Last night I had the idea that it would be wonderful if people celebrated short story day by giving someone else a short story they love. A little like the Neil Gaiman instigated All Hallows Read which encouraged people to give someone a scary book on Hallowe'en. I got very excited thinking this could be a yearly tradition to go with Short Story Day and that it would result in lots of people giving short stories as gifts on the Winter Solstice. However, I have already failed at following through on my own idea for several reasons...
a) I couldn't choose a favourite story to give to someone, I found it impossible. I have favourite writers like Borges and Calvino, but still, it's impossible. So I decided to limit it to short stories I've read for the first time in the past year, but I still couldn't choose a favourite. I am useless at ranking things, measuring stories against each other for their worth is peculiar business and one I try to avoid when possible. Even if I narrowed it down to collections I've really enjoyed this year rather than a single short story I still couldn't choose. I am a promiscuous reader. This year I have particularly relished (in no particular order) collections by Nina Allan, Christopher Burns, Tim Nickels, Gyrðir Elíasson, Kelly Link, Roberto Bolaño, Michael Moorcock, Chris Beckett and Benjamin Rosenbaum, and then there are the anthologies I've loved like the Calvino edited Fantastic Tales, and then there are the many other short stories from print magazines like Interzone and online magazines like New Fairy Tales (of course I'm going to mention that one, I edit it!), and I have coveted and collected all of the Nightjar Press chapbooks, I could go on...
b) I couldn't decide who I would most like to give the story (I couldn't choose) to and how. There wasn't time to buy a book/magazine/chapbook. I am almost incapable of parting with my own books even if I know I will get them back and it wouldn't be a very good gift if I said the recipient could only borrow it. And then should I go for a family member? Friend? Neighbour? The first person I meet on the icy street outside? Should I give it to someone who I know doesn't read short stories, or someone I know who loves them? Should I indulge in a bit of bookcrossing? Print out a story from online and plaster it across my living room window?
Hmmm, rather than fail completely I'm cheating, here is a link to the last absolutely brilliant short story I read (I read it on Saturday after following a trail of links about psychogeography), it's online so it's easy to share and I'm sharing it with you. Happy Short Story Day!