Short Story Month Collection Giveaway Project
Filed under: Events, News, On Publishing, On Reading
Welcome to Short Story Month!
UPDATE, 6/1: Congratulations to the winners — Tommy, Ed, and Susan — who now have some amazing summer reading material on the way. And thanks to all of you who participated in the giveaway and for all that you do to keep short stories alive and well!
This year, I am happy to be joining other bloggers in the annual Fiction Writers Review Collection Giveaway Project, a community effort by lit bloggers to raise attention for short story collections. FWR Contributing Editor Erika Dreifus suggested FWR as a home for this project last year and will not only be participating on her own blog, but will also be helping FWR run the project. And those of you who are fiction bloggers yourselves, click here for information on how you can participate as well.
The only difficult part about this for me has been choosing a collection to give away…but I’ve finally narrowed it down. To three.
First, I’m happy to be giving away Erika‘s own collection, Quiet Americans, out this year and well worth the long wait! I first met Erika in a bookstore outside Boston, where we did a reading together as finalists for a short story award. So I’ve enjoyed her work for many years and was thrilled to have a whole collection of her haunting and thought-provoking stories to curl up with this winter. From a high-ranking Nazi’s wife and a Jewish doctor in prewar Berlin to a refugee returning to Europe as terrorists massacre Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the characters and conflicts that emerge in Quiet Americans reframe familiar questions about what is right and wrong, remembered and repressed, resolved and unending.
I’m also happy to be giving away Becky Hagenston‘s collection Strange Weather, which received the 2009 Spokane Prize for Short Fiction and was published by the fabulous Press 53. As with Erika, I’d already been acquainted with Becky’s work and with some of these stories through the many literary magazines they’ve appeared in, and I loved having the chance to overdose on them with this collection, which is nearly impossible to put down. From the visceral tension in the mother-daughter relationship in “Trafalgar” to the wonderfully witty ghost story “Anthony,” these stories offer us a delightful mix of magic and reality, while never losing their grip on the truths that draw us to stories in the first place.
And finally, I’m delighted to offer the wonderful collection The Bigness of the World by Lori Ostlund, now out in paperback. Winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, this beautiful book introduces us to characters venturing out into a world in hopes of escaping their troubles, only to find that life remains as complicated as it was before they left. You may have already read “All Boy” in Best American Short Stories 2010 (two additional stories from the collection, “Bed Death” and “Talking Fowl with My Father,” are on the list of Other Distinguished Stories) — and if you’ve already read Lori’s work, you’ll only want to read more.
To be entered to win, leave a comment on this post any time from now to midnight (Pacific time!) on Tuesday, May 31, 2011, at which time I’ll use a random number generator to select three lucky winners.
Happy Short Story Month! Go forth, read stories, and celebrate.
Tony
May 28, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Very cool contest! Love your site, and you insights!
Ashley
May 27, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Love!!
Suzanne Kamata
May 25, 2011 at 4:53 am
I would be thrilled to win any one of these books!
Miette
May 24, 2011 at 5:53 am
Hurrah for short fiction and those who write it. Double that for those who promote it and those who give it away. Do put my name in your hat, please!
Downith
May 23, 2011 at 6:26 am
Sign me up pls. I’m doing a give away as well
http://writeitdownith.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/instant-karmas-gonna-get-you/
Nora K.
May 18, 2011 at 6:29 pm
Oh, Midge! Seriously? Story collections are my absolute delight. Random number generator, huh? Hmmm. xxxooo
Susan C.
May 15, 2011 at 5:25 am
I so need some short stories to sit by the garden with.
Gillian Walters
May 14, 2011 at 6:35 pm
What a dream! Each author looks amazing. I’ve been meaning to read Ostlund for some time.
Tawnysha Greene
May 10, 2011 at 5:40 am
How wonderful! I am hosting a giveaway at my blog, too! The link is here:
http://tawnyshagreene.blogspot.com/2011/05/winners.html
Short Story Slore
May 9, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Sign me up please. Thanks for the opportunity!
Terry Gibson
May 6, 2011 at 2:26 pm
I love short stories too. They were what first stoked my love of writing, reading. and the whole adventure in between. Please add me to your list. Thanks.
Carla Kirby
May 5, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I’m up in Sandpoint, ID and would love to curl up with one of these books. Please add me to the list. I write a monthly free “Kidz Reading Tips” newsletter and am raffling a “Leap Frog” talking map game. If anyone has young children in their life & would like to receive helpful reading tips email: carla@kidzreadingtips.com
Ed Lucas
May 5, 2011 at 10:19 am
Short stories inspire me to write and think like a writer.
VictoriaMelekian
May 4, 2011 at 9:19 am
Fun! I want to win, and if I don’t, I’ll go buy the books:)
Brent Allard
May 3, 2011 at 5:53 pm
Great idea! Sign me up!
Tommy
May 3, 2011 at 11:39 am
Sign me up! I love story collections!
Shanti
May 3, 2011 at 9:58 am
Thank you for this opportunity to possibly add more great short fiction to my library!
Midge
May 3, 2011 at 8:14 am
Susan, I’m happy to say that my book is being given away by Erika Dreifus! Here’s a link to her blog:
http://tinyurl.com/3bbqn97
Susan Rich
May 3, 2011 at 8:08 am
Thanks, Midge — What a great idea but where is your book? I’d be happy to win anything you recommend!
Sean Truman Farley
May 3, 2011 at 6:59 am
Oh heck yeah, you can put my name in the hat. This should be fun! Thanks, Midge.
Rebecca Raymond
May 2, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Sign me up! They all look like fabulous collections!
Erika Dreifus
May 2, 2011 at 12:16 pm
What Lori said! 🙂
Lori Ostlund
May 2, 2011 at 9:42 am
Midge, thanks! Also, sign me up for a shot. The other two look great.
Jeannine Hall Gailey
May 2, 2011 at 8:37 am
Sign me up! I would love any of those books 🙂 Short stories are my favorite thing to read…next to poetry of course!