APRIL 7, 2020 – marks the release of my short story collection And Then We Vanish

Over the years, apart from blogging, I’ve discovered the most constructive way to hone my narrative skills and channel my creativity has been through writing short fiction.  This journey has produced an ever growing menagerie of short stories and even prompted me to create my own digital literary magazine (that sadly didn’t last too long – but what fun it was while it lasted!).

Published Works:

• “Anthrax and Cherry Blossoms” – August 2019, Digital – A Million and One Magazine
• “When Night Falls on Niagara” – May 2019, Digital – Eunoia Review
• “Boko Haram’s Greatest Hits” – April 2019, Digital – A Million and One Magazine
• “coldspace” – March 2014, Digital –  Eunoia Review
• “Down Gallow’s Way” – December 2013, In Print – Red Moon District – the 2013 anthology from Underground Voices
•  “The Ballerina in Battery Park” – May 2011, In Print – Scratch Anthology Volume 2 – awarded 3rd Place in Scratch’s 2010 Spring Quarterly Contest.

The Stone – a digital literary magazine available exclusively through the Kindle App that sought contributors from across the globe, both established and independent writers – was launched in December of 2011 and produced its last issue in March of 2013.  The following stories of my own appeared alongside the stories of other talented writers:

• “Shore to Please”
• “Puddle Jumpers”
• “Night of the Spider”

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To my fellow writers, please check out “The Outsiders” links on the sidebar for some great literary magazines, that are treasure troves of great stories and potential places to submit your writing. Many have frequent contests in addition to standard submissions.

Here are some past posts on short fiction from here at The Schleicher Spin:

• William Faulkner’s Two Soldiers Shall Not Perish – pretty self-explanatory
• No One Said it Would be Easy – a look at editing and tips for writers (including more great links to contests)
• Bring out the Dead – a celebration of the short story form and the greatest short story of all time, James Joyce’s “The Dead”

Here are some of my favorite short story writers and their essential works:

• Russell Banks (The Angel on the Roof collection)
• Ann Beattie (Park City collection)
• Raymond Carver (Will You Please Be Quiet? collection)
• J. California Cooper (Some Love, Some Pain, Sometimes collection)
• William Faulkner (“Two Soldiers”, “Shall Not Perish”)
• Graham Greene (“The Basement Room”, “Cheap in August”)
• Shirley Jackson (“The Lottery”, “Elizabeth”)
• James Joyce (Dubliners collection)
• Jhumpa Lahiri (“Interpreter of Maladies”)
• Joyce Carol Oates (“The Fish Factory”, “The Lost Brother”)
• Flannery O’Connor (The Complete Stories)
• Edgar Allan Poe (“Murders in the Rue Morgue”)
• Annie Proulx (“Them Old Cowboy Songs”)
• George Saunders (The Tenth of December collection)
• Kurt Vonnegut (“A Present for Big Saint Nick”, “Just You and Me, Sammy”)
• Richard Yates (“A Glutton for Punishment”, “A Really Good Jazz Piano”, “Oh, Joseph, I’m so Tired”)

I also consider the annual Best American Short Stories collection essential for any purveyor of the form or serious reader.

Readers and writers alike are invited to share their favorite stories and writers, tips, links and thoughts on the craft through the comments section.

– D. H. Schleicher