In the past (though I skipped it last year), I have devoted the shortest month to short stories, and I’ll be doing that this year. I have many short story collections and anthologies on hand, so this would be a good time to do some reading in them.
My reading posts will be largely reporting on the stories I read, newish and oldish.
Won’t you join me in reading short stories for Short Story February this year? Read some stories and comment over the month on them.
So far, from The Best Max Carrados Detective Stories by Ernest Bramah, 1972 (Dover Mystery Classics, Kindle Edition):
“The Coin of Dionysius”
“The Knight’s Cross Signal Problem”
“The Mystery of the Vanished Petition Crown”
“The Holloway Flat Tragedy”
“The Disappearance of Marie Severe”
“The Mystery of the Poisoned Dish of Mushrooms”
Have you read any short stories this month?
Tip the Wink 
I have a book of short stories I would like to finish up by Michael Gilbert. I think I read some from that book the last time you did this. And just last night I was thinking about reading 3-5 short stories a week from various anthologies I have. So I plan to read and write about at least a few short stories this month. I am glad you are doing this.
Me too, Tracy. I usually read a collection or anthology straight through, rather than one a day like Jeff. However I will stop part way through to read one or more novels.
So far, so good.
Yes.
OK, you know that. I’ve been reading at least one story a day since August of 1995! I will give you the current list when we get back this afternoon, but I can tell you the current reading is O. Henry (I think it is the last book in the 200 story collection) and Clayton Rawson’s complete Great Merlini stories.
Both of these are pretty short stories. I finished the Ed Hoch collection (HOCH’S LADIES) at the end of January. I know you can count on George too.
You’ve read a vast amount of O. Henry, Jeff.you must really like his work!
It’s more that:
1. once I start a collection I try to finish it
2. I try to mix in shorter stories with the longer stuff
3. I try to read some older work with the newer stuff, and straight fiction with the genre stuff
4. Sometimes I have nothing else that calls to me
5. Inertia
One nonfiction finished, one in progress, and magazine articles.
You read mostly nonfiction these days, it seems.
Good suggestion. I was just digging into some Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective stories from the 1930s and 1940s by Robert Leslie Bellem.
Bellem is always a lot of fun. Which collection do you have?
Sure, I can read some short story collections. I just finished HOCH’S LADIES for FFB last week. Fun collection! One story even features snow from Buffalo as part of the murder!
Looking forward to some short story reviews from you!
The O. Henry is the COMPLETE COLLECTION of 13 published collections, supposedly (I didn’t count them) 200 stories. I think I’ve read all the others. This is THE VOICE OF THE CITY (originally published 1908), subtitled Further Tales of The Four Million. (THE FOUR MILLION was an earlier collection.) There are 25 stories. So far I’ve read:
The Voice of the City
The Complete Life of John Hopkins
A Lickpenny Lover
None have been memorable.
The other collection is the more impressive THE GREAT MERLINI: The Complete Stories of the Magician Detective, by Clayton Rawson. Eleanor Sullivan, who succeeded Rawson as Managing Editor of EQMM in 1970, has a very informative and affectionate introduction. The first six stories were short-shorts published in EQMM in 1946-47 and 1955, each with a Challenge to the Reader to guess the solution. Most of the contest winners, I note, were women. So far I’ve read:
The Clue of the Tattooed Man
The Clue of the Broken Legs
Cool.
Most of my reading consists of short stories, and it’s been that way since my daughter gave me her old but far from worn out Kindle. I can’t read novels on it, but it does come in handy for a story or two almost every day. Inexpensively too!
Most of my reading is in print copy, but I have many ebook anthologies too, including the one I’m reading now. I read ebooks on my iPad with the Kindle for Mac app.
Been delving into The Best of Greg Egan. A bit of a doorstop. And still reading in Ellen Datlow’s fine anthology Echoes. Been thinking about reading Flannery O’Connor’s Collected Stories. I don’t read a story a day but tend to read several at a time. I’m sure I read more than 365 a year.
That’s more than I usually read!
I’ve got to the stage with my favourite stories by Saki where I don’t actually read them so much as remember them!
I think I’ve read just one or two of the “famous” ones by him.
Nothing yet in February, although I will be starting Damon Knight’s anthology A SCIENCE FICTION ARGOSY.
January seemed packed with short stories for me. I read two collections (Ed Gorman’s SCREAM QUEEN and Charles Beaumont’s A TOUCH OF THE CREATURE), one anthology (John Carnell’s NEW WRITINGS IN SF 4), and 9 SF magazine issues from the early Fifties. (I decided to go through all issues of F&SF and GALAXY from the Fifties, reading thus far through February 1953 for F&SF and February 1952 for GALAXY — some good stuff, much of it unfairly forgotten,) I also read a couple of dozen scattered short stories.
Once I clear through some library books and this week’s coming FFB, I’ll be diving back into the wonderful world of short stories.
You always seem to read a lot, Jerry.
Richard, I read only two short stories in January — “A Lesson in Deceit” by Gillian Larkin, 2016, and “The Bodyguard” by Lee Child, 2010 — and none so far. However, I do intend to read a few this month. I like reading short stories because they help revive the reading mojo.
I agree, they sort of keep me going, and it’s always something new with each story.
A few years back I did this with a bunch of people. By the end of the year, it was just three of us. We post a line or two about each story somewhere. I wish I had the site because there were some great ones on there.
That sounds really neat, Patti.
I read and reread constantly. Couldn’t live without it. As I get older, rereading things I know are good and are old friends is taking a larger share. If “short stories” covers everything below novel length, in the past week I have reread EMT by David L. Burkhead (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 1993), and twelve Murray Leinster pieces: The Power Planet (Amazing Stories, June 1931), The Ethical Equations (Astounding Science Fiction, June 1945), Overdrive (Startling Stories, January 1953), and Tyrants Need to be Loved (Fantastic Science Fiction Stories, February 1960) as well as all eight “Med Service” stories. I am very fond of Leinster and have about 230 of his 1800 (!!!) pieces.
I love his stuff too, especially his Med series, which I have read several times. Thanks for sharing your reading!
Any Leinster (Will F. Jenkins) fan should know 1) Two of his daughters have written a wonderful biography of their father (Murray Leinster – The Life and Works), 2) Over 70 boxes of his papers can be perused at Syracuse University’s Bird Library https://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/j/jenkins_w.htm, 3) There is a bit of a boom lately in new Leinster collections: Malay Collins Master Thief of the East, Ten Unique Stories by Will F. Jenkins, The Runaway Skyscraper and Other Tales from the Pulps, & The Trail of Blood and Other Tales of Adventure, 4) Six Western novels and one Mystery novel are now available in Kindle.
I belatedly join the short story reading plan, which as a new blogger I will extend into March and beyond via Doyle and Chesterton.
Best wishes from Gulf coast at:
https://crimesdetectivesandmysteries.blogspot.com/
It’ll be up by tomorrow morning early in your time zone, so take a look and make a comment!