Books and beyond

Short Stories written with both punch and panache satisfy the reader and get the story told quickly. A short story collection makes for a good lunch-time read and is just right for that bedside-table book.

Have you read all your favorite author’s books? Chances are a short story or two have escaped your notice. Recent short story collections include: All the Time in the World: New and Selected Stories, by E. L. Doctorow, published in 2011; John Grisham’s Ford County: Stories, published in 2009; George R.R. Martin’s short stories, published in 2007 as Dreamsongs volumes 1 & 2; and for fans of Colorado author Connie Willis,The Winds of Marble Arch and Other Stories, published in 2007.

Short story collections with multiple authors are sure to contain at least one story by a favorite author. For instance, the 2011 collection, It Happened One Season, features novellas by Mary Balogh, Stephanie Laurens, Jacquie D’Alessandro and Candice Hern. Or, if you want stories with a bit more bite, try the 2008 collection Dead after Dark, with stories written by Sherrilyn Kenyon, J.R. Ward, Susan Squires and Dianna Love.

Do you long for just one more story by Raymond Chandler or Erle Stanley Gardner? Try The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, 1116 pages of vintage crime and mystery.

 Finally, you just might want to revisit the most famous short stories of all, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” available as a DVD, audio book or print book. The first Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887, and the oeuvre is still going strong today. Movies, TV shows and a stream of new books that feature Sherlock Holmes are a response to the endless demand for just one more story starring the inimitable detective.