Lightning on the Page
The mighty (short) story
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Yesterday was my third story collection Direct Sunlight’s publication date, and apropos of this, I’ve typed below a number of story collections that come readily to mind - in no particular order - books I’ve read (or plan to read as soon as they’re released) over the last ten or twenty years. (Not an inclusive list! Any omissions are due to fatigue - I know quite a few story collection authors, and doubtless have managed to miss a few of them here.)
At the end of this post, I’ve also noted some short story collection-friendly presses.
Open Secrets, Alice Munro
All Aunt Hagar’s Children, Edward P. Jones
The News from Spain, Joan Wickersham
Fools, Joan Silber
Vanished, Karin Lin-Greenberg
Break Any Woman Down, Dana Johnson
How to Walk on Water, Rachel Swearingen
Outside Is the Ocean, Matthew Lansburgh
Last Car Over the Sagamore Bridge, Peter Orner
Driving in Cars with Homeless Men, Kate Wisel
Aliens in the Prime of Their Lives, Brad Watson
White People, Allan Gurganus
It’ll Ease the Pain, Frank J. Edwards
Happiness Like Water, Chinelo Okparanta
Morning Will Come, Billy Lombardo
That Thing Around Your Neck, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Era of Lanterns and Bells, Ann Tinkham
Stop That Girl, Elizabeth McKenzie
Once Removed, Colette Sartor
What Isn’t Remembered, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry
Out Loud, Anthony Varallo
In Envy Country, Joan Frank
The Universe in Miniature in Miniature, Patrick Somerville
Early Sobrieties, Michael Deagler (forthcoming)
An Off-White Christmas, Donald G. Evans
Please Come Back to Me, Jessica Treadway
Heads of the Colored People, Nafissa Thompson-Spires
Small in Real Life, Kelly Sather (forthcoming)
Turf, Elizabeth Crane
How to Whistle, Gregg Shapiro
The Fear of Everything, John McNally
In the Country, Mia Alvar
In Persuasion Nation, George Saunders
What You Don’t Know About Men, Michael Burke
If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery
We Love Anderson Cooper, R.L. Maizes
Useful Phrases for Immigrants, May-lee Chai
Fantasy Kit, Adam McOmber
Swarm Theory, Christine Rice
Drift, Victoria Patterson
The New Order, Karen Bender
Bobcat and Other Stories, Rebecca Lee
The Coast of Chicago, Stuart Dybek
Responsible Adults, Patricia McNair
Cardinal and Other Stories, Alex Higley
All That Man Is, David Szalay (marketed as a novel but it’s really a story collection - it is *great*)
The Question of Bruno, Aleksandar Hemon
Adult Teeth, Jeremy T. Wilson
Memory Sickness, Phong Nguyen
Lost Women, Banished Souls, Garnett Kilberg Cohen
The Evening News, Tony Ardizzone
The Jungle Around Us, Anne Raeff
Best Worst American, Juan Martinez
Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes, Merrill Feitell
Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, Yiyun Li
Glory Days, Melissa Fraterrigo
Paris Stories, Mavis Gallant
Mixed Company, Jenny Shank
The Sweetheart Is In, S.L. Wisenberg
The Bigness of the World, Lori Ostlund
Is It Sexual Harassment Yet? Cris Mazza
Ayiti, Roxane Gay
Wild Life: Collected Works, Kathy Fish
Slut Lullabies, Gina Frangello
One Dog Happy, Molly McNett
Letters from Dinosaurs, Leland Cheuk
Confessions of a Polish Used Car Salesman, Mark Wisniewski
Strange Attractors, Janice Deal (forthcoming)
Antarctica, Claire Keegan
At-Risk, Amina Gautier
Jinwar and Other Stories, Alex Poppe
Friendly Fire, Kathryn Chetkovich
Married But Looking, Dan Libman
Music for Wartime, Rebecca Makkai
Add This to the List of Things That You Are, Chris Fink
Until We Have Faces, Michael Nye
Rainbow, Rainbow, Lydia Conklin
The Surprising Place, Malinda McCollum
American Salvage, Bonnie Jo Campbell
This Far Isn’t Far Enough, Lynn Sloan
Pigeon Feathers, John Updike
Short story collection-friendly presses:
TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press
University of Wisconsin Press
University of Massachusetts Press (they administer the Juniper Prize for Fiction)
Milkweed Editions
Graywolf Press
University of Notre Dame Press
University of Georgia Press (they administer the Flannery O’Connor Prize)
University of Nebraska Press (they administer the Prairie Schooner Prize for Fiction)
Small Beer Press
Cornerstone Press
Permanent Press
New Door Books
Queen’s Ferry Press
Two Dollar Radio
Counterpoint Press
Catapult Books
University of Rochester Press