Last week I reread Strangers in the Night
I know many readers don’t like short stories and novella collections (anthologies), either by one author or many. I’ve always liked them. I think it’s a great way to discover new authors or keep up with some favorites between full length releases. They’re also great if you’re pressed for time or in the mood for something quick.
Not all authors can write short stories well, however. It’s hard to make a romance believable with a short page count. I think Howard is a master at this. Regardless of the page count, she has the ability to draw readers in and engage them emotionally (or at least she does me).
Take Whiteout for example. A woman alone, stranded at a mountain resort during a blizzard. A stranger who ends up on her doorstep, half frozen and near-dead. She strips him naked to get him warm, then hijinks ensue. Hope should have seemed like a complete slut. She had sex with a man before she ever even spoke to him. She knew nothing about him – not his name, occupation, marital status, nothing. But she didn’t come across as a slut. Howard really made the story work, pulling the reader in and making the circumstances allow for behavior we wouldn’t normally find acceptable. That takes major talent.
Meljean Brook is another author who can write emotionally compelling short stories. In Sheep’s Clothing is a very short story she wrote for the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance
How do you feel about short stories? Do you like it when authors tease us with novellas between full-length releases? Do you find new authors through them? What authors do you think excel at writing short stories? Are there any you don’t care for?
PS: Check out the poll on the sidebar.
I love short stories and novellas and use them for finding new authors. They’re also great for those times – say between meetings – when you need a reading fix but are short on time. Or don’t really know what you’re in the mood for so anthologies that contain different sub genres are great!
I really don’t care for short stories and novellas. I resent having to buy a whole novel priced book, when all I want in it is one (or maybe two) stories. I don’t mind it as much if all of the stories are by the same author because then at least the quality tends to be a bit more even. Also, short stories are just too short for me. I like settling in with the characters and getting to know them over the course of a novel.
I don’t mind short stories – sometimes when I can’t decide what to read next, I pick a short story which acts as a bit of a palate cleanser.
What I really like is to be able to buy the short stories separately as ebooks rather than have to buy an entire anthology just for one short story – which means that I won’t buy the anthology.
For example, I’d like to read the short story by Courtney Milan in the Heart of Christmas anthology. I already own the Mary Balogh short in another anthology and I’m not interested in reading the other story. Here’s hoping that the novella will be a separate e-release one of these days.
The other thing publishers could do (a la JD Robb) is publish 3 novellas together (as they did in 3 in Death) so that those people who want to read the novellas set in a certain world (eg, Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling series, Meljean Brook’s 2 series etc) could do so more easily.
I have to say I love short stories, novella, anothologies and such. I can squeeze them in when I have a pack schedule and most of the time finish them in one setting.
Oh thank goodness! I’m not the only one! I love short stories, novellas and anthologies. Like you, I think it’s a great way to try out new-to-me authors without investing a lot of time. Of course the downside is that anthologies can be wildly uneven (The last one I read? My grades for the individual stories were DNF, C and A).
While I suspect I’ll never been an All Digital All The Time reader, I will say that since getting my Sony Reader – I’ve bought way fewer anthologies. Like Kaetrin mentioned, I much prefer to buy my short stories separately as ebooks these days. Harlequin has been great feeding this habit for me – as have some of the epubs like Samhain and EC for publishing novellas…..
I think Kaetrin really nailed it for me with this:
What I really like is to be able to buy the short stories separately as ebooks rather than have to buy an entire anthology just for one short story – which means that I won’t buy the anthology.
I normally really dislike anthologies. These days, it takes an act of god for me to buy one. But I’ll buy a novella on its own in eformat. I can’t even pinpoint why I don’t like them. I think it has to do with picking up a book of a certain length and then having the first story I get involved in not take the length of the book I hold in my hands. Yes, I admit to being very odd.
I am not a fan of anthologies, either. Just one of the odd balls who thinks glimpses of other h/h in their eternal happiness are irrelevant. I don’t normally read short stories either because, as Holly said, it takes an extraordinary author to pull it off. I hate disappointments so I only read shorts stories from author I know and trust.
LH is one of the best – my fave is Overloaded. H.A.W.T.
The way her stories been going, me thinks she should just go back to short stories.