[Tagalie]

Well, they are, aren't they? Little bite-size chunks of ideas that you can read during a bus journey. I think it's actually more difficult to create a convincing reality, introduce strange concepts and rounded characters in a few pages than it is over the course of a novel, where the writer can afford to be more liberal in their description. It's quite a skill to grab the reader's attention, draw them into a SF world where alot of things may have to be explained, keep the plot going and then not leave the reader feeling like they don't know enough.

I've just finished rereading Asimov's Bicentennial Man collection, and straight after read Philip K Dick's Minority Report collection and it was really interesting to compare the styles. I was absolutely blown away by Dick's short stories; each one could have been developed into a fairly long novel and the variety of dystopian ideas was breath taking.
I remember reading some of Aldiss' stories last year and thinking how deceptively simple they were; so short and blunt. But every word used for maximum effect.
There doesn't seem to be much point to this post so far, does there- I'm probably preaching to the converted. But I'd like to ask if you prefer short stories to novels, and if you can recommend any other writers who excel in this difficult genre.
By the way, is there such a thing as a Fantasy short story?! Or do they all have to be 900 page tomes in 10 book series?!

[Vitriol]

I'd reccomend 'Legends' - fantasy short stories by famous authors. There are some really excellent ones in there.

[This message has been edited by Vitriol (edited April 25, 2002).]

[fortytwo]

About a year ago I read a series of four PK Dicks' collected short stories.
Beyond Lies the Wub
Second Variety
The Father-Thing
Days of Perky Pat
This is a man who had the knack of writing short stories and I highly recommend them.

[Cadfael]

In general... I prefer a longer novel. But I do like shorties, it is the mark of a great writer IMHO when he/she can convey a lot of detail (and meaning!) in very few words... short stories by their very nature demand this.

[Rob B]

I have never really been a reader or fan of short stories.

Vitriol, the stories in Legends are not really short stories, more like novellas/short novels.

[Bond]

Short stories in general or for sci-fi? Would The Devil and Daniel Webster by Stephen Vincent Benet qualify as fantasy? I love his short stories but they aren't genre pieces more like Americana.

[Kamakhya]

I get into short stories. I love Gardner Dozois' annual collection. I also like collections that tie in with universes, for example, Peter Hamilton's A Second Chance at Eden. LeGuin also has numerous good short story collections.

[fortytwo]

One theme I like in science fiction is the humam race outsmarting those nasty aliens.A E Van Vogt wrote a brilliant short story about this called the Resurrection/The Monster (same story).Eric Frank Russell seemed to be keen on this idea also as he wrote many short stories about the same thing.
Having been reading s.f. for quite a while it is my impression that the newer authors don't go in for it quite as much.Perhaps because there aren't so many magazines in the genre anymore.

[fortytwo]

What I meant to say was that a lot of short stories were written for magazines like If/ Galaxy etc. I don't see so many around these days.

[asimovian]

Tagalie, try Sandkings by Orson Scott Card.
From reading this one short story I feel Card is a talent probably comparable to a Stephen King.
Robert Heinlein wrote very interesting short stories. I don't remember their names, nor the names of the series they were part of, but definitely worth a read. No horror at all, another kind totally.