Wednesday 28 May 2014

Armchair BEA - Short Stories

I’m a big fan of anthologies, especially themed ones that contain short stories by lots of different authors.

It’s the perfect way to read short stories with a theme that speaks to me, and to discover new-to-me authors. I have found several authors this way, and still have some on my list that I should investigate further.

I will list three anthologies that I really enjoyed:


Imaginary Friends - edited by John Marco and Martin H. Greenberg

I love this anthology. Most of the stories in it are enjoyable if not beautiful. This anthology introduced my to Anne Bishop. Her short story Stands a God Within the Shadows is still the most beautiful and captivating story I’ve read from her to this day. I reread it a lot.

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery


Halloween: Magic, Mystery, and the Macabre
edited by Paula Guran
 

This Halloween themed anthology contains so many gems. Out of the 18 stories in this book I loved 14 of them, so it is well worth the read. My two favorite stories are From Dust by Laura Bickle and The Halloween Men by Maria V. Snyder.

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery


Shards and Ashes - Anthology
by Melissa Marr, Kelley Armstrong, Veronica Roth, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Rachel Caine, Nancy Holder, Beth Revis and Carrie Ryan


An anthology with Dystopian stories!
There should be more anthologies with this theme in my opinion.
I did add Beth Revis and Kami Garcia on my radar after reading this book.

buy the book from The Book Depository, free delivery

Do you know any themed anthologies you think I should give a try?


10 comments:

Holly said...

Shards and Ashes sounds like something I would enjoy! I love Veronica Roth and Carrie Ryan!!

Holly @ Words Fueled by Love

Unknown said...

Oh, I have Shards and Ashes, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet. I'll have to go and dig it out ;)

Jessica @ Rabid Reads

Carrie at In the Hammock Blog said...

these all sound amazing!! definitely need to check out the halloween one!

Andi said...

Thanks for the anthology recommendations. Can always use more! :D

Midnight Philosopher said...

Thank you for mentioning Imaginary Friends! I put that anthology together a long time ago, and it's so cool to see it getting some love on your. I remember being thrilled when Anne Bishop agreed to contribute a story to it.

miki said...

i'm not against short stories and novellas at all... i did discover some authoprs that way too but i have come to be more selective+..; i really enjoy when they add something to a universe or are sort of an introduction to a series but i don't like when you can't understand them properly if you haven't read the series or you did but not in order

i love when they work as stand alone or when they are sort of bonuse ( but you can understand the series even if you miss the novella or short story because sadly not all are in print)

Chris Wolak said...

I'm gonna check out that Halloween anthology. Last year I really missed out on October reading and want to do this year up right! Thanks for the recommendations.

Sullivan McPig said...

Thanks for commenting everyone.
@John Marco: I think you did a wonderful job on this anthology. And although I love Anne Bishop's books, her short story in this anthology is her best work imo.
@miki: I can relate. i love print books more than ebooks, so want novella's and short stories in print as well.

Aurian said...

I want that first book just to read the Anne Bishop story! Thanks for the tip Sullivan :)

From Head To Tale said...

All three of these look good. Especially the Shards and Ashes - Anthology.

Thanks for the recommendations.