Friday Buzz - What's new in short stories

Happy Friday, everyone! Here are some random happenings going on in the short story world:

June 1 New Yorker: Works by two of the best short story writers are featured: William Trevor and George Saunders. Check it out!

Steven McDermott collection: Storyglossia editor Steven McDermott's new collection Winter of Different Directions is now available. Storyglossia was recently named Best Online Publication by Million Writers.

Charles Baxter on the craft of fiction: Short story master and novelist Charles Baxter has a new book coming out: The Art of Subtext.

Reading how you're read: This article examines how you can evaluate criticism of your fiction.

Thoughts for Thursday - A guzzle of dyspepsia

Dyspeptic. Isn't that a good word? Means both "indigestion" and "disgruntled." I like a word that is a multi-tasker. Barkeep! Another round of dyspepsia! And fresh horses for the men!

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There are none so blind...as those trying out new contact lenses. I've been on these new soft lenses that are like putting half a grapeskin into each eye in order to try to correct my failing nearsightedness while still addressing my woefully inadquate farsightedness. The half-a-grapeskin solution is in lieu of 1) adjusting to bi- or tri-focal glasses or b) permanently searing my corneas with laser surgery. I am holding out that the lenses will eventually work, but now everything is sort of hazy, like through a sheet of Saran Wrap. This isn't a good view for an editor...

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Oh, lists are fun. Especially when they are lists of the favorite movie adaptations by prominent intellectuals. Now I can have a TBV (to be viewed) list in addition to my old standby, the TBR list.

I am going to start another list, that of the "most adaptable author." And for me, gotta go with Henry James. "The Heiress," "The Innocents," and "Wings of a Dove" are all excellent films. E.M. Forster comes in second, with "Passage to India," "Room with a View," and "Maurice." Please feel free to join in with your favorite adaptable authors.

Top 10 satires

Here is a good list from the UK Guardian on the "Top 10 Satires."

The only one I've read is Catch-22 (long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away).

Coupla TBRs in here:
1) Um, didn't know Cervantes wrote stories.
2) Dickens, always.

What he missed (!!!):
Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain
Animal Farm, George Orwell (which I have yet to read)

What are your favorite satires?Has anyone read some of the Guardian choices? Any recommendations?

Looks like I will have to select a Selected Satire Month for my 2008 reading!

Diddling with Edgar Allan Poe

From "Diddling Considered as One of the Exact Sciences," (a mock scientific treatise) by Edgar Allan Poe:

A crow thieves; a fox cheats; a weasel outwits; a man diddles. To diddle is his destiny....Diddling, rightly considered, is a compound, of which the ingredients are minuteness, interest, perseverance, ingenuity, audacity, nonchalance, originality, impertinence, and grin.


Source: The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe and the Invention of Murder by Daniel Stashower

Now, go forth and diddle.