Short Story

Short Story Review – Pop Art

September 6, 2019 by ashlister, posted in Uncategorized

Pop Art

Who wrote it?

Joseph Hillstrom King, better known by the pen name Joe Hill, is an American author and comic book writer. His work includes the novels Heart-Shaped Box (2007), Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), and The Fireman(2016); and the short story collections 20th Century Ghosts (2005) and Strange Weather (2017).

What’s it about?

‘Pop Art’ is one of my favourite short stories from Joe Hill’s collection 20^th Century Ghosts. The story introduces us to the character of Arthur Roth, a young boy who has been born inflatable. This is a surreal concept that is shared with the reader in a prosaic fashion.

Why is it worth reading?

This story surprised me on an emotional level. I suppose, reading Joe Hill’s short stories, when I know he’s an author with a well-earned reputation in the horror genre, I was primed to be surprised because I wasn’t expecting something that was going to have sufficient sensitivity to make an emotional impact. But this was eloquent, powerful, witty and heart-breaking.

What’s so special about it?

These are the opening lines from the story:

My best friend when I was twelve was inflatable. His name was Arthur Roth, which also made him an inflatable Hebrew, although in our now-and-then talks about the afterlife, I don’t remember that he took an especially Jewish perspective. Talk was mostly what we did – in his condition rough-house was out of the question – and the subject of death, and what might follow it, came up more than once. I think Arthur knew he would be lucky to survive high school. When I met him, he had already almost been killed a dozen times, once for every year he had been alive. The afterlife was always on his mind; also the possible lack of one.

What I love about this is that it works on so many different levels. Hill introduces us to a character who is described as ‘inflatable’, and whilst we’re thinking that’s probably quite a remarkable feature – and we’re trying to work out whether ‘inflatable’ in this sense is literal or figurative – the narrator is digressing to talk about something as mundane as Arthur’s religion.

I think I was particularly moved by this story because it has a surreal premise that is supported by a very real-world context of bullying, friendship, compassion and salvation. The juxtaposition of the sublime and the ridiculous give the story a devastating power.

This is a link to a short film that has been made of the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgHoBekXGec It’s a faithful adaptation but the short story has far more depth.

If you want to buy your own copy, this is the Amazon Link to the book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/20th-Century-Ghosts-Joe-Hill/dp/0575083085/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JW1X8LJG0TAD&keywords=20th+century+ghosts+by+joe+hill&qid=1567534660&s=gateway&sprefix=20th+century+ghosts%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1

And, if you have dreams to write to this standard, please take a look at my book, How To Write Short Stories and Get Them Published: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472143787/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_fpDlDbM5CS66H

Short Story Review – Episode of the Dog McIntosh

August 3, 2019 by ashlister, posted in Uncategorized

Episode of the Dog McIntosh

Who wrote it?

P G Wodehouse was one of the greatest comic writers of the Twentieth Century. He became a master of farce, creating a wonderful array of characters and imaginary fairyland based in the Edwardian British upper class. His 100 books have been translated into countless languages and remain an important part of popular culture. For the full biography on Wodehouse, follow this link: https://www.biographyonline.net/writers/p-g-wodehouse.html

What’s it about?

‘Episode of the Dog McIntosh’ begins when Bertie Wooster is looking after his Aunt Agatha’s Aberdeen terrier. Complications set in with the appearance of Roberta (Bobbie) Wickham, and they start to become hilariously more troubled when Bertie tries to help Bobbie.

Why is it worth reading?

P G Wodehouse is a talented writer, and I believe that any talented writer is worth looking at. He has an ability to surprise the reader and he repeatedly uses this to good comic effect.

What’s so special about it?

This is an exchange from early on in the story between Jeeves, speaking first here, and his employer, Bertie Wooster. The third person in the conversation is Roberta (Bobbie) Wickham:

“Indeed, sir?”

“I’m glad you can speak in that light, careless way. I only met the young stoup of arsenic for a few brief minutes, but I don’t mind telling you the prospect of hob-nobbing with him again makes me tremble like a leaf.”

“Indeed, sir?”

“Don’t keep saying ‘Indeed, sir?’ You have seen this kid in action and you know what he’s like. He told Cyril Bassington-Bassington, a fellow to whom he had never been formally introduced, that he had a face like a fish. And this not thirty seconds after their initial meeting. I give you fair warning that, if he tells me I have a face like a fish, I shall clump his head.”

“Bertie!” cried the Wickham, contorted with anguish and apprehension and what not.

“Yes, I shall.”

“Then you’ll simply ruin the whole thing.”

“I don’t care. We Woosters have our pride.”

