Bright Shiny Objects: Short Stories for Short Attention Spans
by Tania Runyan
We’ve all got a lot going on: Families. Jobs. Kitchen counters overflowing with bills, charging cords (half of which don’t work), and rapid COVID tests brewing up what we hope are single pink lines. It’s no wonder it’s often difficult to sit down and get fully immersed in the world of a book.
When reading times get tough, though, you don’t have to give in to watching cat videos from the early aughts. You can harness the energy of your short attention span by focusing on the bite-sized beauties of short stories and poems. This week, I’m passing along the excitement of eight diverse short story collections. And to help you decide which collections to read, I’ve provided a sampling of intriguing story titles from each volume to give you a feel for genre, content, and mood. Dive in, click, and take a few precious moments to do something you don’t have time not to do — read!
Life Among the Terranauts, by Caitlin Horrocks
- “Norwegian for Troll”
- “Better Not Tell You Now”
- “The Untranslatables”
Interesting Women, by Andrea Lee
- “Full Moon Over Milan”
- “Dancing with Josefina”
- “About Fog and Cappuccino”
How Long ’til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin
- “The Ones Who Stay and Fight”
- “The Narcomancer”
- “Sinners, Saints, Dragons, and Haints, in the City Beneath the Still Waters”
The Hidden Girl and Other Stories, by Ken Liu
- “The Gods Will Not Be Chained”
- “The Gods Will Not Be Slain”
- “The Gods Have Not Died in Vain”
Knife Fight and Other Struggles, by David Nickle
- “The Exorcist: A Love Story”
- “Oops”
- “Drakeela Must Die”
How Are You Going to Save Yourself, by JM Holmes
- “What’s Wrong With You? What’s Wrong With Me?”
- “Kinfolk”
- “Everything Is Flammable”
Hits and Misses, by Simon Rich
- “The Foosball Championship of the Whole Entire Universe”
- “Physicians’ Lounge, April 1st”
- “Adolf Hitler: The GQ Profile”
Barefoot Dogs, by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho
- “Okie”
- “I Clench My Hands into Fists and They Look Like Someone Else’s”
- “The Arteaga Family Tree”
