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Comment
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F Lewis
Unregistered User
(11/27/01 1:49:38 pm)
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Short story writers
I always purchase with great glee Terri's and Ellen Datlow's annual anthologies, Year's best of Fantasy and Horror. They are great indicators of what's happening in these genres. I often find that a writer that seems to appear out of nowhere was first published in their collections. The anthologies, Starlight 1, 2, and now 3, also showcase some really great short fiction.
One writer I'm trying to find more about is Susanna Clarke. She's written several stories that have been published in the Starlight anthologies, in the Year's Best collections and in the Fairy tale anthologies of Terri and Ellen Datlow. She is definitely in the fairy tale genre.
The ones I'm familiar with are:
Mr. Simonelli or the Fairy Widower
by Susanna Clarke
from Black Heart, Ivory Bones
The Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse
by Susanna Clarke
from A Fall of Stardust
Mrs Mabb
by Susanna Clarke
from Starlight 2
The Ladies of Grace Adieu
by Susanna Clarke
from Starlight I
Does anyone know more about her? Are there more stories by her out there? I'd love to read more. She combines a sense of the Victorian age with fairie that I find very enjoyable.
On that note, are there other writers like Ms. Clarke who are only published so far in short fiction that are slipping under the radar? I know of Kelly Link and am eagerly awaiting shipment of her collection of short stories. Who else new is out there publishing wonderful short stories? Any ideas?
Francene
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Richard
Parks
Registered User
(11/27/01 2:40:52 pm)
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Re: Short story writers
Since Kelly Link's already on your radar you might want to check out William Eakin. He's been published in Realms of Fantasy and elsewhere but is more obscure than he should be. He runs some southern riffs on mythic themes, including "The Battle of the Trees" as told in "The Ballad of Lawnmower Moe." His collection, REDGUNK TALES, is out now from Invisible Cities Press.
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Terri
Registered User
(11/28/01 7:31:57 am)
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Re: Short story writers
Francene: Susanna Clarke is an English writer; she lives in Cambridge with her partner, fantasy novelist Colin Greenwood. She has a new story in Starlight Vol. 3 that I highly recommend. I agree with you that she's one of the most amazing new fairy tale writers to appear in years -- kind of a cross between Sylvia Townsend Warner (Kingdoms of Elfin) and Jane Austin. She's been at work on a novel for some time now, but I don't know if it's close to being completed. And Kelly Link is also wonderful, both alone and in collaboration with her partner Gavin Grant. Another short story writer I adore is Katherine Vaz, who publishes in mainstream but her work is magical, with wonderful folkloric and magical realist qualities. Try her collection FADO AND OTHER STORIES, which is scrumptious. Up-and-coming short story writers to keep an eye on, look out for works by Susan Wade, Pat York, Bruce Glassco, and Mark W. Tiedemann. There are more...but my brain is fuzzy today...getting over the flu...
Edited by: Terri at: 11/28/01 7:35:58 am
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Helen
Registered User
(11/28/01 11:49:51 am)
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Epidemic ...
Everyone I know seems to be sick .. thanks for the heads-up concerning authors to look out for even in extremis. Feel better, Terri!
Helen
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/28/01 12:31:16 pm)
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spelling
Jane Austen, Austen, Austen.
The Texas model is Austin.
Whew. Sorry. I am so delighted in catching Terri out in any literary topic. (Like finding out that Emma Bull can't catch a frisbee.)
Jane
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Terri
Registered User
(11/29/01 5:53:26 am)
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Re: spelling
Oops, you're absolutely right, Jane. Mind you, it's not at all hard
to catch me out in spelling mistakes...alas...
Francene: have you read Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins? Or Sara Maitland's collection Angel Maker, which is a mix of mainstream stories with stories based on myths and fairy tales?
At the moment, I'm doing my damnedest (if that's how the word is spelled...) to convince Tor Books (where I'm a consulting editor) to do a collection of all Tanith Lee's fairy tale stories -- the old stories in Red As Blood combined with all the adult fairy tales she's written since. Keep your fingers crossed that this goes through -- short story collections are always a hard sell. One thing we need is a good name, and Tanith and I are drawing a blank. We can't use Red as Blood again, and she's already used White As Snow for her Snow White novel...plus, that doesn't convey the dark touch she gives so many of these stories. Does anyone here have any bright ideas?
Edited by: Terri at: 11/29/01 6:23:03 am
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(11/29/01 8:43:23 am)
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Re: spelling
Naming a new collection would be tough. I always think of blood and beauty when I word associate with Lee's stories. Beauty was my original favorite from "Red as Blood," but there have been so many wonderful ones since then, too. I do hope the collection is published. Blood, snow, tears, beauty, snow---that is a hard one! Pleasing the marketing department is always a challenge, isn't it? Blood, snow and tears. Snow as Red as Blood. My brain isn't liking anything either. I'm stuck on blood so I will quit while I am far behind.
