Wicked Short Stories

Lately I've been reading collections of paranormal or fantasy-ish short stories - either written by a single author or anthologies. I'm working on a few short works myself and there's nothing better than reading samples within your genre to help your writing. You see what's been done, what is possible and what you may attempt to accomplish with your work.


Anyway, here are a few of the titles I've been digging into, in case you're looking for some short sensational tales. If you have any others to recommend - please comment on this post.


The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire



- edited by Trisha Telep. Authors include: Libba Bray, Melissa de la Cruz, Kelley Armstrong, Cecil Castellucci (love that there are several Canadians!) and more.






Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link


- this author is wonderfully odd, taking tales down roads I never would have expected. "The Wrong Grave" is my favourite.




Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor


- illustrated by Jim Di Bartolo - amazing real world meets the fantastical tales with gothic/graphic novel-ish illos.




Blood Roses by Francesca Lia Block


- short reads that will haunt you. Seriously.






Love is Hell

- authors include: Melissa Marr, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier and more. There are several other titles in this stories from "Hell" series which is partially a fundraiser: Vacations From Hell, Prom Nights From Hell, Kisses From Hell. "A portion of the proceeds will be donated to College Summit".




Zombies vs. Unicorns

- compiled by Holy Black and Justine Larbalestier. Authors include: Maureen Johnson, Garth Nix, Cassandra Clare, Carrie Ryan and more. After reading about the Zombies vs. Unicorn blog debate started by Black and Larbalestier, I'd heard about this book - however...lol....I thought it was going to be the actual arguments for and against from these two authors and didn't bother to investigate further. When I saw it at a bookstore and flipped through, realizing it was a collection of short stories with authors writing to support their "team" (zombie or unicorn)...I had to read it.

Shifting Gears: From Paranormal to Steampunk

For my NANO project (which is moving slower than I'd hoped), I decided to diversify and skip my usual genre, paranormal fiction. I had intended on this piece to be completely supernatural/magic/fantasy free, alas...the rotten thing had other ideas. A few pages into Rogues Gallery, the story of four looserish teens uniting against a common foe (the town's superhero) I knew my underachieving overachievers wouldn't stay contemporary YA. Nope, all too soon they managed to work in fantastical elements and I could only sit back, type and watch it happen.

However, this is definitely not paranormal fiction, so I feel I've had a measure of success with my effort to branch out. If anything it's more steampunk/supervillain/dark comic - but set in the present day. Sooo, how's that for mashing up genres?And though you may argue that steampunk uses science and gadgets....said gadgets are fantastical, impossible things, not contemporary "real life" YA in any sense.

Steampunk and superheroes/villains conventions complement each other - both have braniac mad scientists to be defeated, there are nifty gadgets that help save the day and strange man-made creatures. A Rogues Gallery of villains with quirky abilities is (are??) always nice, as is a failed romance or unrequited love. Toss in a rival for the true love's affections and possibly the end of the world and whoopa - you've got yourself one hell of a tale.

Really, paranormal fiction isn't too far off. I've just traded gadgets for magicks. Now if I can only get my butt in gear and shift into PLAID....I might be able to get to 50,000 by the end of the month. If not, I can always use my handy cross-over SUV (aka mini-TARDIS - it's much bigger on the inside) to go back in time and fit in more words.

Hmmmm....perhaps I'm watching too much Doctor Who. Ya think? Good luck meeting your word counts, my mad NANO friends!