Guest Post: Rayne's Five Favourites: Short Story Collections
Rayne Hall has published more than forty books under different pen names with different publishers in different genres, mostly fantasy, horror and non-fiction. Recent books include Storm Dancer (dark epic fantasy novel), Six Historical Tales Vol 1, Six Scary Tales Vol 1, 2 and 3 (mild horror stories), Six Historical Tales (short stories), Six Quirky Tales (humorous fantasy stories), Writing Fight Scenes and Writing Scary Scenes (instructions for authors).
She holds a college degree in publishing management and a masters degree in creative writing. Currently, she edits the Ten Tales series of multi-author short story anthologies: Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts, Scared: Ten Tales of Horror, Cutlass: Ten Tales of Pirates, Beltane: Ten Tales of Witchcraft, Spells: Ten Tales of Magic and more.
Her short online classes for writers intense with plenty of personal feedback. Writing Fight Scenes, Writing Scary Scenes, Writing about Magic and Magicians, The Word Loss Diet and more.
For more information about Rayne Hall go to her website.
Here are five short story collections I
enjoyed, each by a different contemporary author, each published recently in
ebook format. The selection is highly
subjective, based on my personal taste. I like stories which are creepy,
quirky, twisted or dark, or which allow me to peek into different cultures and
faraway places.
1. Dark and Twisted: The Fairy Cake Bake Shoppe And 13 Other Weird Tales by April Grey
These are easy-to-read, entertaining
stories, but they have a bite to them.
Paranormal elements - vampires, zombies, fairies, ghosts, sexbots,
magical cupcakes - are woven into everyday reality. Some of the stories have
dark or erotic content - nothing overly
graphic, but unsuitable for young readers.
I enjoyed Exile where a vampire
gigolo tempts an older woman with eternal youth.
I wouldn't read stories on the bus - I'd
get travel-sick if I tried - but there are many other occasions when there's
just time for a quickie read. Since I take my Kindle almost everywhere these
days, it's handy to have short story collections like this. The stories are
short, but not too short. I felt I was getting a good complete story with every
one.
Some of the stories resonated more with me
than others, some I didn't care for, others I loved. But that's ok. The
collection contains a lot of stories, and it's fun to choose favourites. My
favourite was the ghost story Beware of Tuesdays because the suspense is
high, and after reading it I kept thinking about the nature of this haunting.
What I liked particularly: The beginnings
are vivid, immediately introducing the characters, the location and the
premise, so I was hooked from the start. The pacing is perfect and the stories
keep up the interest (at least, this reader's interest) throughout, and there's
no dull middle. The narrative voice changes from story to story, always
appropriate to the main character's perspective.
3. Exotic and Sensitive: Coloured andOther Stories by Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar
These stories deal with cultural contrasts
and different societal traditions in an intelligent, sensitive way. Many of the
characters experience some kind of culture clash, for example, they grew up in
one culture and now learn to adapt to another, or they belong to one culture
and their family to another. The stories are about the characters' way of
conciliating and integrating these cultures.
I like the vividness and sensitivity, and I
felt I learnt quite a bit about the concerns of people who come from those
cultures. In places, the stories are sad, but the overall tone is uplifting.
The story which stuck in my mind long after
reading is Dasi. It has an interesting structure, told backwards from when the
narrator is a 78-year old widow to when she's a 14-year old bride, and it is at
the same time gentle and shocking.
I love the stories, every one of them. Each
develops a 'what if' scenario, sometimes taking a very basic idea and spinning
it out into a plot. The ideas a surreal, but utterly plausible. Based on human
nature, I can believe these bizarre things are really happening.
The stories are intelligent and
entertaining. Some are thought-provoking, too. Many have a paranormal, fantasy,
science fiction or horror element.
My favourite yarn in this book Last
Chance To See which offers an original take on the undead state.
5. Atmospheric and Moving: Gifts -
Four Poignant Stories by Jonathan Broughton
These stories are a little sad in places,
but filled with hope and beauty. They're set on the south coast of England where I live, so I can personally relate to the
location.
My favourite is Three-Ply
Fantasy Special, a sensitive piece about an older person with a
domineering daughter. I first read this story more than two years ago and still
can't get out of my mind.
*
I'm delighted to have
discovered many excellent short story collections and anthologies recently -
far more than ever before.
A few years ago, most
publishers would not touch single-author short story collections. This kind of
book didn't sell in big enough numbers to cover the costs of printing, paper,
storage, transport and shelf space.
But things have
changed. With the advent of e-books, these costs no longer apply, and single-author
story collections have become viable ventures. Many get published, and some are
very good indeed.
Another benefit of the
internet age is the ease of communication between readers and authors. Many
authors include an e-mail address at the back of the book, inviting readers to
get in touch. I've corresponded with the authors of these books, something
which would have been unlikely in the days of snailmail.
I liked some of the
stories so much that - wearing my Editor hat - I selected them for inclusion in
my themed anthologies. You'll find, for example, a story from The Fairy Cake Bake Shoppe
in Bites: Ten Tales of Vampires, and one from Ghosts
Can Bleed in Haunted: Ten Tales of Ghosts.
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