Tag: Spring Break Short Story Recommendation

SubscribeStar Saturday: The King in Yellow Review

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Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive.  To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.  For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.

The artwork for today’s post is the cover of the instrumental piece “Yellow Knight,” from my upcoming release Four Mages.  The album releases on 2 May 2024, and a YouTube video for “Yellow Knight” (linked above) will go live on 14 May 2024.

Recently I purchased a copy of Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow, a classic work of “weird fiction” that would inspire writers like H.P. Lovecraft.  It’s a book I’ve wanted to read for sometime, especially with the idea of a malevolent play that is so terrible and beautiful, it drives anyone who reads it mad.  That play, of course, is the titular The King in Yellow, the text of which—beyond a couple of snippets—is never quoted in the book.

The book is a collection of ten stories, the first four of which share the thread of the infamous play.  The rest of the book consists of stories that take place mostly in Paris, specifically the Latin Quarter, and revolves around the lives of young American art students in the City of Light.  Indeed, Chambers published In the Quarter, a collection of stories about the Bohemian lives of the Latin Quarter’s residents, a year prior to the publication of The King in Yellow.

The four proper TKiY stories are quite good, and succeed as horror stories that unsettle, more than they scare.  The hidden gems of this collection, however, are the Latin Quarter stories, which depict a freewheeling, fun-loving period in French history before the unhappy days of the First World War ruined France and the West forever.

I reviewed one of those stories, “The Street of the First Shell,” earlier this week.  Today, I’d like to examine the entire book, which really is two shorter books in one.  There are the stories clearly connected to the “Yellow King” mythos.  The rest are all stories that take place in the Latin Quarter.  Unlike “The Street of the First Shell,” however, most of the rest are comedic romances, though some are a bit heavier than others.

To read the rest of this post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more.

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.  Any purchases made through those link result in a bit of additional revenue for yours portly, at no additional cost to you.

TBT: Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2023: “The Bottle Imp”

The Portly Politico4 Comments

One of my favorite short stories from last year’s Spring Break Short Story Recommendations was Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Bottle Imp.”  It tells the story of a Hawaiian sailor who finds a bottle.  Inside the bottle is a terrifying imp, one that will grant wishes, but the owner of the bottle is doomed to Hell.  The only way to avoid that fate is to sell the bottle, but the bottle must be sold for a price lower than what they paid for it.

It’s a fun little story that, despite some heavier moments and some genuine suspense, warns against quick riches and deals with the infernal.  The Hawaiian setting is also unique, and gives the whole story a quirky bent.

With that, here is 12 April 2023’s “Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2023: ‘The Bottle Imp’“:

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Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2024: “The Street of the First Shell”

The Portly PoliticoLeave a comment

Recently I purchased a copy of Robert W. Chambers’s The King in Yellow, a classic work of “weird fiction” that would inspire writers like H.P. Lovecraft.  It’s a book I’ve wanted to read for sometime, especially with the idea of a malevolent play that is so terrible and beautiful, it drives anyone who reads it mad.  That play, of course, is the titular The King in Yellow, the text of which—beyond a couple of snippets—is never quoted in the book.

The book is a collection of ten stories, the first four of which share the thread of the infamous play.  The rest of the book consists of stories that take place mostly in Paris, specifically the Latin Quarter, and revolves around the lives of young American art students in the City of Light.  Indeed, Chambers published In the Quarter, a collection of stories about the Bohemian lives of the Latin Quarter’s residents, a year prior to the publication of The King in Yellow.

The four proper TKiY stories are quite good, and succeed as horror stories that unsettle, more than they scare.  The hidden gems of this collection, however, are the Latin Quarter stories, which depict a freewheeling, fun-loving period in French history before the unhappy days of the First World War ruined France and the West forever.

Of those stories, my favorite is “The Street of the First Shell,” which takes place during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.  It is a thrilling depiction of the privation and struggle of that conflict, and of the doomed Parisian defense against the Prussian siege.

