Read 2 Short Stories a Day — Batch 3
Read 2 Short Stories a Day — Batch 3
Introduction
I am studying short stories and storytelling by engaging with two short stories each day. For each, let’s try to find one thing to learn from it? This is batch 3.
Small Notes
Some stories are literally 12 times longer than others. Since I would rather not bias myself towards my collections of very short tales (and away from the 14k word masterpieces), I’m counting some stories as being “worth” more than one in this project.
Also: I missed last week’s post, and will post twice this week to make up for it. Pardon me, it was a crazy week. The worst part is the articles were pre-written, and I just lacked the time to edit them.
The Stories
The Isle of Missing Ships, by Seabury Quinn
Weird Tales, February 1926
This story is spectacular. It reminds one more of James Bond than anything else, and it is breathtaking. A fast-paced tale of adventure with passionate villains and imaginative situations.
The problem is that it is jaw-droppingly racist (as well as casually sexist). I can’t even bring myself to quote some of these passages, and believe me, there are quotes in here that would drop jaws.
What is to be done with this story? The best I can think of is this: perhaps we can do a study of it one day to find out what makes it tick, and then use those learnings to write a non-racist, non-sexist version. That could be a fun experiment some day.
Approx. 10k words, making it a novelette, so let’s call it 2 stories.
The (…) Woman
Unpublished
Read to provide feedback to another writer. If it is ever published, I will link to it.
What I found striking about it was how real the situation felt. When it was over, it felt a tiny bit like a memory, rather than like a story. This, I think, was due to the appropriate focus on the day-to-day details of the situation — all the little things. Awesome stuff.
Approx. 5k words
The Ocean’s (…)
Unpublished
A gothic story about a woman who discovers hints of the supernatural — and who simply must get to the bottom of it.
The language and rhythm was very enjoyable, but my favourite was the main character, who was at once both driven to investigate, and also prone to panic when she found what she sought. She was incredibly charming.
Like the story above, read it to provide feedback to another author. I selfishly asked them to make a series of stories featuring this main character. Few publishers want stories from a series though, so I imagine my wish is unrealistic.
Approx. 5k words? I forget.
Worms of the Earth, by Robert E. Howard
Bram Mak Morn (collected stories)
This one is complex, and while there is a lot to say about it, I would rather not comment on it in such a summarized way — not least because of how central race is to the setting of the Bram Man Morn stories…
Maybe I can write an essay about it some day.
Anyway, this was approx. 12k words, so I’m counting this as 2 stories.
The Vengeance of India, by Seabury Quinn
Weird Tales, April 1926
Speaking of stories about race, we are still in the early 20th century, so we have an unfortunate story about the peril of meeting somebody from India. I didn’t learn much from this one, except that I might want to skip Quinn’s stories from now on that mention islands or non-europeans countries or peoples. The racism is so distracting that I can’t tell whether it’s a good story or not in other ways.
Approx. 3500 words
Dream, Girl, by Patrick Barb
Cosmic Horror Monthly #25
Strong descriptive writing, great characterization, interesting premise. Reminds me how much mileage you can get out of concise, clear descriptions, and how much an intriguing, human premise can bring a piece to life.
It appears that Mr Barb also wrote The King of Youth vs The Knight of Death, which is in the next story batch.
Approx. 3300 words
The Horror-Horn, by E. F. Benson
The Horror Horn
Full writeup below!
Counting as 2 stories due to the writeup.
Theodore Sturgeon’s “It”
Unknown (the magazine)
This was meant to be another 2-part post, and was going to link to the story above, but it turns out that the story is not yet in the public domain.
Because of this, I’m going to have to rewrite the analysis of it. Perhaps I will convert it to a review. Apologies for this.
It was one of my favourites this year and I ordered an entire collection of his work after reading it.
At almost 13k words, and having a full writeup, I’m considering this 2 stories.
Skulls in the Stars, by Robert E Howard
The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane
Not that remarkable, except the characterization of Kane near the start.
Short Films
The Telephone, by Mario Bava
Black Sabbath
The first 5 minutes were great before it was ruined by the main character acting foolishly.
A woman is in a beautiful apartment; she receives creepy telephone calls (probably the inspiration for Scream); and she is in suspense about what it means and what to do about it. This works because the character authentically would not know what to do here, and it is grand.
What didn’t work was how the authenticity vanished, and the remainder of the plot revolved around the protagonist’s refusal to call the police.
Approx. 25 minutes.
Wurdulak, by Mario Bava
Black Sabbath
A count travels the countryside, discovers a dead man, and then finds himself staying at an inn where people are worried about Wurdulaks — a type of Russian vampire.
Again, there was a short period of fantastic dramatic tension when a certain character appears, and nobody knows what to do. This was excellent while it lasted!
I hope I don’t anger any Bava fans with these notes. I will try some of his other movies one day, but I don’t plan to finish Black Sabbath.
Approx. 45 minutes.
The Fall of the House of Usher, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe
Extraordinary Tales
The poor man, hearing her steps, hearing the sounds within the coffin — I think I understand what he is going through. What on earth is he to do? Shall he go to his dead sister, or shall he dismiss these ideas as madness? If he dismisses it, is he damning his sister? Very intense internal conflict here.
This reminds me that horror not the right name for the genre we play with, since horror is only a small part of the experience of the audience. The greater part is melancholy. It would better be described as gothic fiction.
Maybe the entire genre could be called “dark fiction” as a way to cover all the bases. I shall update my blog to use this term.
Note: I stopped the movie afterwards so that I could read Poe’s printed work first (or, at least, watch it with my lovely wife). I will return later. It is a great movie.
Approx. 15 minutes, but the original is approximately 7000 words, so I assume the story was heavily abridged. I will read the text version sometime soon, hopefully.
The Telltale Heart, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe
Extraordinary Tales
I found the printed version more compelling.
In particular, the killer’s extremely slow movements and obsessive preparations created a lot of tension in the print version. This tension did not translate to the short film — the killer’s actions felt much more rushed in this, so the buildup was less satisfying. The ending in the film was stronger than in the story, however — it felt more dramatic and energetic.
The narrator’s voice acting added a lot.
Approx. 10 minutes; the original story is approx. 2100 words.