Goal: Read 52 short stories in 2017, piece of cake for me--but there is a twist!
"Before you get start reading, come up with a roster of fifty-two stories (you can use any source) and assign each one to a playing card in a standard deck of cards. It can be fun to use different suits for different types of stories, but that is optional. I’ve often included one wild card for each suit too, so I can maybe read a story I’ve heard about during the year, or read another by an author I’ve discovered through this challenge. Each “week,” (if you’re like me, you may occasionally fall a story or two behind – that’s okay) you draw a card at random from your deck and that is the story you will read. "
You can add your own twist (the sponsor is including 13 essays) to make it even more challenging.
My own twist? Each suite will have a theme: Spades--translated into English; Hearts--original language English; Diamonds--found on Project Gutenberg (can be translations or original English); Clubs--different format (narrative poem, short play or skit, graphic, clever title, narrative essay, etc.); Jokers--Pick something from another participants roster.
Update: I will note in red date when I read each story.
Update: I will note in red date when I read each story.
SPADES (translations)
A Fish Spine by Santiago Nazarian (in The Future is Not Ours) (1/21/2017)
K Razor Blades by Lina Meruane (in The Future is Not Ours(12/2/2017)
Q It's me! by Ekaterina Togonidze (in Best European fiction 2015) (4/1/2017)
J Bird man by Kaja Malanowska (in Best European fiction 2015) (2/18/2017)
10 Learn to love the one who eats your porridge by Kristīne Ulberge (in Best European fiction 2015) (10/21/2017)
J Bird man by Kaja Malanowska (in Best European fiction 2015) (2/18/2017)
10 Learn to love the one who eats your porridge by Kristīne Ulberge (in Best European fiction 2015) (10/21/2017)
9 Night drive by Rubem Fonseca (The Taker And Other Stories) (2/4/2017)
8 Gimpel the fool by Isaac Bashevis Singer (in Collected Stories I) (4/22/2017)
7 Joy of Traveling by Jung Young Moon (in A most ambiguous Sunday, and other stories) (7/29/2017)
6 In Our Forties by Kojima Nobuo (in Long Belts and Thin Men) (9/16/2017)
5 Fog and Fire (two very short fictions) by Nenad Joldeski (3/4/2017)
4 Cafés Morts by Maïssa Bey (6/17/2017)
3 Cosmo Girl by Nadia Villafuerte (4/8/2017)
2 Egyptian puppet by Vicente Molina Foix (in Lunatics, Lovers and Poets: Twelve Stories after Cervantes and Shakespeare) (8/12/2017)
HEARTS (Original language English)
A Hill clan cross by Frank Bill (in Crimes in southern Indiana) (12/9/17)
K Outside Kandahar by Lucas Flatt
Q This is paradise by Kristiana Kahakauwila (in This is paradise) (4/29/2017)
J The Giving Up Game by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan (1/14/2017)
10 Happy This, Congratulations That That by Lauren Fox (8/19/2017)
9 The cat in the attic by Valerie Martin (Sea Lovers: Selected Stories) (11/18/2017)
7 Referential by Lorrie Moore (in The best American short stories, 2013 (12/16/17)
6 Train by Alice Munro (in The best American short stories, 2013 (1/28/2017)
6 Train by Alice Munro (in The best American short stories, 2013 (1/28/2017)
5 Ministry of the Interior by Louise Kennedy (3/25/2017)
4 The relive box by T. Coraghessan Boyle (in Watchlist : 32 stories by persons of interest)(6/3/2017)
3 California by Sean Bernard (in Watchlist : 32 stories by persons of interest) (8/26/2017)
2 The Pedersen kid by William H. Gass (in In the heart of the heart of the country, and other stories) (6/24/2017)
DIAMONDS (Gems from Project Gutenberg)
A The Eyes Have It by Philip K. Dick (2/25/2017)
K An Occurrence at Owl Creek, by Ambrose Bierce (2/11/2017)
Q The Past by Ellen Glasgow (in The Best Short Stories of 1921 (12/23/2017)
J The Fair Imperia (in Droll Stories, Complete, by Honore de Balzac) (9/9/2017)
10 The Boar-Pig (in Beasts and Super-Beasts by Saki) (11/25/2017)
