Hi and welcome to another #BiteSizeSaturday! Today’s #BiteSizeSaturday is two-fold: I don’t only have 2 bitesized reviews for you, they’re reviews of short story collections, and what are short stories if not bitesized novels, good grief, I’m going full Inception on you guys!
Full disclosure, I’m not a short story kind of person, I usually don’t enjoy them all that much.
Short stories are an art form not all authors are cut out for. I’ve read stories by authors whose full-length novels I love, but whose short stories felt lacking. When I do like the story, I often feel bereft when it ends, like we were working our way towards an apotheosis and the finale comes too soon, too abruptly. And when the collection is composed of stories by multiple authors, I tend to love some and hate others.
However, there is much to say in favour of short story collections too. Short stories are perfect for those little literary hunger pangs, for those times you have little time and/or a short attention span and can’t be bothered to invest time and energy in a full-length novel. And, as I’ve discovered, for having on your e-reader so you can read a story in bed in the (as good as) dark when you’re reading a paperback novel during the day so as to avoid the hubby complaining about the bright light.
So today, I want to share with you two short story collections that I fully enjoyed. Both are a collection of stories by multiple authors, so inevitably I loved some more than others, but I did enjoy them all, which is really rare for me and that is why I wanted to talk about them. I know many of you like mystery, thrillers and crime, so these should be right up your street!
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Buying Killer Women – Crime Club Anthology # 2 was a spur of the moment decision, instigated by Twitter and the fact that it was available for 99p. Thinking: well I may not enjoy all of the stories but at 99p, who cares, I went ahead and bought it. As it turned out, I didn’t regret my purchase for a second, Killer Women 2 is an outstanding thriller / crime collection featuring a great many fabulous female authors: Erin Kelly, Louise Voss, Julia Crouch, Rachel Abbott, Elly Griffiths, … One of my favourite stories in this collection was Sharon Bolton’s Lacey Flint story A Corpse in the Copse. I’ve read the entire Lacey Flint series and I adore both the author and her character, so I was thrilled to find Lacey in a standalone story in Killer Women 2.
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I stumbled upon CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour by Martin Edwards from Orenda Books in my Kindle app last year and decided to snap it up, since it had been a while I had read short stories and this seemed like a collection I’d enjoy. And it was! CWA (which stands for Crime Writer’s Association BTW) Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour is an excellent mystery / thriller / crime collection featuring authors like Anna Mazzola, C. L. Taylor, Julia Crouch and Susi (S.J.) Holliday. One of my favourite stories in this collection was A Postcard from Iceland by Ragnar Jónasson. It is short and sweet, deliciously dark and entirely creepy.
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That was it for today! What is your take on short stories, yay or nay? Any collections you can recommend? I have Killer Women – Crime Club Anthology # 1 and Noirville pub. Fahrenheit Press all ready to go but I’m open to suggestions!
I don’t normally read short stories of any kind. These do sound cool though, especially for 99p! 😀
It’s 2.99 now but I got Killer Women 1 for 99p ? I do love a good bargain ?
Oh, I love short story collections, but can never find enough of the one’s I like to read, like these two mini-reviewed here. I’ve added them to my Wish List immediately, and just might get them next week! 😀
Yay! Hope you enjoy them if you do!
I’m not really a short story reader either, but I’m definitely intrigued by both collections! Especially seeing various authors I’ve read and enjoyed in the past included as well.
They’re an excellent place to start if you want to give short stories a try, Yvo ?
A definite YEAH for short stories. I own many anthologies. In particular, I have a lot of the “Best British Mystery Stories ” and “Best American Mystery Stories” collections in hardback. They are a great way to discover ‘new to you’ authors.
They are great for discovering new authors… A little too great actually, my TBR really didn’t need any new authors added to it ? Happy to have found someone who loves short stories, most people seem to have a bit of a meh feeling! Like me before these two collections, to be honest, haha!
Mr Janz did a novella which was good – Old order. Spine Chillers by QL Pearce was good, a couple of were ok but some were awesome
Noted, thanks!