20 Best Short Stories in Ray Long’s 20 Years as an Editor

 

This is just what it says - 20 stories that editor Ray Long chose over his 20 years as a magazine editor. It came out in 1932, but the dates of each story are a little unclear. Some of them were spectacular - the standout for me was The Juggler by Arthur Stringer - not about a juggler, but about a struggling playwright. The book is a reminder that magazines like Cosmopolitan and Redbook were once very different. And did you know there was a Bluebook? All the stories were solid - though a story about hospitalized WWI soldiers was so full of dated references, sarcastic jokes, and veiled innuendo that I struggled to follow it, though this New York Times Review hailed it as a standout. So much of the writing was of such a high caliber I found myself noting techniques and turns of phrase. 

Kidnapped

For years, I thought this was the sequel to Treasure Island. It is not. It is an unusual tale of a a young man betrayed into captivity and his adventures in escaping. I never saw so many Scottish words in my life. My favorite was “drammach” which is when you make oatmeal with cold water - definitely a meal of desperation. I bought this copy at the bookshop next door to the Skunk and Goat Tavern. They had a big collection of Chiltern editions of classics - I’d never bought one before. They are very pleasing to hold and read, and the illustrations are great. The paper is very shiny, though, so sometimes glare is a problem. The story is a bit unconventional, and is sometimes a bit dull in a way that actually makes it seem real, because who would make up something that mundane? I definitely learned a lot about the realities of Scottish history. 

Lessons from the Art of Juggling

This book has been around for about 30 years, and I knew about it, but I always assumed it was more about management philosophy and less about juggling. But it is meaningfully about juggling. Probably 2/3 of the book is actually about juggling and 1/3 is about how lessons from juggling apply in your personal and professional life. There are definitely some excellent tips for first time juggler, such as learning to throw in a certain rhythm before you bother learning to catch, and a novel idea I’ve never heard before which is learning to catch one ball and letting another ball fall, intentionally and only when you are confident with that learning to catch a second or third ball. I want to experiment with using that technique when teaching new jugglers, to see if it works some parts of this book flirt with pseudoscience, such as the Alexander technique, but even if some of the claims for these techniques are overstated, they still make a good point: Being relaxed, and not fearful, will make all of your practice, more effective and more productive.

In all, it was a fast read, and it contains some thoughtful advice. It certainly is very respectful to the art of juggling.

The Overstory

 

This was a long book, and it took me awhile to read it. It would like to be read a little faster than I did (on and off for six months maybe), because there are a lot of parallel characters to follow. This is the second Richard Powers book I've read (the first was Orfeo) and his approach to novels seems to be to have his characters explore a technical topic of some kind. In Orfeo, it was avant-garde music of the 50s and 60s. In the Overstory, it is the science of trees. The novel was absolutely gorgeous and a delight to read. (Minor spoilers ahead). The structure of the story follows about a dozen characters who initially each have their own chapter, and then, mid-novel, they start to come together. It took me some time to realize that this was like the roots of a tree merging into the trunk. To my mind, this analogy continued, with the characters separating again, and each eventually flowering in their own way. 

Of course it is a story about how humanity is changing the environment. Typically these stories end focused on dire warnings, and I worried that Powers wasn't going to bring any further message than that - but instead he pulls a rabbit out of his hat, and executes a marvelous turn that had me in tears. More and more I have come to realize that viewing humans as something outside of nature does more harm than good. Highways are as much a part of humans as anthills are a part of ants. Of course humans are having a tremendous effect on the planet, as we have found better and faster ways to communicate. Modern man is a meteor that has struck the planet, and things are changing - they have to. We do indeed need help from all quarters - and this book helped me to understand where that help will come from. Also, I learned a lot about trees. 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

As much as I liked Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, I think I enjoyed this even more. I always like a story about a bookstore, and this is one of those. Literary and interesting, and full of amazing characters. Nobody writes a story about books like an author! Oh wait…

I heard there is a movie, I kind of don’t want to see it, because the characters are precious to me, and I’d like to keep them how I have them.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

This was a picture of the indie game world and the personalities in it that was so realistic I wondered how Gabrielle Zevin learned so much about it. There were little things that were off (eating fruit does not let Pac-Man eat ghosts, etc.) but so much, especially with the nature of deals and the motivations that game devs have was spookily accurate. I definitely recommend this to anyone in the game industry. And it got me reading other Zevin books. More importantly, it made me reflect on why I make games.

Troll

 

This was so fun! No, it has no relation to the 80’s movie. This is a Norwegian Godzilla. And it’s really good, you should watch it. If there is a sequel, they’ll have to call it… Troll 2. But I bet it gets a subtitle.