Elijah David

John Barth, author of Lost in the Funhouse , once said that writers tend to fall into one of two categories: sprinters and marathon runners, meaning they tend to excel at short stories or novels. Ever since I first read this description, I have identified strongly with it because, like Barth, I rarely find myself wanting to sprint (write a short story). Most stories that I'm inspired to write come to me as fully fledged novels. However, just because I don't tend to write short stories doesn't mean I don't enjoy reading them. I recently was reminded of a short story collection I read four years back and was inspired to track down a copy to read again. In that spirit, I'm listing out my Top 10 Short Story Collections. They are, in roughly ascending order: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie This loosely connected collection of stories deals with the Native American/Amerindian/First Nations experience in modern America. It's a skil...

Currently Writing:   Merlin quartet book 2 Currently Reading:  Dune by Frank Herbert                                 The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien (Reread)                                 The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket (audio)                                 Daughter of Light by Morgan Busse (Kindle)                                 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki Tad Williams once wrote about the difficulties of writing second books (and sometimes third books, in his case) because they are essentially the middle of the story of a trilogy (or quartet). As such, these middle books must begin and end i...