“Perhaps the young gentleman will not notice that you have a face like a fish, sir,” suggested

Jeeves.

“Ah! There’s that, of course.”

“But we can’t just trust to luck,” said Bobbie. “It’s probably the first thing he will notice.”

“In that case, miss,” said Jeeves, “it might be the best plan if Mr. Wooster did not attend the

luncheon.”

I beamed on the man. As always, he had found the way.

I listened to this conversation on audio book recently whilst I was at the gym and almost fell off the treadmill laughing when Jeeves made the suggestion: “Perhaps the young gentleman will not notice that you have a face like a fish, sir.” Wodehouse’s work is rich with humour like this and he knows how to craft a conversation between characters so that their distinctive voices and personalities shine from the page. If you’re looking to emulate a true master of dialogue writing, you can’t fair much better than looking at the communication between Jeeves and Wooster.

If you want to buy your own copy, this is the Amazon Link:

And, if you have dreams to write to this standard, please take a look at my book, How To Write Short Stories and Get Them Published: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472143787/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_fpDlDbM5CS66H

And, if you have dreams to write to this standard, please
take a look at my book, How To Write Short Stories and Get Them Published: https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/ashley-lister/how-to-write-short-stories-and-get-them-published/9781472143785/

Short Story Review – The Lottery

July 27, 2019 by ashlister, posted in Uncategorized

The Lottery

Who wrote it?

Shirley Jackson was an American writer, producing work associated strongly with the macabre. The two most famous pieces she produced include the novel, The Haunting of Hill House, currently a popular series on Netflix, and her infamous short story: ‘The Lottery’.

What’s it about?

‘The Lottery’, not surprisingly, is about a local village lottery. To say much more would be to give away the plot. But, perhaps it’s sufficient to say that this is not a typical village lottery.

Why is it worth reading?

This story first appeared in The New Yorker on June 26, 1948. The response to the story was immediate and volatile. Hundreds of outraged readers immediately cancelled their subscriptions to the magazine because they were so incensed by the story. Hundreds more wrote letters to Jackson, describing her work as outrageous, gruesome and utterly pointless.

I mention all of this because, if a story is going to cause such a strong reaction in readers, it’s clear that it’s doing something right. As writers, we want to arouse a response in our readers: the thriller writer wants her readers to be thrilled; the romance writer wants her readers to be romanced; and clearly Shirley Jackson wanted to rouse a passionate response from her audience.

What’s so special about it?

These are the opening lines:

The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o’clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 20th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours, so it could begin at ten o’clock in the morning and still be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner.

Those who are familiar with the story will understand that this tranquil calm-before-the-storm opening lulls the reader into a false sense of security. We think this is going to be a story about village life. We think this is going be a story about a local lottery. We think this is going to be a story where all the pleasant villagers get to go home for noon dinner.

But, as Jackson’s story continues, we learn that nothing is quite as it appears.

If you want to read a copy of this online, it’s available here: http://fullreads.com/literature/the-lottery/

If you want someone to read it to you, this is the YouTube link:

And, if you want to buy your own copy, this is the Amazon Link:

Short Story Review – A Scandal in Bohemia

July 20, 2019 by ashlister, posted in Uncategorized

A Scandal in Bohemia

Who wrote it?

This is a story written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For a full biography of Conan Doyle, try this link: https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/biography.html. In short, he was born in Edinburgh and studied medicine at university prior to pursuing his career as a writer. Aside from meeting writers such as James Barrie and Robert Louis Stevenson, he also met Dr Joseph Bell. Bell was a master of observation, logic, deduction and diagnosis. As you’ve probably guessed, Bell was the inspiration for Conan Doyle’s greatest creation: Sherlock Holmes.

What’s it about?

This is a Sherlock Holmes story, therefore it’s safe to describe it as a mystery story. Holmes is employed to retrieve some compromising photographs held by Irene Adler. Holmes’s client worries that Adler might use the photographs as a blackmail tool.

Why is it worth reading?

All of the Sherlock Holmes stories are worth reading. Dr John Watson makes for an excellent narrator and Holmes is the sort of know-it-all that we love to read about, but we would probably hate in real life. This story is particularly engaging because Holmes’s unparalleled genius is pitted against a woman who shares his brand of cunning.

What’s so special about it?

These are the opening lines:

To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer — excellent for drawing the veil from men’s motives and actions. But for the trained teasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.

Links

If you fancy hearing this one narrated, it’s available on this YouTube link:

If you want to pick up your own copy, this is where you can buy it on Amazon:

And, if you have dreams to write to this standard, please take a look at my book, How To Write Short Stories and Get Them Published:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472143787/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_fpDlDbM5CS66H