In the last several years a movement has been underway to declare May the month of the short story. As there are no governing bodies deciding what months mean — and that itself would be a hair-too-whimsical of a short story plot — this is a grassroots movement. To contribute to that movement, I hereby present, every day this month, a short story link.
Are these the most famous of the form? Some are, but not all, as there is no need to remind people to read The Metamorphosis, The Lottery, and so on. That’s what high school English teachers are for. Instead, these are a selection of writers very dead, alive and newly read, or points in between. The only qualification is that these stories fulfill the one rule of good short story writing: a single idea done damn well.
TODAY: The Cavemen in the Hedges, by Stacey Richter
Twin Study, the Tucson writer’s short fiction collection from a few years ago, is the most consistently satisfying collection of the aughts. I love every single story in Twin Study but I think I love this story a little more. By the time you get to the drum circle at a derelict Pizza Hut, you will as well.
