Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
To be honest with all of you, at first I wasn’t sure if I should participate in this week’s prompt. I spend so much time reading new titles from authors I discovered years ago that I wasn’t positive I’d be able to come up with enough people to fill out all ten spots on this list.
Then I remember all of the short stories I read in the average year. My favourite genre has always been science fiction, and my favourite kind of sci-fi to read is the short stuff. There’s something immensely satisfying about seeing how much world- and charcter-building an author can squeeze into a few dozen pages…or less!
Not only will you get to read my thoughts on today’s list as usual, you’ll also be able to check out the stories that first introduced me to these authors for free if any of them grab your attention. How cool is that?
1. Author: Sara Norja
What I Read from Them: Birch Daughter
Why I Loved It: The main character’s mother was turned into a tree before the first scene began. If that’s not the makings of a must-read, I don’t know what is!
2. Author: A.C. Buchanan
What I Read from Them: Girls Who Do Not Drown
Why I Loved It: So many stories are written about young women dying in ghastly ways. I adored the fact that this steadfastly refused to be one of them.
3. Author: Shiv Ramdas
What I Read from Them: Guardian
Why I Loved It: For something that took only a couple of minutes to read, this sure did pack an emotional punch at the end. That’s all I can say without giving you all spoilers.
4. Author: Adam R. Shannon
What I Read from Them: On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog
Why I Loved It: So many of us have outlived beloved pets. Imagine what it would be like to be reunited with them again in this lifetime…or maybe even forever. If the death of animals is a trigger for you, you might want to skip this even though it’s not really meant to be a tearjerker.
5. Author: Kathryn Kania
What I Read from Them: Tablecloth
Why I Loved It: In the very first scene, a mischievous (and possibly magical) cat shows up in the main character’s life and refuses to leave. That was such a cat-like thing to do that I couldn’t help but to keep reading.
6. Author: Chesya Burke
What I Read from Them: For Sale: Fantasy Coffins (Ababuo Need Not Apply)
Why I Loved It: The unique title was what grabbed my attention at first. I stuck around because of how kind the main character was despite – or maybe because of? – the fact that people feared her.
7. Author: Beth Goder
What I Read from Them: How to Identify an Alien Shark
Why I Loved It: Now I know exactly how to identify an alien shark. Ha! Also, I love the idea of an alien invasion happening in our oceans because the invaders were an aquatic species.
8. Author: Alexandra Rowland
What I Read from Them: Love in Every Stitch
Why I Loved It: Sewing isn’t as easy as it might first appear to be, and even the most ornate handmade articles are rarely respected enough to be thought of as art. It’s nice to see stitches get the attention they deserve even if they aren’t quite the same sort of stitch you’d use to patch up a hole in a jacket or sew on a button.
9. Author: Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali
What I Read from Them: Talking to Cancer
Why I Loved It: I know I’ve wished I could talk to cancer before. It’s a truly awful disease that has prematurely ended far too many lives. The thought of actually convincing it to go away like the main character did in the first scene is too good to be true.
10. Author: Kristi DeMeester
What I Read from Them: With Lips Sewn Shut
Why I Loved It: The metaphor in it was outstanding. Oh, there’s so much more I want to say about it, but everything I can think of will give you unforgivable spoilers for why lips are sewn shut in this universe.
Who else loves short stories? I’m hoping at least a few Top Ten Tuesday bloggers will say yes to this question!
I don’t get around to reading short stories nearly as much as I should. I love them and sometimes you really only have enough time to squeeze in a short story. I’ve heard fantastic things about Kristi DeMeester. I’m going to have to check her stuff out myself one of these days. 🙂
Good for you! She’s a wonderful writer.
I love your list this week; these all sound amazing! When I’m next free I’m going to curl up and read all of these. I especially love the sound of How to Identify an Alien Shark – considering 71% of the earth is covered in water, it makes sense that an alien invasion might happen via the ocean rather than the land.
Yay! I’m so glad. I hope you love all of these stories. And exactly! Why wouldn’t aliens assume that the water was the best place to attack us!? It’s only logical.
What a cool list!
Thank you.
