My New Shorts

I've read a couple of really brilliant short stories this week.

When she was sixteen, my mother saw a freak show for the first time.

That's the first senstence from Kit Whitfield's Plain Useless (available online for your reading pleasure). It's a fascinating story about ... well, just read it and see for yourself. I loved it.

The second one is by Amanda Davis. I've read about this author several times in the past few years, and finally got around to ordering her collection of stories, Circling the Drain, a few weeks ago. We started to get mail again yesterday, and the book was one of three parcels that apparently had gotten held up in the strike.

I read the first short story, Prints, this morning and it is simply beautiful. It's only three pages long. Even if you don't want to buy the book, go to the bookstore and read this story.

Once you do, I bet you'll go ahead and buy the book ... and you'll probably be just a little sad that she died so young.