9 The Piazza (in The Piazza Tales by Herman Melville) (9/30/2017)
8 The Ice Palace (in Flappers and Philosophers, by F. Scott Fitzgerald) (5/13/2017)
7 The Gay Old Dog. By Edna Ferber (in The Best Short Stories of 1917) (7/15/2017)
6 In the Forests of the North (in Children of the Frost by Jack London) (4/15/2017)
5 The Hermit and the Wild Woman (in The Hermit and the Wild Woman and Other Stories, by Edith Wharton) (10/7/2017)
4 The Vacant Lot (in The Wind in the Rose-bush and Other Stories of the Supernatural, by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman) (11/11/2017)
3 The Punctiliousness Of Don Sebastian (in Orientations, by W Somerset Maugham) (5/6/2017)
2 The Red-headed Windego (in Old Man Savarin and Other Stories, by Edward William Thomson) (10/14/2017)
CLUBS (something "different")
A The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut by Mark Twain (on my Kindle) (8/5/2017)
K No Direction by Miguel Alcantud, Santiago Molero (a micro-play) (2/11/2017)
K No Direction by Miguel Alcantud, Santiago Molero (a micro-play) (2/11/2017)
Q Life in the Qandil Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan by Linda Dorigo (photo essay) (7/8/2017)
J Secret Coders: Lost & Found by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes (comic) (1/7/2017)
J Secret Coders: Lost & Found by Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes (comic) (1/7/2017)
10 The Bronze Horseman: A Petersburg Tale by Alexander Pushkin (narrative poem) Oops! I forgot this was on the list and read it when I was on my Pushkin jag, will make it a WILD CARD (6/10/2017)
9 Prah by György Spiró (short play) (9/2/2017)
8 Collection by Camille Meyer (flash fictions) (7/22/2017)
7 The Song the Owl God Himself Sang, “Silver Droplets Fall Fall All Around,” An Ainu Tale (11/4/2017)
6 Identities in Motion My Mythomanias by Julia Schoch (essay) (5/26/2017)
5 ROY-G-BIV B/W by Charlie Clark (poem, in Bat City review #8) (3/18/2017)
4 East of the Web's story of the day on the day I draw this card (10/28/2017)
3 Why I Can No Longer Look At A Picnic Blanket Without Laughing by Yukiko Motoya (postmodern) (5/20/2017)
2 The Wild Pandas of Chincoteague by Gregory J. Wolos (because, I may not chose a book by its cover, but I'll chose a short story for its title.) (7/1/2017)
2 The Wild Pandas of Chincoteague by Gregory J. Wolos (because, I may not chose a book by its cover, but I'll chose a short story for its title.) (7/1/2017)
JOKER ???? to be decided when I pull the card (9/23/2017)
JOKER ???? to be decided when I pull the card
What's left is to decide which day to pull the card - Maybe Thursday...
What's left is to decide which day to pull the card - Maybe Thursday...
Great list! And congrats on being the first Deal Me In participant over the years to incorporate the Jokers into the challenge as well (I may steal that idea). I love seeing how everyone comes up with their own wrinkles on this challenge, which in its first few years was pretty vanilla and homogenous.
ReplyDeleteI've only read four or five of your selections and look forward to hearing about the others. Frank Bill has made several appearances in my previous DMIs though not this year (and not the story you chose). How did you hear of him? Are you also in Indiana, by chance?
Thank you. No I'm not in Indiana. Way back in Sept 2014 I picked up some books at a campus library lobby sale. Three bargains at 10 cents each: The Story of Lucy Gault, William Trevor; The New York Trilogy, Paul Auster, and Crimes in Southern Indiana, Frank Bill (love the cover);
ReplyDeleteso far Lucy Gault is the only one I've read, but I have an ARC of Auster's new book, so my attention was drawn to that old purchase. About time.
I read a lot of short stories so I tried to get a mix on my roster. Love Gutenberg as a source. As for the Jokers, adding them means two weeks when I'll do two stories.
Looking forward to the challenge, thanks for doing it!