Wonderful list! I love short stories, but they don’t get enough attention. Tablecloth sounds great, too. I’ll definitely give it a read.
Thank you very much. I hope you love Tablecloth.
I haven’t read any of these but I also enjoy sci-fi and short stories so I should check them out. Great list here, and thanks for visiting my TTT! 🙂
You’re welcome. I hope you enjoy them.
What a great idea to read sci-fi as short stories, I must try it!
Thank you. Happy reading!
Great post! Thanks for stopping by to check out my TTT
You’re welcome. And thanks.
I haven’t read any of these authors. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome.
I have always wanted to add more short stories to my reading lists, but never seem to find the time. I really should change that this year.
Thanks for visiting my blog today!
You’re welcome. I hope you find lots of short stories that appeal to you this year.
I found it more difficult than I thought it would be to fill up 10 slots myself. We tend to like what we like. I am going to add With Lips Sown Shut to my TBR.
I couldn’t agree with you more there. I hope you like With Lips Sewn Shut.
I haven’t read any of these authors – but that doesn’t surprise me as I read very little science fiction and am not too keen on short stories. Maybe I should try some – Talking to Cancer sounds interesting.
I hope you like it if you try it.
Nice twist on the topic! I don’t read short stories or much sci fi, so I haven’t heard of any of these. I’m glad you found them and enjoyed them, though.
Happy TTT! Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier 🙂
You’re quite welcome.
Aww the pet one makes me want to cry!
I know, right? 🙂
On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog sounds like a great read! Thanks for the suggestion.
You’re welcome. I loved that story and hope you do, too.
These are SO GOOD! Thanks for this list! The alien shark, and the Glashtyn (are you familiar with SJ Tucker’s song about the Glashtyn?) and the Birch Daughter, and the Fantasy Coffin story…so good.
Aww, thank you. So glad you liked them. No, I’m not familiar with SJ TUcker’s song about the Glashtyn, but I’ll look it up!
It’s one of my favorites, and that’s saying something, because I ADORE SJ Tucker. So much fae music!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIN6zeOGYpA
That is so cool. Thanks for sharing it.
Great list! I love short stories, but don’t read a lot of sci-fi, so these are all new to me. I’ll be clicking over to check a few out. 😀
Yay! I’m thrilled.
Looks like you discovered plenty of new authors in 2018!
Yes, I sure did. I hope you did as well. 🙂
I haven’t discovered these authors yet. What a wonderful list.
Thank you very much.
Great list! So many of these stories sound awesome. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
You’re welcome. What a nice compliment. Thank you for it.
Since you like short science fiction, have you read The Lady Astronaut of Mars? It can be read in 20/30 minutes and is available for free on Tor.com. It’s written by Mary Robinette Kowal and packs a serious emotional punch.
This is a great list! I’ll definitely be adding How to Identify an Alien Shark to my list!
Yes, I have! It was an incredible story. Thank you very much for the recommendation, though, and I hope you like How to Identify an Alien Shark.
Ooooo girl, I love short stories and I haven’t found any that I’ve loved for a while! I’m definitely going to be checking these out! 😀
Yay! That’s awesome.
I need to make more time for short stories. I think my problem is that I tend to buy collections and then I’m never in the mood to read lots of short stories in one go. But I must remember I can just read one and put the book back on the shelf!
That happens to me, too. You absolutely can read them one at a time or even skip stories that don’t appeal to you right now.
Great list!
Thank you.
I haven’t read any of these but I’m glad you found so many new-to-you authors in 2018! I hope you find even more in 2019 🙂
Thank you, and same to you.
I haven’t read any of these, but I like the sound of Birch Daughter. Sounds like it has a real magical realism kind of feel, which is a genre I love.
Yes, it sure does. 🙂
I got teary eyed just thinking about the one with the pets. I would love to be reunited with my first pet, and I know I’ll be devastated once my two babies are I have now are gone. I do think it sounds like an amazing read though, so I’ll definitely check it out. I’m so curious about a lot of the stories you mentioned, so I’m going to add them on my TBR.
Yay! It’s always great to hear that. Yes, the one about seeing your pets again is quite the read. I really loved it.
