David Appleby's Blog › Guest Editor Picks…

Guest Editor Picks by David Appleby

Published 9 months ago

 My predecessors had a couple of things in common: one, they all knew a good thing when they saw it, which was being asked to serve as Guest Editor—it was an honor and a compliment, so they wrote, and I certainly agree. All of them had sent their ‘thanks’ to Fiona for this special opportunity. I do so now.

 I had wondered if the previous Guest Editors thought of the task Fiona gave them—selecting six stories from the great number of stories, so many of them excellent short stories—and then commenting or reviewing them for this blog. When they looked for the six, did they think ‘best’ short story or ‘favorite’ short story? Just wondering.

But I thought too about the writers of these six stories…what drove them to writing fiction, short stories of all things, the unforgiving form compared to the novel? In painting, think watercolor to the short story as you would oil to the novel. Any painter will tell you that in working with oil mistakes and errors can be hidden, painted over; working in watercolor on the other hand, is another matter entirely: make a mistake and you are exposed and less able to recover the painting. So it is with the short story, a difficult form indeed.

And so oil or watercolor, novel or short story…fiction, writing fiction, why do we do it? Listen to Philip Roth: “…Once one’s writing, it’s all limits. Bound to make sense of it….If you want to be reminded of your limitations virtually every minute, there’s no better occupation to choose. Your memory, your diction, your intelligence, your sympathies, your observations, your sensations, your understanding—never enough. You find out more about what’s missing in you than you really ought to know…”

 I don’t know if the six authors I have selected think, or felt this as they wrote their stories, but if they did, surely in these particular stories, they’ve exceeded the inherent limitations Philip Roth speaks of.  So, that said, congratulations to these six short story writers for choosing to write, and for producing these outstanding short stories.

Read David's reviews

• Swansong by Sam Chesterton
• Wedded Bliss by Diane Dickson
• Must End Monday by Mandy James
• Cumin, And Other Spices by Dina Murphy
• Island Of Mist by Kate Smart
• Picket Fences by Sarah Hinkle

Share This Blog Post

Recommend this blog post to other social networking services such as Twitter and Facebook.