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I love good fiction, but find very little that grabs my
attention these days.
Time is short, and
even though Stephen King may read sixty books a year, he’s a multi-millionaire
who can get by working four or five hours a day and spend the rest of the time
reading and guest starring on Sons Of Anarchy. I can’t do that. But I wouldn’t say no to a guest spot on Sons…
I would make a good biker. As long as I don’t
have to ride a bike.
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| I could be that cool. |
Glancing at novels on Amazon and in bookstores (you know actual,
physical places that sell books with a roof and walls and such), I get tired
and overwhelmed. I see a title or cover
that looks interesting and inevitably read, “BOOK 119 of the BLABLABLA series
featuring BLABLABLA in the world of BLABLABLA”.
And then I ignore it. Many novels are just big and
boring. I like to think of finding a good story as stepping on a landmine, you don't know it but it will blow your mind. Bad metaphors aside, most novels I pick up are well-written duds that put me to sleep.
William Faulkner (of all people) once
said:
“I'm a failed poet. Maybe every novelist wants to write
poetry first, finds he can't and then tries the short story which is the most
demanding form after poetry. And failing at that, only then does he take up
novel writing.”
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| HE wanted to write poetry and short stories |
Poetry is undiscovered terrain for me, but I LOVE short
stories, always have. I love the simplicity, the focus, and the textures of
very small worlds that hide even smaller worlds. The complexity is there, but it hides from
you and dares you to find it. Mystery
and wonder abound in the little things and the magic therein need not be
held up in a bulky framework of plot and subplot and more subplot.
I like novels, but it’s
rare I get excited about one, the time and commitment to a novel is often well
spent, but so many novels I read end up like stars, collapsing into themselves
to form a black hole where no light or ideas can escape. All is exhausted and very little left to the imagination. Like television without the pictures.
I’m sure there
are treasures to be found within these long novels, but I can’t help but think they are written for folks who only want to read one or two stories in their entire
lives. Because they just can’t get used
to anything new.
Stephen King wrote, I think, in Hearts in Atlantis, that
a good book is like a pump, give it 45 pages or so of work, and the book should
do the rest. With these series books, I
wonder if people just don’t want to pump their own water but stay caught up in
the East Australian Current of fiction.
Reading with the flow…
Short stories often require pumping from beginning to
end. Every page. When you read them, you don’t often find out
what the main character ate for breakfast when he was twelve and how it
affected the rest of his life in great detail and how it relates to the cast of
thousands that inhabit his world.
You might get a single detail, colorful and vital, but
hidden from plain sight. And from that
single detail all the chapters and volumes spring forth… but not on paper, in
your mind. The man in the black suit
laying on a bed with a single stalk of wheat. A cloudy jar with a resident imp. A brick wall in a basement. A man sitting on a porch waiting for a
panther. A dried up monkey’s paw. A man turning into an arthropod. A love potion with a consequence you may not
see coming.
All those were classics with classic names attached:
Bradbury, Stevenson, Jacobs, Poe, Bierce, Kafka, Collier. Some are famous, some not so much. But all are wonderful storytellers.
They are also all dead.
And while I don’t think the short story is dead, it’s
certainly on life support in a hospital basement waiting for visitors.
A short story can be an exclamation point, thrusting you
into something constructed for maximum tension and drenched in saturated
color. Think Bradbury. A story can be subtle and disturbing,
presenting ideas that linger long after the end. Think Kafka.
Some tales can tell vast stories about people’s lives in a space
reserved for a good bar joke. Think Hemmingway. Some stories are like mini-novels telling a
tale with complex plotting and great detail.
Think Stephen King.
Now, I prefer
strange stories full of wonder and the macabre, but there are stories out there for
everyone. Mystery. Science Fiction. Romance.
Literary. Why limit yourself to
just novels? You’ll find the world a
much more colorful, remarkable place with textures that will stretch your
reading experience.
Some classics online:
For those of you who read short stories, these should be
familiar. Who cares, read them
again! For those of you who don’t, just
keep reading, turn the page, read and think about it after it’s over. Good short stories will change your reading
life.
Afterwards, scour the net and find some new classics. They're out there, hiding and waiting like forgotten landmines, ready to detonate and scatter their ideas like happy shrapnel.
And if you step on the landmine and it doesn't even spark, let me know. Share some of your passion for what you like
to read. Convince me it’s a good thing
to latch onto a series you enjoy. Even
more, I want to hear from poets.
Convince me.
I’m just a guy who
likes stories looking for other folks who like stories and need to get away
from the television. I am easily persuaded...
And lastly, I’m always looking for NEW stories. Send me a link if you know of a great
one.
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| I'm gonna miss this guy. |
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