It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of short fiction. While I love to read (and write) a novel, I find the shorter yarn to be a unique art form. In many ways, with genre fiction (and especially horror) the short story or novella is often a better format than the novel. It can be sharper, more visceral. There’s long been an argument, for example, that Stephen King’s short stories are way better than his novels. I wouldn’t personally comment on that (Kermit-sipping-tea-dot-gif), but I can understand the argument.
A short story is not simply a novel with less in it. When I teach short story workshops, I try to make the differences as clear as I can. However, this post isn’t a workshop, so I’ll leave that argument there. Let’s just agree that short fiction is awesome. This post is about great short story collections (and anthologies). To clarify, a book of short stories all by the same author is a collection. A book of short stories by various authors is an anthology. This distinction isn’t made in film (to use King again as an example, that’s why Creepshow is called an anthology movie), but in written fiction, it’s a well-recognised and very clear distinction.
When I teach short fiction workshops, I constantly get asked for good examples of the form. Understandable, really. So I’ve finally got around to putting together a blog post that lists a variety of my favourites. I’ll revisit this post and add to it as new ones come out. In the meantime, what follows are some examples of what I think are the best short story collections around (and I’ll include a few anthologies at the end). I’ve picked one from each author as a good starting point, but seriously, grab anything by the people listed below and you won’t be disappointed. Naturally, I’m going to start with my own – I’ve won awards for my short fiction and my collections, so it’s only a small amount of hubris to start with my stuff – and I’m going to list more than one. It’s my blog, so there. After my own stuff, the list is alphabetical by author surname. Note: This is NOT definitive, I know I missed loads of great stuff, and yes, I’ll update it as and when I can. (I’ve also done one of these posts for great novellas, which you can find here.) But, short story collections! Here we go.
Alan Baxter
Crow Shine, Served Cold and The Gulp: Tales From The Gulp 1 and The Fall: Tales From The Gulp 2
My own short fiction runs through all forms of dark fantasy and horror. Crow Shine leans more towards the fantastical than the others. Both Crow Shine and Served Cold won the Australian Shadows Award for Best Collection in their respective years of publication. Crow Shine was also a finalist for the Aurealis Award, the Ditmar Award and was on the preliminary ballot of the Stoker Award (though it didn’t make the shortlist). The Gulp won the Aurealis Award for Best Collection, was shortlisted for the Ditmar Award and made the preliminary ballot of the Stoker Award (though again, didn’t make the shortlist).
Okay, so who else:
Jo Anderton
Jo writes the most incredible, dark, twisted science fiction and fantasy short stories and her award-winning collection The Bone Chime Song and Other Stories is superb.
Nathan Ballingrud
One of the best working today, his horror stories are sublime. Check out North American Lake Monsters, still for me one of the best short story collections ever published.
Clive Barker
Probably my favourite author of all-time, the six volume Books of Blood, Volumes 1-3 and Books of Blood, Volumes 4-6 are still the benchmark in short fiction for me.
Laird Barron
Laird is one of my favourite writers working today and his short horror stories are amazing. A great place to start is The Imago Sequence and Other Stories.
Lauren Beukes
Try Slipping.
Kealan Patrick Burke
Try out We Live Inside Your Eyes.
Roald Dahl
My earliest introduction to short stories, these blew my young mind. Start with Kiss Kiss.
Harlan Ellison
I mean, the man is a legend. Start with I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.
Brian Evenson
Give Song for the Unraveling of the World a go.
Philip Fracassi
A newer writer who’s turning out great stuff, try Behold the Void.
Ted E Grau
Try The Nameless Dark: A Collection.
Paul Haines
By all the gods, I miss my friend. Taken way too soon, Paul is one of the greatest horror and genre writers Australia has ever seen. His collection The Last Days of Kali Yuga is outstanding.
Lisa L Hannett
Lisa is a wonderful writer, with lyrical, magical stories. I’d suggest starting with Bluegrass Symphony to get a great taste of her dark, fantastical style.
Robert Hood
Rob is the godfather of Aus horror. One of my favourite collections of his is Creeping in Reptile Flesh, but he deserves a double mention as he is also an amazing writer of ghost stories and has an absolute doorstop of a ghost yarn collection called Peripheral Visions: The Collected Ghost Stories which is amazing.
Nalo Hopkinson
Try Falling in Love with Hominids.
Shirley Jackson
A master of the short story. The definitive collection for me is The Lottery and Other Stories.
Stephen Graham Jones
One of my favourite authors, try After the People Lights Have Gone Off.
Jack Ketchum
Ketchum is in a league of his own. Read Peaceable Kingdom.
Stephen King
We have to include King, right? One of my favourites is Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
Margo Lanagan
Truly one of the greatest, weird, mystical, transportive. Start with Black Juice.
John Langan
Another great writer who works wonders at long short story and novella length. Read Sefira and Other Betrayals.
Joe Lansdale
Joe is a prolific writer across so many genres, his stuff is always fantastic. Try High Cotton.
Thomas Ligotti
Another of the true greats, his stories are mesmerising. Start with the excellent double collection in a single volume, Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe.
Martin Livings
Not prolific, but an excellent writer, start with his collection Living With the Dead.
Kirstyn McDermott
Dark and beautiful, and thoroughly disturbing. Start with Caution: Contains Small Parts.
T R Napper
Proper modern cyberpunk. Read Neon Leviathan.
Annie Proulx
A master of character and almost genre-defying stories. Start with Bad Dirt.
Angela Slatter
Angela is a master of the form, and she has more collections than you can safely shake a stick at. But maybe start with Sourdough and Other Stories. It’s a great example of her dark, twisted fairytale style, and still one of my favourites of her work.
Cat Sparks
Great sci-fi. Read The Bride Price.
John F D Taff
Multiple Stoker Award nominations, try Little Black Spots.
Paul Tremblay
He writes weird shit, man. Start with Growing Things and Other Stories.
Kaaron Warren
Kaaron is an absolute legend and her fiction will discomfort the hell out of you. Another absolute master at work. Something of a definitive collection of her is Dead Sea Fruit.
Kim Wilkins
Wonderful fantasy, with a dark edge, her novella collection The Year of Ancient Ghosts is superb.
Selected Anthologies (alphabetical by anthology title)
A Killer Among Demons, ed. Craig Bezant.
Anywhere but Earth, ed. Keith Stevenson.
Damnation and Dames, ed. Liz Grzyb.
Dark Cities, ed. Christopher Golden.
Dead Red Heart, ed. Russell B Farr.
Dreaming in the Dark, ed. Jack Dann.
Evil is a Matter of Perspective: An Anthology of Antagonists, ed. Adrian Collins.
Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors – ed. Doug Murano and Michael Bailey.
Peel Back the Skin, ed. Anthony Rivera and Sharon Lawson.
SNAFU: An Anthology of Military Horror, ed. Geoff Brown, A J Spedding, Matthew Summers – this is first one, but get every volume. They’re all fantastic.
Supernatural Noir, ed. Ellen Datlow – NB: I picked this as it’s one of my favourite anthologies in general, but everything Ellen Datlow edits is pure gold. Get them all. Her Best Horror of the Year series is truly benchmark stuff.
Swords Against Darkness, ed. Paula Guran.