Tag Archive: short stories
Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women
Gay Zoo Day: Tales of Seeking and Discovery
by Mike McClelland
This is the book I read for Book 12. A book with an LGBTQ+ protagonist.
This book is a collection of short stories which range from space to Mombasa, from sweaty bars in South America to elegant country estates. In all the stories, the protagonists are searching for something – love, connection, status, or social standing. And they all happen to be gay.
The humanity of each character and story is what McClelland creates so perfectly. Each story and situation is completely real as you read it. He manages not only to tell unique stories, but to tell each of them in a suitable and appropriate way. His language use changes, his sentence structure shortens or lengthens, his very style matches the story perfectly. This kind of skill and attention to detail adds a dimension to these stories you may not notice until you realise how deeply each crawls into you.
The love and human connection each character seeks, or rejects, links the writer, the characters and the reader – the very humanness of us all is so evident it is palpable.
Loved these stories.
Dead ends and sharp bends
Dead ends and Sharp bends by Angela Meadon
I got this book in exchange for an honest review.
Short stories are tricky things – the author has very little time to get the reader sucked in, in harmony with their writing style, and understanding everything that is not said as well as that which is. And as the reader, you have to be able to get the author immediately to fully appreciate the story. There is no ‘it gets better after the first 100 pages’ with a short story. Liking or disliking a short story really is about how well and quickly the author and reader mesh.
All of that being said, I found this anthology of short stories a bit of a mixed bag. I really liked some of the stories, while I thought others had great potential not quite realised. There were also some which I didn’t get at all, and some which felt a little forced.
But that is not to say I don’t think it is an anthology worth reading – I certainly think it is. Meadon has some interesting ideas and twists, and sometimes I put my kindle down at the end of a story and actually physically shuddered saying ugh because the story was so vivid.
The book could have done with a slightly tighter edit – little things like using a character’s name twice in a sentence when he is the only participant, instead of using ‘he’ is an editorial thing, not an author thing. And it jars unnecessarily.
If Meadon produced another anthology I’d read it too because, for all the little things and the few stories which didn’t work for me, I think she is an interesting author.