Books, Writing, Life

1. Night Shift by Stephen King. Is there a bad story in this collection? “Battleground,” perhaps. But as far as I’m concerned, every story in this book is a miniature masterpiece — a must read for any King fan. And anyone who has read The Stand and Salem’s Lot can’t help but enjoying both “Night Surf” and “One for the Road.” My favorite stories would have to be “Graveyard Shift,” “I Am the Doorway,” “Strawberry Spring,” and “The Man Who Loved Flowers”; but if you asked me tomorrow, I’m sure I’d give you a different answer. Might even include “Battleground.”

2. The October Country by Ray Bradbury. Once upon a time, Ray Bradbury published a collection of dark fiction called Dark Carnival, which is out of print. The October Country has taken its place as the best collection of Bradbury’s weird brand of horror fiction. Stories like “The Dwarf” and “The Crowd,” in which nothing particular fantastic happens, leave their searing images in your mind. But for me, the best story in this collection — the one that both chilled me and filled me with the longing of youth — is Bradbury’s first published work, “The Lake.”

3. The Elephants of Posnan and Other Stories by Orson Scott Card. This audiobook is an assortment of tales, both speculative and mainstream, by one of my all-time favorite sf writers. OSC himself reads two of the stories — “The Elephants of Posnan,” a fine science fiction tales, and “Feed the Baby of Love,” which proves that Card and write mainstream fiction with the best of them. Hearing the original “Ender’s Game” was tremendous fun, and part of me thinks it’s better than the novel. But the story I remember most from this collection is the ghost story, “Lost Boys.” I listened to it during a walk on a hot day here in Texas, and I got the chills and goosebumps during certain scenes.

4. The Nick Adams Stories by Ernest Hemingway. I have a thing for coming-of-age stories. I’ve loved almost everyone I’ve ever read. The Nick Adams stories, read together, is one of the best coming-of-age story that I know. From his boyhood (“Indian Camp”) to adolescence (“The Battler”), from his time in World War I (“In Another Country”) to how the war affected him back home (“The End of Something”), to adulthood when he became a father of a boy (“Fathers and Sons”), these stories give us small glimpses into the most profound events that shaped Nick Adams.

5. Strangers and Beggars by James Van Pelt. Despite the fact that this post is about my favorite short story collections, I’m not much of a fan of short fiction. I tend to like long and involved tales. But James Van Pelt’s fiction is so good that I could read his stories any day. The reason why? Because Van Pelt writes stories of hope, stories filled with grace; salvation and damnation are present in his stories. There’s not a bad story in this collection, but my favorite is “The Diorama.” (PS — Van Pelt also writes a blog called “A Place for Strangers and Beggars,” which you can find here.)