The Short Story

Reading and writing the short story!
by Charlie Leck

I continue to cultivate a keen interest in the modern short story even though there are not a great many writers giving time to the technique in our day. One would actually be hard-pressed to create a very long list of contemporary writers who are publishing significant short stories. Too bad! If you have a fascination with such stories, you might want to look for works by Richard Russo, Chuck Palahniuk, Mark Helprin (The Pacific) and Stephen King (one of King’s works that ranks among my favorites is Stand By Me). There are lots of memoir accounts out there that readers often mistake for short stories because they’re written that way. However, it is difficult to find many top-notch fiction short story writers. The literary web site, East of the Web, does have a sizeable list of writers who are today publishing short stories, but I can't vouch for how good they might be. You may want to take a look.

My Short Stories
I have developed this exciting habit of setting aside three hours for writing every day. This is time in addition to my blog writing. I end up writing memoir accounts and fiction (usually short stories). I’ve published a few of those short stories (shorter ones) here on my blog. I appreciate the kind and helpful reactions I’ve gotten from so many readers.

My latest short story, In Flanders, is now available for those of you who are interested in reading it and making comments to me about it. It is available for you in PDF format (which will also make for easy printing if you wish). It is approximately 23 pages long. Just go here and then select In Flanders.