{"id":691,"date":"2011-05-20T03:10:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T03:10:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=691"},"modified":"2011-05-20T17:17:24","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T17:17:24","slug":"short-story-collection-giveaway-you-could-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2011\/05\/short-story-collection-giveaway-you-could-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Short story collection giveaway–you could win!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I will get better at posting every day. Lately the blog has been taking a backseat to my other duties as publisher, like working on the e-book and planning the launch and readings of Solace in So Many Words<\/em>. But I can be remiss no longer, and I will now update the information on The Collection Giveaway\u00a0contest,<\/strong> and since I missed about twenty posts, I will give you twenty reasons that show short stories are the bomb.<\/p>\n

Here’s the skinny: Weighed Words<\/strong> is celebrating May as Short Story Month by participating in The Collection Giveaway Project, which has been organized By Erika Dreifus at Fiction Writers Review<\/a><\/em>. I found out about it from Dan Wickett of Emerging Writers Network<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Like the other participating publishers, I will be giving\u00a0away a book. Weighed Words<\/strong> will send\u00a0Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir<\/em> by Joe Meno <\/strong>(who is a contributor to this anthology) and a copy of Solace in So Many Words<\/em> <\/strong>to a lucky somebody who answers the question: What is your favorite short story? <\/strong> I realize now that \u00a0“favorite” rates right up there with “best,” as an arbitrary (and unsophisticated) way of ranking of books so I won’t be persnickety about responses. All I really want is for you to tell me what stories matter to you<\/strong>. \u00a0Once the month is over, I will put the names of respondents in a hat and pick a winner. Man, this is exciting; usually I am the one seeking prizes, not \u00a0the one bestowing them!<\/p>\n

Even though I have not been on top of things as far as posting goes, I have already heard from two people. Erika Dreifus<\/strong> responded that she likes “The German Refugee” by Bernard Malamud<\/strong> and has posted a blog about the story on Ron Hogan’s Beatrice blog<\/a>. \u00a0Also, I heard from Midge who likes stories by Amy Hempel<\/strong> and and Melanie Rae Thon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here are my twenty reasons for reading short stories:<\/p>\n

1. T. C. Boyle’s<\/strong> nine short story collections: Descent of Man<\/em>, Greasy Lake<\/em>, If the River Was Whiskey<\/em>, Without a Hero<\/em>, T. C. Boyle Stories<\/em>, After the Plague<\/em>, Tooth and Claw<\/em>, The Human Fly<\/em>, and Wild Child<\/em>. \u00a0His story “If the River Was Whiskey” is a favorite of mine.<\/p>\n

2. Daniel Chacon’s<\/strong> Chicano Chicanery<\/em> and Unending Rooms.<\/em><\/p>\n

3. Kerry Langan’s<\/strong> Only Beautiful and Other Stories.<\/em><\/p>\n

4.<\/em> Michael Constantine McConnell’s <\/strong>story “King of Gypsies” in Blood and Honey<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

5. <\/em>Joe Meno’s<\/strong> Demons in the Spring.<\/em><\/p>\n

6. <\/em>Paula W. Peterson’s<\/strong> Women in the Grove.<\/em><\/p>\n

7. Patty Somlo’s<\/strong> From Here to There and Other Stories <\/em>and her lastest published story \u00a0“Ready to Dance” in Imitation Fruit<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

8. <\/em>Joan Corwin’s<\/strong> Safe Shall Be My Going, <\/em> a novella published in\u00a0Press 53’s Open Award Anthology.<\/em><\/p>\n

9. <\/em>Donna Hilbert’s<\/strong> Women Who Make Money and the Men Who Love Them.<\/em><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

10. Chicago Works: \u00a0A \u00a0Collection of Chicago Authors’ Best Stories<\/strong>, edited by Laurie Levy, <\/strong>with stories by Fran Podulka, Anne Brashler, June Rachuy Brindel, James McManus, Stuart Dybeck and others<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>and Chicago Works: A New Collection of Chicago Authors’ Best Stories<\/strong>, edited by Laurie Levy<\/strong>, with stories by Aleksander Hemon, Lois Hauselman, Pat Rahmann, Fran Podulka, Katherine Shonk, and others.<\/em><\/p>\n

11. Another Chicago Magazine<\/a> <\/strong><\/em>one of our town’s best lit mags.<\/strong><\/p>\n

12. Rochelle Distelheim’s<\/strong> “The Kiss-Me-Quick” in Visiting Hours and Other Stories<\/em> by Press 53.<\/strong><\/p>\n

13. J. D. Salinger’s<\/strong> “For Esme –with Love and Squalor” \u00a0The New Yorker<\/em>, April 8, 1950.<\/p>\n

14. You’ve Got to Read This<\/em><\/strong> edited by Ron Hansen <\/strong>and Jim Shepard<\/strong>. \u00a0The first story \u00a0“A Mother’s Tale” by James Agee <\/strong>is a stunner (among stunners).<\/p>\n

15. The Best American Short Stories of the Century <\/em><\/strong>edited by John Updike<\/strong> and Katrina Kenison.<\/strong><\/p>\n

16. Collected Stories<\/em> by Frank O’Connor.<\/strong><\/p>\n

17. Stuart Dybeck’s<\/strong> “Pet Milk.”<\/p>\n

18. Alice Munro<\/strong>, Mavis Gallant<\/strong> and so many other great Canadian short story writers.<\/p>\n

19. Roald Dahl’s<\/strong> Kiss Kiss<\/em>, Switch Bitch <\/em>and other of his snarky, scary short story collections not meant for children.<\/p>\n

20. Hourglass Books<\/a>, <\/strong>which celebrates the short story and has published Falling Backwards<\/em>, Peculiar Pilgrims<\/em>, and The Long Meanwhile.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I will get better at posting every day. Lately the blog has been taking a backseat to my other duties as publisher, like working on the e-book and planning the launch and readings of Solace in So Many Words. But I can be remiss no longer, and I will now update the information on The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[273,257,264,18,256,255,263,127,225,259,254,224,253,271,276,266,268,233,75,269,270,260,262,274,258,197,124,261,275,265,267,7,272,104,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-alice-munro","8":"tag-amy-hempel","9":"tag-another-chicago-magazine","10":"tag-anthology","11":"tag-bernard-malamud","12":"tag-bluebirds-used-to-croon-in-the-choir","13":"tag-chicago-works","14":"tag-contributors-2","15":"tag-dan-wickett","16":"tag-daniel-chacon","17":"tag-emerging-writers-netweok","18":"tag-erika-dreifus","19":"tag-fiction-writers-review","20":"tag-frank-oconnor","21":"tag-hourglass","22":"tag-j-d-salinger","23":"tag-jim-shepard","24":"tag-joan-corwin","25":"tag-joe-meno","26":"tag-john-updike","27":"tag-katrina-kenison","28":"tag-kerry-langan","29":"tag-laurie-levy","30":"tag-mavis-gallant","31":"tag-melanie-rae-thon","32":"tag-michael-constantine-mcconnell","33":"tag-patty-somlo","34":"tag-paula-w-peterson","35":"tag-roald-dahl","36":"tag-rochelle-distelheim","37":"tag-ron-hansen","38":"tag-solace","39":"tag-stuart-dybeck","40":"tag-t-c-boyle","41":"tag-weighed-words","42":"entry","43":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":32,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":725,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691\/revisions\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}