Now how about an omnibus of the early Tor fairy tales, such as Wrede's, Dalkey's and the others that are out of print? Wrede is so popular now with the younger set with the Enchanted Forest series. Lee doesn't do too badly herself with the unicorn books.
The wishful thinker,
Heidi
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/29/01 10:57:15 am)
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titles
Dark as Sin
Grimmoire
Dark Jewels
Once Upon A Darkness
Any suit?
Jane
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(11/29/01 3:26:52 pm)
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re: titles
Goodness Jane,
I've been trying to get a great title for my book for ages and now
I'm going down to the wire - my editor is going to want it soon!
Do you rent your title creating services out?
(Someone once asked me why I don't title my chapters. The suggestion gave me nightmares.)
Sorry this is such a fluffy post - worked all day with the 13 and under crowd. My brain is drained. Laura
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Helen
Registered User
(11/29/01 4:31:37 pm)
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Re: re: titles
Perhaps ... Wickedly Ever After? I have a newfound respect for people
who come up with great titles book after book.
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Midori
Unregistered User
(11/29/01 4:34:37 pm)
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equally brain agog
Jane...you are amazing.
So I'm thinking oxymoronic (at least I am half that now...)
"Velvet Daggers"
"Graceful Sins"
"Blood Ink"
and I'm spent...sorry all. I've been grading all day and am next to useless.
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(11/29/01 7:03:18 pm)
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titles
I am actually very fond of the punning in Grimmoire and may want to keep it for myself! <g>
And Titles R Us--so ask away.
I also can do flap copy really quickly (and well) too!
Jane
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Annette
Unregistered User
(11/30/01 2:37:46 am)
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Titles
How about Blood and Roses? I envison a black cover with a single red rose along one side and a petal falling from it in the shape of a droplet of blood.
Annette.
homepages.which.net/~anne...sfront.htm
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Terri
Registered User
(11/30/01 6:35:11 am)
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Re: Titles
There are some good suggestions here. I'll forward them to Tanith.
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flewis
Unregistered User
(12/1/01 7:08:07 am)
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short stories
Thanks for all the suggestions given everyone. I really appreciate the authors and titles mentioned.
Terri, I've read Emma Donoghue's Kissing the Witch and have the Maitland collection at home. I'll have to move it up my to-be-read pile. I've read at least one story by K. Vaz, I think it was in your Wolf at the Door collection. I remember it being one of my favorite stories. Scrumptious is a good word for her writing. I remember rolling her words and sentences around my mouth, savoring them. I'll have to try to find her book, Fado. If even half of the stories in the collection are as good as that one, I want to read it for certain. You're right that Clarke's writing has echoes of S. Townsend Warner's book, Kingdoms of Elfin. Warner is one of my favorite authors, probably why I enjoy Clarke's stories so much as well. I hadn't made that connection before, thanks.
I also really enjoyed your recent short story collection, Jane. I'm not sure why, but your title story, Sister Emily's Lightship, really has caught me. The feel of that story keeps resonating in my brain, ever since I read it in Starship 2, I believe. Wasn't it Emily who said that she knew good poetry by the way that it felt that the top of her head had been lifted off? I think you captured that feeling in that story for me.
Thanks again all.
Francene
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(12/1/01 5:05:59 pm)
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Thanks
Wow, Francene--thanks. And I think that was like something Dickinson said.
Someone (maybe in another thread) mentioned Anne Sexton's poetry collection "Transformations"--speaking of lifting the top of one's head off. All fairy tale redactions.I imagine Emma Donoghue must have read and swallowed whole that poetry.
Jane
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Terri
Registered User
(12/2/01 5:47:04 am)
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Re: Thanks
Francene: The stories in Katherine Vaz's collection "Fado" are definitely as good as the tale she wrote for Wolf at the Door. We reprinted one of them in Year's Best volume 11 ("The Remains of Princess Kaiulani's Garden"), and it was hard to chose just one. I'm trying to think of other recommendations for you, but you seem to have done a wide range of reading and probably already know anything that I could mention. Have you tried Steven Millhauser's "Little Kingdoms"? Or (if you like fiction rooted in Native American folklore) Thomas King's "One Good Story, That One"? I'm also a big Robert Olen Butler fan, but though his stories can be wackily fantastical, they're not based on folklore or fairy tales. I'm blanking on the name of my favorite collection of his, but I think it had "Tabloid" in the title...possibly Tabloid Dreams?
Edited by: Terri at: 12/2/01 5:51:44 am
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