Somehow, no matter how much I tell myself that I need to read more short fiction, I never actually end up doing so. Thus I keep acquiring short-fiction collections -- especially the Year's Best anthologies in fantasy and SF, as well as collections of classic SF and horror stories -- and only managing to read a handful of these gems.
Steven R. Donaldson once suggested an analogy between novels and short stories: novels are beer, where short stories are wine. Of course, he's assuming that beer is a more egalitarian beverage, whereas wine is more "craft-oriented" than beer, I think. (It's been a long time since I read his words on this matter, so I might be doing him an injustice.) I'm not sure the analogy holds up, really -- all those microbrews on the shelves these days seem to demonstrate otherwise -- but in Donaldson's defense, he came up with this analogy before the big microbrew craze that allowed beer consumption in America to move beyond "Tastes Great, Less Filling!"
Anyway, I've once again decided that I need to read more short fiction. This time, though, I've hatched a plan. Very simply: I'm going to make May "Short Fiction Month". For the entire month of May ("It's May, it's May, the lusty month of May….") I will read only short stories, novelets, and novellas. After I finish the two novels I'm currently reading (one of which is a review novel for GMR), I will read no more novels until June. I'm not sure I'll review every short story I read here, but I'll try to note the really good ones.
(I will, though, still maintain my rigorous non-fiction reading schedule. And no, Ari Fleischer's daily press briefings do not qualify as "short fiction".)
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
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