Having completed several short story anthologies and collection and reading others, I have been thinking about short fiction more and more. There’s something to the brevity and the intensity of the narrative as a story rushes into fruition in a strict, clearly marked space. Even the silent ones, when written right, can leave just a distinct impression as a fully realized novel would. Writers have to see the magic, catch it in a single snippet and let it ripen for those with an ear to collect it for other’s enjoyment. Ann VanderMeer has gathered more succulent fruit than any other editor I have heard of and she has been doing in so in various projects, all of which beautiful and heavy with honey-juiced, creative fruit.
I may have said it elsewhere, but it’s worth saying it again. I have only the utmost respect for the VanderMeers, two of the great luminaries of fantastical fiction, because it’s rare to see anyone as industrious and committed to their work (vocation really) as this husband and wife duo. I’d very much like to imagine both as the lit-geek incarnation of Bonnie and Clyde, only armed with red pens and riding into the night with bags of the most precious stories.
You can see I’m a fan, right?
