When revealing my terrifying list of my TBR Books, it was with the caveat that it did not include a few old bags of books that are kept in my bedroom in my mother's house.
Technically I own these books, and bought them with an intent to read them, but honestly, I doubted there was much there to hold my interest in 2024. Many of them were 50p classics picked up in charity shops ten-to-fifteen years ago, and I'd much rather grab a digital copy than poke through a yellowed, cobweb-covered reminder of my years of trying to better myself in poverty.
But I was home for Christmas and I thought I'd take an opportunity to go through and see if there was anything worth rescuing. Alongside the brick-sized Dickens and Tolstoy paperbacks, I discovered there were three short story collections just sitting there, waiting to be read.
Since my recent Short Story Advent really opened me up to a new way of consuming short stories, this seemed an ideal opportunity to find something meaningful from books that even a charity shop might now turn away.
Below are the books that I've rescued, and you can see my thoughts on each story I've read.
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The Books
The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster
12 Stories. This was almost certainly bought during my E. M Forster craze (I got really into A Room With a View and Maurice one summer in about 2010.) The condition of this one was poor, with a weirdly sticky stain on the back. A wipe down with a cloth fixed that. There is a charity shop label saying I paid £1.99 for it.
Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie
20 Stories. All of Miss. Marple's short stories in one volume. A few I've read, but most I haven't. Another one in poor condition - this is an ex-library book, with soft, yellowed pages and a plastic cover. The inside flap suggests I bought it from Cheshire Libraries (I last lived there in 2007) for 25p.
A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett
33 Stories. I'm not sure how this one came to be there. I didn't think I owned it and I would have certainly read it if I had. It's clearly second-hand. I have a feeling a friend gave it me when they were done with it, but then why would it be in the back-bedroom at my mum's? Mysterious. Luckily, this one is still in excellent condition.
[Bonus] Gaslight Arcanum by Various
12 Stories. This one wasn't actually found at my mother's house but it is a 'rescued book' of sorts. I went through my old Kindle files (having switched to Kobo) and was planning to abandon this, having read it years ago. However it turns out I actually read a different (similarly named!) book in the series and this has been sitting, forgotten, for the better part of a decade.
77/77 Read
The Stories
1st February
The Story of a Panic [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
I wondered, going in to this, whether Forster's sexuality would be an important bit of subtext for these stories. If my question wasn't answered by the book being dedicated to Hermes, this would have been further proof. Pan was at the time a common theme for queerness in literature, and this story was held up even then as a worrying example. In it a 'manly' and 'vulgar' British family man talks of a picnic held on holiday, in which it is implied that the god Pan ravishes, and forever changes the teenage boy in the party, who afterwards becomes wild with joy and who can no longer bear the repression of 'good' society.
The Tuesday Night Club [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
The first Marple story, and a deceptively simple one. A group of associates decide they each have a skill that could aid in solving a mystery, and they allow dear Miss. Marple to bulk out the numbers as they discuss the puzzle presented to them. Naturally she confounds them all. I definitely know elements of this story, which must have been mixed into an adaptation, but I don't think I've read it.
2nd February
The Idol House of Astarte [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I got this one mostly right! A bit right. OK... I figured out the who and almost had the how before I doubted myself.
The Hades Business [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This story of an advertising man being asked to make Hell popular again may have been written when Terry was 14 but it's got the seeds of Good Omens. Side note, Jon Hamm might actually kill a guy to play this role.
Solution [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Clearly a little sketch that Terry played around with for a bit. Definite hints at what was to come.
The Picture [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Little more than a scene but a neat little Sci-fi story regardless.
The Partridge [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
I actually read this in Father Christmas's Fake Beard, in my Christmas short story readathon.
The Other Side of the Hedge [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
More of an allegory for society's obsession with the hustle than a story, but I enjoyed picking the meaning apart.
3rd February
Ingots of Gold [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
This one verges into a bit of a Secret Seven adventure, with shipwrecks and ingot smuggling. I was right on the who, but not the how (though admittedly I didn't really make much effort on this one.)
The Blood Stained Pavement [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
A painter watches a married couple come and go whilst they paint - only realising after that the wife will be found dead a week later. This collection isn't about me 'solving the mystery' but I am pleased to say that, with some note taking and a bit of thinking time, I 100% got this one right. As such it's one of my favourites!
Rincemangle, the Gnome of Even More [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This is fascinating because it's a short story with the origins of two major aspects of Pratchett's work - Truckers and a character who would eventually morph into Rincewind. I have only read Truckers once, and a very long time ago, so this may encourage me to revisit it.
