“The Secret Goldfish” by David Means
11.03.12
Story 303/366
This is the title story of one of Means’ story collections and it can also be read on the New Yorker’s archive site. (It was first published in May 2004.) A fish named Fish becomes an integral part of a family that’s falling apart.
See you tomorrow!
“Mateo Falcone” by Prosper Merimee
10.28.12
Story 297/366
Merimee was a French writer best known for the novella “Carmen,” which became the basis of the Bizet opera. This story is set in Corsica where the title character acts in accordance to a brutal code of honor. “Mateo Falcone” is available online here.
See you tomorrow!
“The Praline Woman” by Alice Dunbar
10/24/12
Story 293/366
Dunbar was born in New Orleans (where this story is set) and was a poet, journalist, and Civil Rights activist. It’s an intriguing story but the dialect used almost defeated me. You can read it here.
See you tomorrow!
“Leiningen Versus the Ants” by Carl Stephenson
10/23/12
Story 292/366
This is Stephenson’s most famous story, originally published in 1938 and anthologized in many places after that. It’s not short, clocking in with a word count of nearly 9K but the style is smooth and it’s a fast read. Favorite line, “And don’t think I’m the kind of fathead who tries to fend off lightning with my fists…” You can find the story all over the web. I found it here.
See you tomorrow!
“The Bell Tower” by Herman Melville
10.18.12
Story 287/366
Today Google is celebrating the 161st anniversary of the publication of Moby Dick, so I thought it would be appropriate to feature a short story by Herman Melville. The story you always see anthologized is “Bartleby the Scrivener” but I like “The Bell Tower.” The opening paragraph is a fine example of his Gothic ornate style, a description of the title “character” that is quite sinister. You can read it here. English majors never die!
See you tomorrow!
“A Temporary Matter” by Jhumpa Lahiri
10.11.12
Story 280/366
This is the first story in Lahiri’s much admired collection Interpreter of Maladies, which won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The last few pages are genuinely heart-breaking in the revelations that the characters offer each other.
See you tomorrow!
234/366
From the anthology Deadly Treats, edited by Anne Frasier (Nodin Press, 2011)
A widow reflects on the death several years earlier of her husband and child and the town that blames her.
“Ghost Pianos & Idle Hands” by David James Keaton
10.03.12
Story 273/366
The weather’s in the triple digits and the only short line at the fair is to a lame ride and Anthony has been spoiling for a fight all afternoon. Jacki finally obliges him as their daughter Toni complains. This story appears in Pank Magazine’s “Pulp Issue.” You can read it here.
See you tomorrow!
“My Wife’s Tempter” by Fitz James O’Brien
10.02.12
Story 272/366
According to Wikipedia, O’Brien (whose name is spelled in many different ways) wrote fiction that was a precursor to science fiction. I have to admit, his name was new to me (which is true of a lot of the 19th century writers I’ve discovered in the course of this challenge). “My Wife’s Tempter” is not a sci fi story at all but very much a story of its time in some ways. (There’s a reference to “milliner’s bills” and “a woman’s usual money problems” that is oh so dated now.) The “tempter” is not what you might think(nor is the kind of temptation) the important of the temptation to the story reflects prejudices that are not quite dead more than a hundred and fifty years later. you can read the story here.
See you tomorrow!
“A Flock of Lawn Flamingos” by Pat Murphy
09.13.12
Story 253/366
Patrice Ann “Pat” Murphy is a scientist and a science fiction writer who has won multiple Nebulae (winning for a novel and a novella in the same year). She is co-founder of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. “A Flock of Lawn Flamingos” is about a battle of wills and balancing order with chaos. It’s delightful. This story was originally published in 1996 as part of the anthology Lethal Kisses edited by Ellen Datlow. You can read it here at brazenhussies.net.
See you tomorrow!
