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Favorite short story writers

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mikelly63 View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mikelly63 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Favorite short story writers
    Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 2:26pm
I don't know if this has been posted before, saw a favorite novel post but not short story authors

I read primarily short stories and the books I read tend to be on the short side. Here are some
of my favs.

Classics: Kafka, Hemingway, Paul Bowles. Metamorphosis is my favorite of all time. Hemingway and Bowles  I love there short stories but dislike their books. I guess I'm a Hemingway hater when it comes to his books but not his stories, most of which were written before his classic novels.

Sci Fi: Philip K. Dick, Vonnegut, JG Ballard and Harlan Ellison. I have read many of Dicks novels, probably 19 and he is one of my favorite authors. Vonnegut too.

Horror: JR Lansdale. I realized I hardly read any horror and I bet I would like it if I found the right authors. I read King's short stories when I was a kid, should probably revisit them. BTW did I say Metamorphosis is my favorite? Sorry Bubba Ho Tep is the greatest work of literature and cinema of all time!

Contemporary: George Saunders, TC Boyle. Saunders is probably my favorite short story writer. I tend to like dark humor and satire. 2 new writers I just discovered that also fall into that category are Alyssa Nutting and John Jodzio. I also like Stuart Dybeck, he writes a lot of growing up in Chicago, and he's a great painter.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote vkmartin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 3:03pm
I don't read as many short stories as I'd like to (I want to read all the things) but short stories is one place where I really enjoy Neil Gaiman. Not all of his stories are hits but they're usually at least interesting. With his novels, I find his characters often seem flat, but I don't have that problem in shorter things.

Also Stephen King is a pretty brilliant short story writer.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GallifreyGirl Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 3:30pm
Amber Sparks, Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan, Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Denis Johnson, DFW, Lydia Davis ... I've also been on an essay-reading kick lately, so John D'Agata, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Jo Ann Beard, Dinty Moore, Joan Didion, Annie Dillard
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote ChillyToez Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 4:39pm

I'm half way through Gabino Iglesias's "Coyote Songs" and the stories are riveting. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mikelly63 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 4:42pm
Originally posted by GallifreyGirl GallifreyGirl wrote:

Amber Sparks, Karen Russell, Jennifer Egan, Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, Denis Johnson, DFW, Lydia Davis ... I've also been on an essay-reading kick lately, so John D'Agata, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Jo Ann Beard, Dinty Moore, Joan Didion, Annie Dillard


Amber Sparks and Kelly Link look right up my alley, will check them out.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kodanie1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 9:06pm
Jacob Appel is a current favorite of mine! 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Lookit There Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 Jul 2019 at 10:48pm
John Cheever, Roald Dahl, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Sherwood Anderson, The Brothers Grimm. These are just off the top of my head - I'm sure I could go on and on and on...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jibwriter Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jul 2019 at 12:32am
My latest favorite is Helen Oyeyemi. I discovered her while doing research for a NYCM fairy tale prompt. I love both Mr. Fox and What is Not Yours is Not Yours. Ray Bradbury's Illustrated Man was my original inspiration to write.  

I loved and am still haunted by "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates. 

Now I'm realizing I could also happily go on and on.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote mikelly63 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jul 2019 at 1:24am
I am not a big fan of her, I love “Where Are you Going,
Where Have You Been”.  Haunting indeed.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote masonanddixon Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 26 Jul 2019 at 2:37am
Classics: Kafka, Hemingway, Poe, Lovecraft (he's extremely problematic, I know), Melville if only for Bartleby, Shirley Jackson, Gogol, Vonnegut, Borges. some Carver, Phillip K Dick,  Donald Barthelme 

Moderns: George Saunders, Denis Johnson, Amelia Gray (if anyone loves surreal horror,  check her out), Ben Marcus, DFW, Haruki Murakami, Roberto Bolano

I probably left out some, but there are many. My taste tends toward the surreal, and horrific when it comes to short stories, but only generally. I also find that my  taste in novels is quite different. Some of the above writers have written novels I love (Melville, Vonnegut, Dick, Johnson), but others I just can't stand drawn out to more than a hundred pages. Gogol, for one, is nigh unreadable to me outside of his shorts. 


Edited by masonanddixon - 26 Jul 2019 at 2:41am
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