reviews | Bill Chance

“If the rule you followed brought you to this, of what use was the rule?”
― Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

Orpheus lamenting the loss (for the second time) of Euridice.

Today was one of the most difficult days of my life, but I can’t (won’t) write about that here – it’s not really my story. So I’ll write about a movie.

First, my favorite book is a yellowing big hardback, chockablock with wonderful hand-drawn illustrations by Ingri and Edgar Parin D’Aulaire’s called, simply, Book of Greek Myths. I’ve had it since 3rd grade. The inscription on the title page reads:

Book Week Contest
1964
First Prize (Boys) 3A
William Chance
West Point Elementary School
West Point, New York
Mrs. Mark Carrigan, Librarian
Nov. 6, 1964
(Book donated by 1963-64 P.T.A.)

I remember they had a contest, they showed us drawings and asked us which classic book they came from. I was by far the best read 3rd grader (though I had skipped the previous year and was by far the youngest) and won fairly easily. I loved that book then and still do.

One of the most well-known and often-redone myths is that of Orpheus and Euridice. In short, Orpheus goes to the underworld to retrieve his deceased and beloved wife and his singing is so beautiful they say he can take her back as long as he doesn’t look at her until they reach the surface. Unfortunately, after most of a long journey his faith falters and he turns to check if she is there… and he loses her forever.

OK, another thing I am overly fascinated with is the Criterion Channel’s 24/7 feature. In case you don’t know what to watch, tune in, they run movies continuously, 24/7. Given the channels esoteric and diverse selection – you really never know what you are going to get.

In a fit of tossing and turning insomnia late late the other night, I turned on the channel and caught a striking bit of gorgeous black and white film (with even more gorgeous people on it) – French – very odd… surreal. I wanted to watch the whole thing, so I checked and it was Orpheus (Orphée) a 1950 film by Jean Cocteau. This evening, I sat down and watched it.

Very good, very weird. The scenes in The Zone were filmed in a bombed out chapel and were especially arresting. The movie moves smoothly back and forth from the real world to Hades, using mirrors as gateways. They used a pool of mercury as a practical effect – I had seen that before – but the rest of the movie was new to me and I enjoyed it very much. I especially like the surreal elements and effects.

Not surprisingly, the plot varies a lot from the myth. My only criticism is the ending – I won’t spoil it – but it was updated for ’50’s audience tastes.

Now, on to the new year.

I read, more or less, a short story every day. Not every day, but most. Somedays, if I’m not working hard on a novel or other book, and the selections are shortish, I’ll read two or three. I have been doing that all my life. Let’s see… maybe three hundred short stories a year for maybe forty years – that’s in the neighborhood of twelve thousand short stories.

Seems like a lot.

So, it looks like May has been declared short story month. I’m not sure where I read that – or what person or organization actually declared the month. Probably some random blogger. I don’t think the Official International Board for Naming Months Shit had anything to do with it.

Anyway. I missed it. But it did get me thinking. After the gears stopped creaking and the smoke cleared I decided to make June my non-official short story month. I will read a story a day, take notes, and eventually write a blog entry on it.

I will definitely stick to my schedule on reading them – though I might wait before putting it online if there is something else I want to write about that day, so be patient.

The next step is to make a list. I went out to look for:

Thirty One stories by different authors. Yes, I know that June only has thirty days… but thirty one seems like a better number. So it will drag over into July. So sue me.
Stories that I don’t remember reading. This isn’t a firm rule, there are a couple that I read a while back that I want to revisit… but generally new stuff. This wipes out a long list of some of my favorite authors – Ballard, Poe, Denis Johnson, Flannery O’Connor, Lovecraft, Pynchon, Russell Banks… that would otherwise have featured positions because I have read, as far as I can tell, everything they wrote. Or at least all the short stories. On the other hand, there are a few authors on here that I have never read. I’m a bit ashamed of that and see this as a good opportunity for an introduction. Which ones? I’m not telling.
I’m going for breadth, not quality. This is not a list of the best short stories, but an attempt at a wide sampling, hopefully to find something unknown, a new rabbit hole to fall down. I tried to select shorter works whenever possible – time is in great demand.
Finally, I wanted them all to be available free, online, in some sort of readable format. So that all of you can read along if you wish. This was the most difficult and restrictive of the requirements. I’ll include a link with each entry.

This list may change – especially if a link goes dead. Any suggestions will be gladly accepted – if this works, I may do it again.

I thought it would be difficult to fill out the list, but it was very easy. I had to trim it down. I could have gone to a hundred without much trouble.

When I write a review I am careful to only give a tiny hint of a plot – I detest spoilers. Hopefully, I can come up with something interesting to say about each story. Again, I hope that this may look interesting enough that somebody else will read at least a few of these and throw their opinions up.
I’ll start tomorrow… and here’s the current list so far:

1. – The Fall of Edward Barnard
W. Somerset Maugham
http://www.online-literature.com/maugham/the-trembling/3/

2. – Heat
Joyce Carol Oates
http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/heat.html

3. – A Study in Emerald
Neil Gaiman

Click to access emerald.pdf

4. – The School
Donald Barthelme
http://www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/stories/bart.html

5. – Symbols and Signs
Vladimir Nabokov
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1948/05/15/1948_05_15_031_TNY_CARDS_000214135

6. – Gooseberries
Anton Chekhov
http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/gooseb.html

7. – Sea Oak
George Saunders
http://www.barcelonareview.com/20/e_gs.htm

8. Thirteen Wives
Steve Millhauser
http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2013/05/27/130527fi_fiction_millhauser

9. – “A 32-Year Old Day Tripper”
Haruki Murakami
http://wednesdayafternoonpicnic.blogspot.com/2010/05/32-year-old-day-tripper_01.html

10 – The Crawling Sky
Joe R Lansdale
http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/spring_2011/fiction_the_crawling_sky_by_joe_r._lansdale/

Other works
(new story changes each week)
http://www.joerlansdale.com/stories.shtml