Short Story Obsession

Recently I bought a bunch of old issues of Granta magazine online and have been reveling in my love for the short story.

It all started with the Best New American Voices 2008. I was about to get it on a whim, then I saw that it contained a story by Garth Risk Hallberg, whose book A Field Guide to the North American Family was one of my favorite reads of 2007. He also blogs for The Millions, which I read every time it updates. Anyway, buying the book suddenly went from whim to intentional purchase...and since then there's been no turning back. Every spare second has been spent with a short story.

While I devoured a few stories in the Best New American Voices collection, I have been completely overcome by the Grantas I purchased. I don't know how they are so consistently good. It's the same way I feel about the New Yorker and the Colbert Report. Day after day, week after week, or quarter after quarter, you can count on great writing and interesting choices. For now the Best of Young British Novelists 2003 is sitting on the coffee table, and a story by Ben Rice is calling my name. If you listen carefully, you'll probably hear it calling your name, too.