Modern day short story writers.

[TheRoyalist]

It makes sense to read one fiction book at a time and that is my modus operandi. However, I can dip in and out of factual books and short story anthologies. I am familiar with all the “classic” writers of the short form (de Maupassant, Poe, Chekhov etc.) and their works are freely available online.

What I would like to know is if anybody could recommend any modern authors who excel at the short story. I would then sneak a peek at these books in Waterstones.

[dfloyd]

If you mean modern 20th century authors, one of the best is Somerset Maugham. He wrote a plethora of short stories; he was a fan of Chekov, and I consider him a better writer. I have his collected short stories in four volumes. Some of his best are his Ashendon stories about The Geat Game played in WWI. One of his most famous stories is Rain.

[Night_Lamp]

I have a collection of Carol Shield's short stories that is very good.

[eric.bell]

You might try any years' selection of The O. Henry Award Prize Winners. I cannot recall how long it is that they have been being published, but they are always a great read.

I would also recommend T.C. Boyle's After the Plague and other stories.

[stlukesguild]

Flannery O'Connor, Hemingway, J.L. Borges, Julio Cortazar, Italo Calvino, W.S. Merwin, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Tomaso Landolfi, Stig Dagerman, Raymond Carver, Donald Barthleme, John Barth, Sherwood Anderson, Robert Walser, Augusto Monterroso...

[Jozanny]

Royalist: If you want living and somewhat established literary figures, Lorrie Moore, Stephen Dixon, Alice Monroe. I will not recommend David Foster Wallace because he is not really a traditional short story teller, and he is a difficult author--and for me that admits much, as I like to work for my supper, but Wallace was a college tennis player, and it shows, since he serves his audience sledge hammers over the net, and he is, of course dead.

The forum is great for a lot, but no one knows anything about contemporary writers, except me, as I publish with them.

I can add more to this, if you like. Zadie Smith is very *in vogue* but from what I know of her, the modern British cultural diversity scene isn't high on my list, and if you'd like a post-Soviet survivor who knows the tropes of Western pretensions, there is Tatyana Tolstaya. She is a distant relation to the Tolstoy, and has been around since the 80's.

[WuWei]

Flannery O'Connor, Hemingway, J.L. Borges, Julio Cortazar, Italo Calvino, W.S. Merwin, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Tomaso Landolfi, Stig Dagerman, Raymond Carver, Donald Barthleme, John Barth, Sherwood Anderson, Robert Walser, Augusto Monterroso...

All of these are just great.

Carver is quite obviously THE short story writer, as far as contemporary literature goes.

[kelby_lake]

Mansfield?

[TheRoyalist]

Sheesh! A lot of names I am not ashamed to say I have never heard of, thanks to everyone for their choices and adding to the backlog of reading I have to do; no bother, it's what we're here for I suppose.
I must apologise and ask if anyone could provide information about the content/genre of the stories mentioned. Sorry, I should have said this in my original comment.

[morgana]

Flannery O'Connor, Hemingway, J.L. Borges, Julio Cortazar, Italo Calvino, W.S. Merwin, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, Tomaso Landolfi, Stig Dagerman, Raymond Carver, Donald Barthleme, John Barth, Sherwood Anderson, Robert Walser, Augusto Monterroso...

Great list! My favourite is Cortázar. I read some of his stories in highschool. So I bought a couple of his books: "Bestiario" and "Historias de cronopios y de famas". The latter is surreal. The "Instructions' manual" in that book is amazing. But for starters I recommend "Bestiario". Great stories. Chilling stories, like "Lejana", "Circe" & "Casa tomada".

Another great author is Horacio Quiroga, from Uruguay. His stories set in the Amazon jungle remind me of "The Jungle Books". And the horror stories... are like Poe's. On Amazon (the website, not the jungle), I found a compilation of his short stores (translated into English).

[stlukesguild]

The best volume of Cortazar available in English (one of the only volumes currently in print) is the anthology, Blow-Up and Other Stories. There are indeed some marvelous stories by Cortazar in this volume which I must have read at least 15 years ago.

[Jozanny]

Sheesh! A lot of names I am not ashamed to say I have never heard of, thanks to everyone for their choices and adding to the backlog of reading I have to do; no bother, it's what we're here for I suppose.
I must apologise and ask if anyone could provide information about the content/genre of the stories mentioned. Sorry, I should have said this in my original comment.

Surely you could use Google, or a book site search? Part of learning to be a discerning reader is self-education.

I do not have issues with people making the usual lists, I myself just miss the currency of living writers interacting with and learning from our successful peers; it is not truly part of this Network's virtual culture.

[OrphanPip]

Joyce Carol Oates is a good contemporary short story writer. I, unfortunately, don't read as much contemporary fiction as I should.

Edit: If you like sci-fi, Ursula K. LeGuin is probably the greatest short story writer in the genre writing today.

[lavendar1]

Best living short story writers IMHO are Alice Munro, William Trevor, Tobias Wolff, George Saunders, Aimee Bender, and Joe Meno. Their styles are all very different--a testimony to the range and resilience of the short story.

[Jozanny]

Joyce Carol Oates is a good contemporary short story writer. I, unfortunately, don't read as much contemporary fiction as I should.

Edit: If you like sci-fi, Ursula K. LeGuin is probably the greatest short story writer in the genre writing today.

LeGuin is fairly old school in terms of digital age authors Pip. Same can be said for Oates; whatever she had she long sold it to celebritology. Huston is something of a traditionalist, but he knows the terrain of cyber punk culture, which is the current rage, along with the urban graphic novel. Look into Sam Landstrom, Steven Hall.

[TheFifthElement]

Look into Sam Landstrom, Steven Hall.

Hey Jozy are we talking 'The Raw Shark Texts' Steven Hall? I love that book.

HOLY SMOKES! I just looked him up and flipping heck we went to school together. Damn. I guess he got the talent in our year.

And he knows David Mitchell. I'm so green right now.

[Jozanny]

Hey Jozy are we talking 'The Raw Shark Texts' Steven Hall? I love that book.

Yes, and I am glad to hear it--I will let you know when I start it, as I am trying not to devour all the modern new stuff right off. I start one or two with about 3 or 4 classics and old non-fiction which I am forcing myself to read and note. But I do have my nose into Wallace, the man with the mind that couldn't shut off. I like the Oblivion collection, but don't envy it, and wouldn't want to write like Wallace. His talent is similar to Mitchell, but Mitchell isn't a nihilist. Wallace seems to be, in that the precision of his language simply buries emotional integrity. He is hard for me to take, as much as I like difficult writers, Wallace provides me a glimpse of my limits.


And he knows David Mitchell. I'm so green right now.

Well, it is nice to see you around even in that color! Been missing your posts, lady!