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Books on the Nightstand published our final episode in July 2016. This is a place for listeners to find old episodes. 

I'm sorry that we don't have show notes for all of the episodes, and that the episodes do not have consistent filenames. Still, we hope you find that the content is valuable enough to overlook those annoyances.

Thank you to all who have listened to BOTNS over the years and for those who are just discovering the podcast. 

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BOTNS #204: Short Story Obsession

Nov 7, 2012

What is NaNoWriMo? Ann's current obsession with short stories. And two recent short story collections we love: May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks and The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham.

Note:  These show notes were written while watching the Presidential Election results. Forgive their brevity and the possible occasional incoherence!

BOTNS friend and wonderful author Richard Mason has announced that his eLuminated version of History of a Pleasure Seeker is now available for download, in both a free (excerpt) version and a paid version that covers the first 200 pages of the book. Featuring professional narration, music, interactive images and more, this is not just an eBook!

November is NaNoWriMo

November is National Novel Writing Month, which means that starting on the first, up to 300,000 people worldwide started writing a novel. They've got until the end of the month to complete the first draft of a 50,000 word novel. Previous NaNoWriMos have produced the novels that became Water for Elephants, The Night Circus and Cinder.

Short Story Obsession (10:31)

Ann's been on a bit of a short story reading kick lately. A discussion with Ann Packer reminded (our) Ann that the stories in a collection are almost always written over a long period of time, and that has changed how she reads collections.

The timing of this discussion is coincidentally perfect, because it is National Short Story Week in the UK. Their website is chock full of stories to read and listen to, lists of stories, and more.

In 2013, we hope to create a year-long reading challenge focusing on a different short story each month. Much more to come on that

Lastly, we'd love for you to call our voicemail line (209.867.7323) and leave a short message sharing your thoughts on short stories. Love 'em? Don't? Why?

May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks     The News From Spain by Joan Wickersham

Two Short Story Collections We Can't Wait For You to Read (19:21)

I am absolutely loving May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks, a collection that is perfect for fans of Karen Russell, Kevin Brockmeier and Aimee Bender. Ann recommends The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham. Subtitled "Seven Variations on a Love Story," this is a collection in which each story is called "The News from Spain," and is a collection that works even better as whole than as its individual stories.