Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Music at Long Verney

I pounced on this short story collection in a second-hand bookshop in the Lanes in Brighton, silently crying 'Why have I never heard of you before?' (and on typing that I realised that I really must, MUST join the Sylvia Townsend Warner Society, and did so.) I hadn't paid enough attention to STW's short story … Continue reading Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Music at Long Verney →

Laura Riding’s Progress of Stories

Here's a conversation I had with Brad of The Neglected Books Page, about Laura Riding's short story collection Progress of Stories (1935). This American author is most well-known for her marriage to the poet Robert Graves, and for her own poetry. KM: I didn't like them. Well, I did like quite a lot about quite … Continue reading Laura Riding’s Progress of Stories →

Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Karen Russell’s short stories

Reading short stories is a calming way to drop off to sleep: you start, you finish, you think about maybe reading one more, you turn the light out. Zzzzz. Not so with Karen Russell: her genius and enticing weirdness makes you read the whole damn lot in one go. She's published two collections of stories … Continue reading Now posting on Vulpes Libris: Karen Russell’s short stories →