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TBT^2: Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2022: “Witch’s Money”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

It’s SPRING BREAK, baby!  Finally, at long last, yours portly has eleven glorious days (counting weekends) to recuperate from a rather brutal semester, before slogging through one more round of it.

I typically experience severe burnout about twice a year, and it has hit hard lately.  I’m sleeping poorly, working constantly, and eating excessively.  My overall health has suffered, and I need to shut down for a few days.

Shut down—and read short stories!  Every year I offer up my Spring Break Short Story Recommendations, which will start up next week.  But here is a little preview of a past story recommendation.

With that, here is 6 April 2023’s “TBT: Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2022: ‘Witch’s Money’“:

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Lazy Sunday CCVII: Stories

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This blog loves the arts, but especially the short story as a form.  The short story is incredibly versatile, and can explore many of the themes of a novel without the time commitment.  Often, less is more.

This Sunday, I thought I’d look back at three genres of short stories:  ghost stories, Southern fiction, and science fiction:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Lazy Sunday CXCVIII: Spring Break Short Story Recommendations 2023

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Another Spring Break is in the books and I’m back to the grind tomorrow.  It’s five weeks of classes, one week of exams, and one week of teacher meetings until I’m free—free!

Before heading into the final leg of the school year, here’s a look back at last week’s Spring Break Short Story Recommendations:

Happy Sunday—and Happy Reading!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2023: “The Bottle Imp”

The Portly Politico2 Comments

While visiting family over the long Easter Weekend, my mom had me go through a collection of her old books, inviting me to take whatever I wanted (with the [stated] ulterior motive of clearing out my parents’ house).  Among the treasure trove of books was my mom’s 1963 Scholastic book sale edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  In that edition are a few of Stevenson’s short stories, including the subject of today’s edition of Spring Break Short Story Recommendations, “The Bottle Imp.”

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Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2023: The Haunting of Hill House

The Portly Politico6 Comments

Today’s installment of Spring Break Shorty Story Recommendations is actually not a short story, but rather a novella or short novel, Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House.  My copy is the 1984 Penguin Books edition, which runs at about 246 pages of text.  That seems like standard novel length, but the print is a bit large, and while there are distinct chapters, the book feels like a very long short story or a shorter novel.

Nevertheless, it’s my blog and I have decided to feature this chilling novella in this year’s Spring Break Short Story Recommendations.  It is a classic of the haunted house genre, and is a powerfully psychological tale.

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Spring Break Short Story Recommendation 2023: “Barn Burning”

The Portly Politico5 Comments

In lieu of the typical Monday Morning Movie Review today, I’m dedicating most posts this week to reviews of short stories (and possibly one short novella).

Spring Break has sprung, which means it’s time for my annual Spring Break Short Story Recommendations.  Spring Break is one of the few times each year where I find myself with the leisure time necessary to read literary (and non-literary) short stories, and to celebrate this wonderful format.

It seems that in our age of hyper-connectivity and bite- (and byte-) sized content, we’re either reading massive amounts of digital fast food (like this blog), or settling in over the course of many evenings with long-form novels.  My perception could be completely slanted towards my own experience—quite likely—but I get the sense that the noble short story has suffered somewhat.

(A quick aside:  for the best bite-sized writing I’ve yet to find on the Internet, check out Stacey C. Johnson‘s blog Breadcrumbs; her writing is so inviting and mysterious, and probes at the interesting corners of life.  Check out her piece “Survey of Poetry“; it’s excellent, and it’s about a mischievous [and real!] octopus.)

Even if I’m wrong about that assessment, I am right about this one:  the short story is a form worth preserving.  I have long harbored, though not acted upon, ambitions to write a collection of short stories; perhaps I’ll one day put cursor to digital paper and get the thing done.  My own incalcitrance, however, is no reason for you not to read (or write!) short stories.

All philosophical ramblings aside, let’s get to today’s short story:  William Faulkner’s “Barn Burning“:

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