I’ve never been much for short stories, I prefer big chunky novels (unless it’s a contemporary) or long series – mostly fantasy. But I do enjoy Sci-Fi occasionally and some of these sound pretty interesting!!
Thank you. I hope you get to read a lot of long fantasy novels this month.
Haha, thank you. I hope so, I’m having trouble reading much these days. 🙈
Those are all new to me ones! Glad you found so many new authors last year!
Thanks for visiting my TTT post!
You’re welcome, and thank you.
Oh, I love that you did short stories. I read a fair amount of them every year but I don’t think I’ve read any of those ones!
Thank you. I hope you enjoy them.
The short stories idea is great. I laughed at just the title “How to identify an alien shark.” That hooked me right there.
Thank you. Yes, that title was the best.
I’ve not read any of these authors yet, but Birch Daughter sounds fascinating!
Thank you. I hope you like it if you read it.
I don’t read many short stories outside of anthologies even though i tend to enjoy the stories that I’ve read. I hadn’t heard of any of these before I’ll try to check them out!
That’s awesome. Happy reading!
What a fun bunch of stories! I especially enjoyed numbers 2, 4, 5, 7 and 9 from the list. I used to read more short stories, but now I usually only do if I already know the author. I used to always check out the Best American Short Stories collection each year; I should start doing that again.
I’m so glad to hear that. Yes, the Best American Short Stories collection is a fabulous way to find new authors and short stories.
Is that a picture of your cat and dog or one from the book? On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog sounds super sad! I would think anything about pets dying would be a tear jerker?
Good question. I don’t actually have any pets due to my allergies.(If I could, I’d have all sorts of furry friends!) I found that photo here and thought it was perfect for this post: https://www.pexels.com/photo/orange-tabby-cat-beside-fawn-short-coated-puppy-46024/
I haven’t read any of these authors before! You have given me many to check out. Great post!
Thank you very much.
How To Identify An Alien Shark sounds kind of amazing because I love the idea of an alien invasion coming from the sea. I don’t know that I’ve read anything like that- but I’d like to!
I also love the idea of the Shannon book, as pet mortality and seeing beloved animal companions again is a fascinating topic as well. Thanks for putting these on my radar!
I know, right? It’s so creative .
And you’re quite welcome.
Great take on the topic! I hardly ever read short stories but every now and then I read a really great collection.
Thank you very much.
Such a great list! I’ll be sure to check these out this year =)
I’m glad to hear that.
I like how several of these stories seem to take a “what if” question, and then explore it.
I especially like the sound of an aquatic alien invasion 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. I love stories like that, too.
Wow! I have not even heard of a single one of these people! Some of their stories sound quite interesting, too!
Isn’t it fun when that happens? 🙂
I haven’t read any of these books, but they sound fascinating!
Thank you. I’m glad to hear that.
Oh my God, I really haven’t heard any of these authors. WIll check them out, You got me convinced to try their works. 🙂 🙂 Thank you for this amazing list
You’re welcome, and yay! I hope you love them.
All new authors to me in your TTT post this week. Happy reading to you in 2019!!
It’s always fun when that happens. Happy reading to you, too!
I’m glad you found so many new authors in short stories that you loved last year! I confess I don’t really read a lot of short stories, but I should start?! There’s so much talent in telling a concise tale!
Thank you. It definitely takes talent to write a good short story.
I don’t normally read many short stories, but these all do sound like great reads, especially the one about being reunited with pets who have died.
I’m glad to hear that. 🙂
Oh! Thank you so much for the links to the free reads. 👍✨ Most of these sound quirky and I adore a quirky tale. 😊
I will be linking this post in my Around the Web section of my January Wrap-up post, the first Saturday in February. Thanks for sharing your list. 📚✨
You’re welcome. I love quirky reads, too.
And I’m so excited that you’ll be linking to this post. Thank you! That made my day, and I’ll keep an eye out for it.
Very cool approach, focusing on short stories! I’m not familiar with any of these authors (and to be honest, I rarely read short stories). The Alien SHark story sounds amazing. Maybe I’ll check it out!
Thank you. Yes, the alien shark story is definitely worth checking out.
