I think that the short story
is a hard craft to master. I’ve read some truly awful short stories, finished
some collections and then asked myself why I put myself through the last 200+
pages, found stories with so many plot holes and missing pieces that they
didn’t even form a cohesive story. To write a short story is to write something
that can be fully contained, within reason, with such limited word space. The
story has to be compelling without being large, the characters engaging whilst
still being plausible, the writing needs to grab attention from the very first
line and hold it for the duration of the 2,000-10,000 words. There’s a definite
art to it, and finding a collection of short stories that champions the format
is always cause for celebration.
