TTT #148 – Favorite Novella’s and Short Stories

When it comes down to our favorites we tend to talk a lot about full length books. Of course the world revolves a lot around full length novels if you only glance at the books on the shelves. But sometimes we can forget all about short stories and novella’s. Because to write a good short story is hard. Very hard.

The story has to be able to fit in a short length while the balance between plot, characters and world building still has to be good. This can already be hard to manage in full length novels. And cutting out scenes and sentences has to be done with an even harder hand than with a longer novel I’d imagine.

So giving some attention to these short wonders every now and then is a good thing. I have to say that I am for the most part not a very big short stories or novella reader. There are only a few series where I have read all the short stories that are available. But I don’t often go out of my way to search them out unless I really love a series.

Below are a few that I thoroughly enjoyed though and that I will be sharing for this weeks top ten tuesday prompt (hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.)

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children 1) by Seanan McGuire
This is one of the longer stories on this list and it is a first in a series. But I really enjoyed this world and the characters.

Sunbolt (Sunbolt Chronicles 1) by Intisar Khanani
The more as time passes the more fond I get of this series. While the second book is for sure a full length novel, Sunbolt was not. It was our introduction to our character and this world and while I did have some issues with it, looking back on it I think I am a lot fonder of the story as I was initially.

Faith and Moonlight (Faith and Moonlight part 1 and 2) by Mark Gelineau and Joe King From this duo’s current works set in this world by favorite so far is Faith and Moonlight. It isn’t done and there are suppose to come more parts but there haven’t been any new additions in a while which is a shame.

Incendio by Tess Gerritsen
Incendio is a short story that Tess wrote for the Dutch thriller book week 2014. It is the only thing so far that I’ve read of her but she managed to surprise me at the end and that is what makes me keep thinking of this story. And makes me curious to try her books someday even if they are out of my comfort zone.

Bordelau, WI by Aimee Ogden. Featured in anthology Fell Beasts and Fair.
This one just stood out in its uniqueness to me with a librarian and a mummy that can heal. It was brilliant. I need more.

Blanche, Bearwife by Alena Sullivan. Featured in anthology Fell Beasts and Fair.
From the same anthology I was also very drawn to this romance story because the main character we followed was just so well written and I could just see so much of myself in her.

Weaving Silk by Amanda Sun. Featured in anthology Where the Stars Rise.
Perhaps not the most exciting one from this anthology but it was the one that stuck out the most to me during and after reading it. I liked the characters, the feel, the idea.

The Boy Who Cast No Shadow by Thomas Olde Heuvelt.
It’s been a while since I read it and I can’t quite remember what it was about. And yet when I saw this prompt this was the first story that I thought of.

Please remember to vote on the poll which book I should read for the Make Me Read It read-a-thon in August here. I’ll be closing the poll on August 1st.