Shameful confession time. I write short fiction, but I don’t read as much of it as I should. It’s not like I have an excuse. I subscribe to a number of print magazines, and I regularly visit the sites of several online magazines. But between my own writing, and reading novels and non-fiction, I never seem to find the time to read the short stuff they publish.
This doesn’t mean I never read short stories. Just that I think I should read more. I suspect that most of the stories I read these days are in single-author collections. I do read the occasional anthology – I reviewed The New Space Opera 2
Obviously, I have a very good reason for wanting to increase my intake of short fiction – to help improve my own. But I’d also like to be in a position to make informed choices when it comes to nominating stories for awards.
So, for 2010, I plan to make more of an effort. I will read every issue of Interzone as it arrives. I will read every issue of Postscripts as it arrives. And Jupiter too. I will read the stories published in the online magazines I visit – Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Subterranean Online, Futurismic, DayBreak, and any others I might have neglected to mention.
And when I find any that especially impress me, I think I shall mention them here.
It Doesn't Have To Be Right... 
2010-01-28 at 12:50
Good Luck! Nature and Necessity force me to limit myself to Interzone, to which I am devoted. But I do buy some Anthologies, e.g., the New Space Opera , first volume. I won’t buy volume 2, because I looked at it and saw that its contents would most likely not appeal to me. Moreover, I think it was you who wrote some unflattering words about it. Ditto in IZ for the latest Dozois monster. So as a compromise I bought Dozios’ “Best of the Best’ and am hoping for the Best:) Now I hear that there’s a second volume of that. What to do? I’ve no idea.
2010-01-29 at 15:58
My review in Interzone of The New Space Opera 2 may have been a bit harsh, but only because I felt the anthology had lost sight of what it was supposed to be. Some of the contents plainly weren’t space opera, new or otherwise.
2010-01-30 at 06:56
You hit the nail right on the head, Ian! I looked at Vol 2 about one month ago, and saw at once that there was very little space opera in it. The contents might be interesting nevertheless, but I have too many unread books right now. How about more than three bookcases filled with them? Hence a few short stories I know nothing about can wait.
2010-01-28 at 19:01
I sincerely applaud your resolve. I would love to do something similar given my fondness for short fiction, but financially it is something I just cannot do at this time. So, I will live vicariously through you should anything stand out to the point that you choose to write about it here.
2010-01-29 at 15:56
I’ve started reading January’s stories in the online magazines… And I enjoyed this one a lot: ‘Dali’s Clocks‘ by Dave Hutchinson on DayBreak‘s site.
2010-01-30 at 07:04
I’m polishing a review of “Anathem” for The Zone. This is the first novel I’ve reviewed; Writing it is harder than was my composing academic papers, all of which I have disowned. I am enjoying learning to write in a new mode.
2010-02-01 at 02:42
I read Dali’s Clocks and enjoyed it, glad you mentioned it. I’m generally interested in the creative process and this story dealt with that, among other things, in a very interesting manner.
2010-02-02 at 13:04
Here’s another story I enjoyed: ‘Gizzard Stones‘ by Garth Upshaw, in January’s Beneath Ceaseless Skies. I’m not that big a fan of fantasy – this year’s reading challenge notwithstanding – but I did like Upshaw’s story.