Who Reads Short Shorts?

Released today is the latest installment in the annual anthology of the "finest crime and mystery stories" as selected by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenburg, this year titled A Prisoner of Memory: And 24 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories. The short-story authors include a roll call of the bestselling mystery authors today, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, Anne Perry, Marcia Muller, and many others. Publishers Weekly had this review:

"Drawing more than half their selections from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Gorman and Greenberg offer a star-studded lineup of crime and mystery stories published in 2007 in their latest anthology. Among the highlights are Jeffery Deaver's "Making Amends," which plays a deadly twist on a popular TV sitcom; Sandra Scoppettone's "Everybody Loves Somebody," which will fool most readers; and Doug Allyn's "Dead as a Dog," which pits a harried husband against a deadly hunter. Other notable entries include Loren D. Estleman's "The Profane Angel," about Hollywood legend Carole Lombard, and Brendan DuBois's "Country Manners," in which a rural New Hampshire PI gives the FBI a lesson. Jon L. Breen provides a critical overview of the year, while Sarah Weinman, who chose four online stories for the volume, supplies a brief survey of online mysteries."

I have to admit I love these anthologies. I finally got my hands on the first one which was published in 2000, and have been trying to read a few stories each night before bed. Although the quality varies a little bit, there really aren't any clunkers in the lot, and Gorman does a fine job trying to include a wide variety of styles. You do tend to see the same names cropping up from year to year, but whether that's due to salability issues (short stories are notoriously difficult to market), or simply the same cream rising to the surface very year, it's hard to say. But ultimately it doesn't matter, because there's something for everyone to love, even folks who may not think they even like short stories.

Comments

[Martin Edwards]

I love anthologies - and short stories generally - too. Ed Gorman is not only a very good editor but is himself a master of the short form and The Collected Ed Gorman, published recently, contains a number of gems.

[BV Lawson]

Yes, I'm very grateful to Ed for helping support and actively promote short crime fiction. I checked one of his older anthologies out of the library today. Can't seem to get enough...

[Terrie Moran]

Hi BV,

I've been waiting for this. Thanks for letting us know it's been released.

I am a huge fan of Ed Gorman and I ,too, am grateful that he is a major proponent of mystery short stories.

I await delivery of his new novel Sleeping Dogs. Now I'll have to go hunt down this anthology.

Terrie