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I've a freshly graduated journalist friend who wants to improve her writing. She feels that the emotional core in her work is too sterile. Part of the problem, I think, is that while she reads a ton of literature, she rarely ventures out of her comfort zones (biographies, news, modern dramas). To shake things up a bit, I want to give her an assortment of short stories in genres she's not accustomed to, like horror, fantasy and sci-fi, or just generally weird poo poo. Do ya'll think you could give me some recommendations? And it'd be awesome if I could throw in as many female authors as possible into the mix.
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# ? Jul 18, 2016 11:01 |
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# ? May 7, 2024 18:17 |
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Stephen King, Survivor Type Richard Matheson, I Am Legend HP Lovecraft, The Shadow Over Innsmouth Harlan Ellison, I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
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# ? Jul 18, 2016 12:39 |
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Looks good! Thanks.
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# ? Jul 20, 2016 16:33 |
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"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut is some classic dystopian fiction from, well, Vonnegut. "Who Goes There?" by John W Campbell Jr. is a brilliant short sci-fi thriller. It was the original basis for John Carpenter's The Thing and the 2011 sequel. "The Light of Other Days" by Bob Shaw is another bit of science fiction, but it's a lot more personal and deals with human emotions and how people deal with a specific type of speculative technology. It's pretty great! These are short story collections, but are totally legit: "One Good Story That One" by Thomas King "The Long Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in the Heavens" by Sherman Alexie "Pastoralia" by George Saunders
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# ? Jul 22, 2016 02:47 |
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"Magic For Beginners" and "Secret Identity" by Kelly Link "Spar" and "The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles" by Kij Johnson "Writ" and "Girl Meets Boy" by Ali Smith "Rebecka", "Aunts" and "Jagannath" by Karin Tidbeck "Mongolia" (From Ghostwritten) and "The Wedding Bash" (From The Bone Clocks) by David Mitchell "The Bloody Chamber" and "The Lady of the House of Love" by Angela Carter "A View of the Woods" by Flannery O'Connor "The Swan" and "Death of an Old Old Man" and by Roald Dahl
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# ? Jul 22, 2016 09:06 |
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"The Family of the Vourdalak" by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy "Carnacki the Ghost Finder: The Whistling Room" by William Hope Hodgson "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson "'The Dunwich Horror" by H.P. Lovecraft “Details” by China Miéville "Dress of White Silk" by Richard Matheson "Ligeia" by Edgar Allen Poe "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad'" M.R. James
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# ? Jul 22, 2016 21:54 |
"The Situation" by Jeff Vandermeer. Probably more of a novella, though. Maybe some Borges?
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# ? Jul 23, 2016 11:50 |
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"Game" by Donald Barthelme (you can read it here for free: http://www.latexnet.org/~burnt/Game.html) - pretty much anything Barthelme writes is awesome. His stuff tends to be very unconventional in terms of structure and style. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates - She might have already read this one, but it's a great piece of fiction with a sense of creeping dread that is way more effective than most outright horror fiction. Also, check out short story collections by Amelia Gray, Karen Russel ("Reeling for the Empire" and "The Graveless Doll of Eric Mutis" are two stories in particular that get into some weird literary horror), and Julia Elliot. And seconding Saunders, his stuff is consistently great. edit: Almost forgot, "Revenge," by Yoko Ogawa is another neat collection with a bunch of really dark, interwoven stories that get pretty surreal at times. Grizzled Patriarch fucked around with this message at 06:17 on Jul 27, 2016 |
# ? Jul 27, 2016 06:14 |
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# ? May 7, 2024 18:17 |
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Wow, thanks ya'll! Some really interesting, diverse titles. I think she'll be super pleased.
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# ? Aug 7, 2016 12:28 |