Kindly Breathe in Short, Thick Pants [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This was written not long after the three-day-week, when much of Britain was rationing power due to industrial action. However it's style is all too familiar following Covid and the many bungling and unhelpful announcements during it.
The Glastonbury Tales [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
It's only as I type this that I - a fool - realise that it's a play on The Canterbury Tales, style and all. My lack of mental capacity aside, I very much enjoyed this tale of hitch-hikers on their way to Glastonbury.
There's Not Fool Like an Old Fool Found in an English Queue [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Sometimes a writer has a bad day and has to let off steam, and clearly Terry was held up in a queue by someone making things complicated just once too often.
Coo, They've Given me the Bird [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A frustration Russian factory worker related his problems now that his colleagues have been replaced with pigeons. It's cute but rather a 'you had to be there story', for both the specific news article that inspired it and... well... the Soviet union.
4th February
The Comfort of the Seine [Gaslight Arcanum by Stephen Volk]
The first story so far that I have not liked. It's clearly influenced by The Murders in the Rue Morgue, which I haven't yet read, and that would be fine if not for what they do to Sherlock's character. His brilliance is what makes him special - to have an author say that any relatively bright young man could be moulded into Sherlock Holmes is a bit of an insult. Also he falls for a flower seller after speaking to her for approx one minute and we are supposed to believe that her subsequent fridging puts him off women for life?
Motive v. Opportunity [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
A rather simpler short story - a will signed in the most ordinary circumstances turns into a blank piece of paper. Not particularly special.
And Mind the Monoliths [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Apparently there was a bit of a craze for TV shows in which people lived like Anglo-Saxons during the period this was written. As someone who was a teenager during the peak 1900s House/Wartime House years of reality TV, I sympathise. But it's definitely a strange story without that context.
The High Meggas [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This is a short story that would, eventually, become The Long Earth series. It was written at around the same time as The Colour of Magic, and was shelved when Discworld became an unexpected hit. I resented The Long Earth unfairly, and still haven't read it, because the books came out around the time of Terry's diagnosis and my childish instinct was to feel that those books were taking newly precious time away from Discworld. However this story has won me over - long and slightly muddled as it was. Terry says repeatedly in this collection that short stories are not his favourite form - so I'm really keen to read the series knowing that this story (and his writing) was given three decades to mature the concept into a full length novel.
Twenty Pence, With Envelope and Seasonal Greeting [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
I genuinely loved this and will certainly return to this over Christmas. Told in the style of a Victorian ghost story, it's about a coach driver and his passengers who end up falling through a mysterious window in the sky... which turns out to be the exit from the Christmas card they are on. Cue a bunch of Christmas card characters milling around together in confusion.
Incubust [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Terry Pratchett wrote a drabble. A drabble! This ultra short (100 words exactly) story form has its history in SFF but went on to be co-opted entirely by fandom. He even squeezed a footnote in there. I am charmed!
5th February
The Celestial Omnibus [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
This is a sort of literary Alice in Wonderland in which a boy with a poet's soul is whisked away from his sneering parents and snobbish neighbours into a magical world filled with literary and mythological characters. However if you haven't had a classical literary education it's hard work in places. I didn't study literature but I understood a lot of the references - far from all though. Even when I knew the subject matter, I couldn't always place it.
Final Reward [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This is the story where I breathed out and said 'yes, this is it'. Where the previous writing has all been enjoyable, his distinct voice isn't present. That makes sense, because it's insane to imagine a writer with four decades of writing hitting gold in his first few years, but it's a comfort to have it back again. This is pure perfection - as a writer kills off his legendary barbarian hero, only to have the barbarian arrive to 'meet his maker'. I demand a Simon Pegg movie at once.
Turntables of the Night [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
I actually had read this story before, but had forgotten the title. As I recall reading it in my library at school, I can be forgiven for the title getting away from me twenty years later. I can't imagine I got as much out of it at fifteen as I did now - I certainly wouldn't have understood as many of the music jokes. The previous story, Final Reward, marks the point where Terry's writing catches up with his own legend, but it's straight up familiar here. This is only a few tiny steps from peak Discworld, and features Discworld's Death.
6th February
The Thumbprint of Saint Peter [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
This story hasn't been adapted to my knowledge, but the central clue ('heap of fish') was definitely used to pad out another adaptation. It's probably for the best, as this one is on the clunkier side.
