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Humans and Other Creatures #atozchallenge

The A to Z April Blogging Challenge 2013   is galloping ahead, and I’m wiped out visiting all the blogs I possibly can. I’m co-hosting it on Amlokiblogs, so drop me a comment there if you have something to say about the challenge itself. On this blog, I’ll be featuring mostly indie-published book excerpts for all of April. I love reading, and supporting author-friends, and this is a good way to do both.

Today, for H, I give you a collection of short stories: Humans and Other Creatures by Megan Hamilton, edited by Shirlene Corcoran.

Humans and Other Creatures

Humans and Other Creatures

Elevator Pitch: Seven well-written and thoughtful short stories by Megan Hamilton– some from the perspective of ‘others’ rather than ‘humans’. They range from the whimsical to the poignant to the mildly philosophical. If there is an underlying theme to the tales, it is that life is both strange and varied, and yet forms a cohesive whole.

Excerpt: From the story Movin’ On:

There are few true obstacles; we hold ourselves back from what we are meant to become.

Bobby couldn’t remember feeling like this ever before – light and airy, no small aches and pains, in fact, nothing at all. It felt good actually, until he saw his body sprawled on the floor of the gym. Then, he noticed the blood, and realized that this was not good at all. He must be injured; the blood was still running from his head. He had to call for help, but there was no one around and he didn’t seem to be able to move very far from his body. He felt sure that this must mean that he was still alive. Weren’t you supposed to move into the light, or something, when you died?

Buy the book on Amazon and Smashwords.

I have confessed my love for short stories time and again on this blog. What do you like more, novels or short stories? Would you buy Hamilton’s collection?

 

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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20 Comments

  • Cynthia Reed says:

    I am a novel person and always shied away from short stories. I don’t think I’d written one since high school, back in the 60s! But, lately, since associating with a group of writers and taking regular classes, I’ve become intrigued and have been working more at, and reading more, short stories. Sometimes it feel like just another way to keep myself from finishing the novel–but most of the time I think it’s expanding my view, overall, and good for the craft in general. Thanks for sharing others’ work; it’s much appreciated!

    Cynthia Reed, writing fiction set in the Crimean War, 1852-1856
    http://cynthia-reed.blogspot.com/

  • Sonia Lal says:

    It sounds interesting. Except for the cover.

    Sonia Lal

  • I am intrigued that the title of the story is Movin’ On, and what kind of dimension he is moving on to!

  • I love short stories and novels, but I’ll admit, I enjoy writing short stories more. There’s something about writing a story less than 5,000 words, while still providing all elements of fiction.

    I’m working on an anthology myself. And yes, I would buy Hamilton’s collection. It sounds interesting 🙂

  • Archana says:

    Not yet read this book. Overall I enjoy both – novels and short stories as long as they keep my attention.
    http://yenforblue.blogspot.com/

  • Nyx says:

    Thank you for following my blog! I hope you will enjoy my future posts. You have a lovely blog yourself as well!

    Personally I prefer novels, especially really long ones. I like to really emerse myself into the story. I think that is the reason I have never really gotten into writing short stories myself. I began with poetry and then I jumped to novels…

  • CBT says:

    Hey Damyanti, thanks for the visit and follow over at http://caribbeanbusinesstraveler.wordpress.com/. Was looking at your blog and I think it is really awesome of you to help spread the word about indie published literature, I happen to be friends with several writers so I’ve gotten to understand the challenges of getting your work out there (doubly hard when you’re from a small island!). I’ll definitely be sticking around for more and to support these authors.

    Lastly, I can’t choose which I love more – novels or short stories, your question has me thoroughly stumped!

  • Although I mostly read novels,I like reading short stories every once in a while.I think I’ll check this one out!:)

  • Ado Bajic says:

    Nice post, I hope you join in on my little project too http://wp.me/pXEBr-fn

  • Bhavya says:

    Though I do love novels, there is something entirely different and endearing about short stories.
    This book seems like an interesting read.

    Bhavya from the AtoZ Challenge blogging at Just Another Blog

  • I participated in A – Z last April. I got some really good posts out of it, a few new readers, but it wiped me out. I’m more of a post-a-week kind of blogger. Good luck!

  • Life is strange.

  • writerlysam says:

    I love short stories – writing and reading them! The collection sounds intriguing – I’ve written several stories where my narrator was an “other” be it a dog, cat, even a dolphin. It’s even more of a challenge to have an animal POV without the reader realizing it until the end!

  • Nick says:

    I really appreciate short stories…you have to get right to it; sometimes all that space in a novel means you waste too much energy filling the void, when you could be telling stories!

  • Jean Heff says:

    I think I need to jump into short stories again. I haven’t read them since I was in college but they might get me reading more.
    Your excerpt shows the author’s creativity which I enjoyed.

  • Thank you for dropping by my blog 🙂

  • anglkoko says:

    nice post man but i dont think thier creatures and if thier at least not i this world 😀
    http://kirostories.com/

  • I’ll have to check this book out. I recently published a short story collection on Kindle, knowing I was one of the very few still writing short stories. So thanks for the recommendation!

    Sincerely,
    Julien Haller

  • Not good!

  • nice post.