’s Revelation.” She was hugging her knees to her chest. Her voice sounded high-pitched, like it was squeezing through a tiny hole in something. “It’s the Rapture, the Second Coming, when the righteous...

Once your man has come out of your oven, you may have trouble hanging on to him. Men made this war are apt to take off down the road, on motorcycles or off them, robbing convenience stores, getting themselves tattooed, and hopping up and down and singing, "Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" Attaching a string to his leg before the oven procedure may help, but — alas — in our experience, not for long. (pg. 40, Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood) This collection is a reread for me, but one I always enjoy. The brief stories, poems and essays are always quirky, often funny. Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Play along. The rules are easy and I only cheated a little. Grab your current read, open to a random page, and give us...