The Short List

I love short stories. When done well, they are a window frame, a walk through a single house, a photograph which allows the imagination to create a story which continues past the final sentence. Here are a few I've read again and again and again, each time captivated by the worlds or characters they create in a short amount of space. I deliberately picked ones most people may not have heard of: maybe I'll do a list which includes Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Bradbury and other famous names at a future time. 






"The Swimmers", by Randi Ewing, published online in American Short Fiction.
Here, an earth-shaking event rocks the world, making everyone question and theorize. Yet, more quickly than you'd think, the event is absorbed into everyday life, becoming the new normal. The line "We stared at it until it seemed normal, and then we forgot about it", is powerful in how it could translate to many parts of life. The writing is clear and concise, moving quickly through the central narrator's life, yet with vivid details which give it an intelligent breadth.
http://americanshortfiction.org/2012/07/01/i-am-web-exclusive-four/





"A Tiny Feast", by Chris Adrian, published in The New Yorker.
Oberon and Titania, the fairy king and queen from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream", take in a human baby boy. When he becomes sick past any fairy magic they possess, they are lost in a world of hospitals and doctors. Of course their true splendid faces and powers are too much to show the hospital staff, so spells cover them in normality. It is fascinating to read and picture what is seen by the doctors versus the flurry of pixies and brownies rushing to obey the will of their rulers. Titania's regal and dismissive line, "You will do your mortal thing" - about the boy's treatment - has stayed with me since I first read it. Though highly creative, it's a more difficult read. A sobering look at immortals colliding with human sickness and frailty, as well as dealing with difficulties in their marriage. Not for everyone. (Sadly, the author turned the story into a full-length book which, in my opinion, was a terrible mess. The strange, imaginative story stands on it's own, for those who can take the grief it encounters.)
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/04/20/a-tiny-feast




"Healthy Start", by Etgar Keret, translated by Miriam Shlesinger, published in TinHouse.
Likely, you've had the experience of meeting up with someone new for the first time in a public place.  You set up the time and location via phone or email. Maybe it's business, or maybe it's a friend of a friend who is new in town. Maybe it's a blind date. In this compelling short story, a lonely man named Avichi who eats breakfast at the same cafe every morning is mistaken for someone else. Instead of waving the stranger away with, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong guy,", Avichi allows the stranger to sit down across from him and begins to act as though he is indeed the man who the stranger came to see. From then on, Avichi makes a point to pick out the people looking around for the stranger they are supposed to meet with, nodding them over and diving into the conversation as they lead. It is the greatest game of ad-lib, with lonely Avichi becoming any number of characters depending on who is sitting across from him and what they seem to expect.
http://www.tinhouse.com/blog/13255/from-the-vault-etgar-keret.html




"The Key-Bearer's Parents", by Sian Griffiths, published in American Short Fiction.
Here's something to briefly note: I very strongly dislike clowns. As many people do. Yet I get that many people also love them very much, and love being them. Here, we have the story of a pair of gentle clown parents, who are increasingly sad both that their only son is embarrassed by them, and that he can't seem to get a handle on what he wants to do with his life. "Children should have aspirations," they think. "They should believe in their own future, if nothing else". However with every turn they support him, encourage him, until he choses a role which many consider to be highly controversial. It is this newly-created fictional position - the Key-Bearer - which is morally shocking, an idea which could easily be explored in a whole book. Yet it is the quietude of the storytelling, the weight of misunderstanding from very caring parents, which lends added depth to the brief tale.
http://americanshortfiction.org/2017/01/03/the-key-bearers-parents/