Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. This week’s theme is:
July 17: Favorite Novellas/Short Stories
I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t read as many short stories as I’d have liked, but some of those I have read are worth shouting about.
Superior // This follows a superhero’s intern who meets and falls in love with a villain’s intern and guys. Let me yell about this book. Holy crap. It’s one of the cutest m/m stories I’ve read in ages and I honestly with it were longer (it’s only 50 pages) because I’d read a full 80k book about these cinnamon rolls.
You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay // This short story by Alyssa Wong was published in Uncanny Magazine issue 10 and boy was it good. It’s a sci-fi short story about a young boy and a monstrous desert.
The Language of Thorns // I’d find it hard to pick one story from this collection because they were all amazing but the f/f tale of a beautiful girl and the sea was wonderful. I’d highly recommend the whole collection though.
Burned Away // I read this short story ages ago but I remember it for its fiery (literally) main characters and their intense interactions.
Blessings // This is another short story published by Uncanny, this time by the wonderful Naomi Novik about drunk fairies and wishes that go awry.
Warm Up // My queen V. E. Schwab does it again with her tension-building writing in this short prequel story to Vicious. The main character in Warm Up ends up having a big part to play in Vicious.
The Awakening // Kate Chopin’s classic novella was pretty groundbreaking for its time, exploring the choice of infidelity that one woman makes to escape her trapping marriage.
Pump Six and Other Stories // Similar to The Language of Thorns, I’m finding it too tricky to pick just one if these stories because they’re all brilliantly imaginative, dark, and we’ll written. Please just read the whole anthology?
Life On The Refrigerator Door // I read this years ago back in high school, but the stylistic choices the author make have stayed with me to this day. This short novella is written in post-it notes that the main character Claire and her mum leave to each other because they rarely find time to see each other. Claire is always out through the day at school and her single-parent mum is often working when she gets back.
Convenience Store Woman // OK, I caved and included one story that I haven’t finished reading yet, but I already (from the first few pages) think it’s great. Convenience Store Woman follows a young Japanese woman, Keiko, who takes a job at a store while at university, but then continues to work there for the next 18 years until a new employee arrives and shakes things up.
What are some of your favourite short stories or novellas?
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So for the You’ll Surely Drown Here If You Stay the antagonist is a monstrous dessert? Like, chocolate cake? Hahaha is this like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs? 😁
I really love all the variation you have on this list! A classic next to fantasy books. So unique and fun 🙂 I think my favorite short story of all time (which isn’t saying much because I don’t read them very often) is O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi.
Yeah, I don’t read a lot of novellas/short fiction either, so the really good ones tend to stick in my mind! I really liked Language of Thorns too, much more than I thought I would considering I was actually kind of mixed on many of her Grishaverse novels!
If you’re a fantasy fan, try Brandon Sanderson’s “The Emperor’s Soul”. For science fiction, I’d recommend Martha Wells’ Murderbot novellas – 2 released and a 3rd scheduled for August – all wonderful stories. Cheers, Brian
Great list! I still need to read Language of Thorns and Warm Up, which I have no excuse for that last one since it’s so short and I loved Vicious!! 😄
You could probably read Warm Up in 15 mins – it’s so short and snappy! And I can’t recommend Language of Thorns enough, I ended up absolutely loving it. It’s also quite a short read and could be finished in a day if you had some free time 😊 Thanks so much for following my blog 💕