Selected Short Thoughts

Recently, I read the short story Stephen King published in the current issue of Esquire magazine. Esquire claims they are trying to bring back the publishing of short fiction in their magazine, building on a tradition begun with serializing Truman Capote's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. King himself is no stranger to odd formats - a few years ago he published a novella called THE PLANT, where readers could donate, or not, if they so chose.

All of this got me to thinking about all the different forms we find literature in. Not just short stories, novels and novellas. But also finding stories on the Internet on author's web sites, serializations, sample chapters in the back of new releases, magazines and movie tie-ins.

I like to think I like short stories, but the truth is I have the hardest time sticking with a collection. I can read some random one-offs, like if I find a story on a favorite author's web site, especially if it's connected to something else I have read by them, those are no problem. But as many short story collections as I have, I have rarely managed to get all the way through them. I think of it as reverse ADD - my attention span is long enough that I don't like getting interrupted by the end of the story and the beginning of the next one.

I also tend to skip over fiction that is published in magazines. I am not sure why. Maybe I just like to think of magazines as my place for nonfiction articles and having a random piece of fiction in the middle of it throws me off.

On a related note, I have also been thinking about the actual physical format of books and how that relates to reading pleasure. I know some people who prefer to read their books in hardcover and others who prefer mass market. Having just read King's story in Esquire, I do know that the magazine format is hard when reading a piece of some length. Generally, I prefer trade paperback, as it's easier for me to hold while reading in bed and while eating, the two most common ways I read.

Publishers started coming out with super-sized mass market books recently, in an attempt to shore up the flagging mass market sales. Supposedly, they are aimed at the baby boomers and their, ahem, aging eyesight. All I know is that when I see them and picture them throwing off the lines of books on my bookshelves, I get annoyed. But maybe that's just me.

Currently, I am reading Shannon K. Butcher's NO REGRETS. I was very lucky to meet Shannon and her husband, Jim Butcher, at the RT Convention this year. They are a very sweet couple who were high school sweethearts. Shannon credits Jim with showing her how to write and her next book, NO CONTROL is set for 2008. So far, the story is intriguing. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Nicole