I recently read On the Day You Spend Forever with your Dog and bawled my eyes out! I will have to check out some of these authors, thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. On the Day You Spend Forever with your Dog was a fabulous read for sure.
I’m embarrassed to say that I haven’t read any of these authors. So many books, so little time!
There are so many great authors out there! If only we all had more time to read.
I don’t really read a lot of science fiction, mainly because I’ve only recently began discovering what kind of scifi I actually like but I’m definitely going to check some of these out!
Girls Who Do Not Drown and Guardian look interesting. 🙂
I hope you enjoy them. I think they’re great examples of what that genre can be.
This is such an intriguing list — in particular, what you said about Shiv Ramdas and Guardian caught my attention.
Thank you!
i haven’t read any books by any of these authors, but some of them sounds interesting! will check them out soon 😀
I’m glad to hear that. Happy reading!
Wonderful list! I really need to read more short stories.
Thank you. I hope you do.
I don’t often find short stories enjoyable. I always want more development of something. But this is a great list! I did enjoy Leigh Bardugo’s collection of short stories in Language of Thorns
What a wonderful compliment. Thank you very much. I’ll look up Leigh Bardugo’s work. It sounds interesting.
I don’t read enough short stories. Maybe if I did, I could write them better. So many of these sound amazing. Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog.
You’re quite welcome.
I love reading short stories and I’m so glad you shared your list! I’ll definitely have to check some of these out! 🙂
I don’t really read short stories so it was interesting to read your list. I might check some of these out. 🙂
I very rarely read short stories. What an interesting list! Thanks for stopping by my blog 🙂
You’re welcome, and thank you.
It’s the first I’m hearing of these authors. Tablecloth sounds adorable because of the cat.
Oh, it was a wonderful read!
On the Day You Spend Forever With Your Dog sounds like it would require a lot of Kleenex!
Hoping to create lots more room for short stories in my 2019. Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome. Yes, that was definitely an emotional story.
A lot of these sound really great! I’m definitely keen on reading “Birch Daughter” especially!
Thank you. I hope you love Birch Daughter.
I’m so happy to see that you’ve found so many great authors in 2018! I hope in 2019 you discover so many amazing authors! 🙂 Also: thanks for stopping by my blog!
Thank you, and you’re welcome.
Wow! These are all new authors to me. Thanks for sharing them.
You’re welcome. Thank you for stopping by.
I always feel like I’ll struggle to come up with ten books for topics like these. I do the same as you read new books by authors I discovered years ago, but we both managed it this week. 🙂
Great post. 🙂 ❤️
Thank you! I’m glad I’m not the only one who struggles sometimes.
Great post! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome.
I haven’t heard of any of these authors, but I’m glad you found some books to enjoy, Lydia. I hope 2019 has more great new stories and authors for us to discover. Happy reading – and thanks so much for the Finding Wonderland visit. 🙂
You’re welcome. Thank you for your kind words.
All these author are new to me. I’ll definitely be checking them out. Thank for sharing. 🙂
That’s awesome. You’re welcome.
I haven’t read any of those authors or books you’ve mentioned but the one about outliving your pets and being reunited with them, sounds really touching. I just know it would break my heart, but I’m intrigued and may check it out.
Happy reading to you.
Thank you. It was definitely an emotional read, but I do recommend checking it out if you’re comfortable reading that kind of stuff.
Great list. These all sound great. I haven’t heard of any of them before though.
Thank you very much.
I don’t get around to reading short stories nearly as much as I should. I love them and sometimes you really only have enough time to squeeze in a short story. I’ve heard fantastic things about Kristi DeMeester. I’m going to have to check her stuff out myself one of these days. 🙂
I’m glad to hear that! I hope you like her stuff.
I absolutely love sci-fi too but I’ve never thought about reading shorter stories in that genre. Now that’s something I’m going to look into, thank you so much for the idea and a list of where to start. Looks like you had an amazing 2018 and discovered so many wonderful ones! 🙂
You’re quite welcome. Yes, I had a wonderful reading year in 2018. I hope you did, too.
I haven’t read any of these, but I have been reading more short stories recently, and I agree that they’re wonderful!
So glad to hear that. 🙂