THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2010 edited by Richard Russo

THE BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES 2010 was edited by Richard Russo, this year. The collection contains a wide range of stories selected both from some of the most well-known and most obscure magazines and anthologies. The stories, on the whole, are impressive and I was spellbound by many of them. Usually, in a collection of twenty stories, there will be five or less that really speak to me. Here there were nine.

The foreword by series editor Heidi Pitlor speaks eloquently and poignantly to her belief that “it is indisputable that American literary journals are in danger.” She encourages readers to “subscribe to one literary journal, either on paper or online. Buy a short story collection by a young author. We must support our smaller magazines if we are to support our talented new writers.” The stories selected for this anthology were all written between January 2009 and January 2010 by American or Canadian authors. Pitlor narrowed her selection to 250 stories and Richard Russo selected the final twenty.

October 3, 2010 В· Judi Clark В· No Comments
Tags: , , ,  В· Posted in: Short Stories

THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC by Richard Russo

Fifty-five year old Jack Griffin has been in a funk for a very long time. The only child of dysfunctional and embittered college professors, he proudly asserts that he aggressively rejected his mother and father’s warped values, their snobbery, their refusal to compromise, and their chronic dissatisfaction. In Richard Russo’s bittersweet THAT OLD CAPE MAGIC, Griffin discovers, much to his chagrin, that he has inherited his parents’ negativity and selfishness.

August 5, 2009 В· Judi Clark В· No Comments
Tags: , , , , ,  В· Posted in: Contemporary, Family Matters, Literary, NE & New York, y Award Winning Author