The Blue Geranium [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
This was made into an episode of ITV's Marple, which is an episode that is rather artificially bulked out considering that there's very little in it that isn't in this short story. It's core mystery is a good one, with lots of fun elements - the mysterious medium, the wallpaper changing colour, poisoned smelling salts, etc.
7th February
#ifdefDEBUG + 'world/enough' + 'time' [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A story very much ahead of its time, imagining a future where virtual reality becomes more important than real life. As Terry said in the intro, time has turned this story into something chillier than he originally envisaged. Often scarily on the nose.
Hollywood Chickens [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Based on an urban legend about a bunch of chickens living on a Californian highway. Pratchett obviously dials that scenario up to eleven. I was rather uninterested in this one though.
The Secret Book of the Dead [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A poem, well known for it's opening line: 'They don't teach you about the facts of death / Your mum and dad, they give you pets.'
FTB [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
I read this in my last short story readathon. Clearly a precursor to The Hogfather.
Sir Joshua Easement: A Biographical Note [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A really fun piece for a museum project in which great writers got to invent biographies for unknown painting subjects. I'd love to read more of these.
The Companion [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
Huzzah for me getting another mystery correct! A lady's companion drowns.
8th February
The Adventure of Lucifer's Footprints [Gaslight Arcanum by Christopher Fowler]
I'm struggling with this collection a bit. I've yet to read a real winner. But this was an acceptable story with elements of Silver Blaze.
A Few Words from Lord Havelock Vetinari [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A small speech from Lord Vetinari on the twinning of Wincanton (home of the Discworld Emporium) with Ankh-Morpork. Lovely bit of nostalgia as I went to a Hogswatch event in Wincaton about a decade ago.
Minutes of the Meeting to Form the Proposed Ankh-Morpork Federation of Scouts [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Lord Vetinari sits in the corner and snarks as the problem of Ankh-Morpork's youth is discussed. Lovely stuff.
9th February
Troll Bridge [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Elements of The Last Hero here, as an aging adventurer struggles to accept the new world, and finds common ground with the troll under the bridge he's attacking.
Theatre of Cruelty [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Discworld's take on Punch and Judy. Not my fave story of the collection - I could see what he was trying to do but it didn't really work. Nice to see the Watch though.
The Ankh-Morpork National Anthem [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
An absolute delight! I rushed off to YouTube to listen and it does not disappoint.
A Collegiate Casting Out of Devilish Devices [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
The Unseen University's staff faces meddling from the government and hotly defends their right to be academics and therefore do nothing. Loved it.
The Deadly Sin of Sherlock Holmes [Gaslight Arcanum by Christopher Fowler]
This collection isn't working for me, and if it wasn't for this challenge I'd have DNF'd it by now. This story had promise - and a great concept - but it just didn't mesh with Sherlock Holmes's universe. Would have been better as it's own story. Even the title doesn't deliver on what it promises.
10th February
Once and Future [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A time traveller gets stuck in Albion - which isn't actually the past - and sets about working on that sword in the stone trick. A little over-long but a nice story.
The Sea and Little Fishes [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
The biggest story in the collection and one I had read before (aged about 14), as it's part of the Witches timeline. The Witch Trials are approaching and the committee asks Granny Weatherwax not to attend as she demoralises entrants by winning all the time. What I hadn't realised is what an insight to Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg's friendship this is - there's almost a Holmes and Watson element to it.
Deleted Scene from The Sea and Little Fishes [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This was cut from the original story and I can see why - it's already a long story and this is nothing more than some introspection on Granny's part.
Medical Notes [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
A bit of fun written for a convention. Terry Pratchett making up funny medical maladies is always going to be a treat.
Thud: A Historical Perspective [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
This is fine but I have to say... Thud was never my favourite.
Death and What Comes Next [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Death faces down a philosopher. This was middle of the road for me.
The Ankh-Morpork Football Association Hall of Fame [A Blink of the Screen by Terry Pratchett]
Unseen Academicals is the Discworld book that divides people most - some say it marks the start of his health-related decline, others say it's a very strong novel it's just more experimental than the others. All agree that if you don't get football, or know much about football, you are probably going to miss out on a lot of the jokes. This is basically a list of the players from the book, and considering my memory is fuzzy and that all the football jokes probably went over my head, I probably didn't get the most out of it.
11th February
Other reading commitments overtook me today and so whilst I read a lot, I didn't read any short stories.
12th February
The Four Suspects [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
An ex-mafia man is killed in his English hideaway. There are four members of his household all with no motive, and no alibi. This feels like a little bit of a play on Ordeal by Innocence, which also is about the weight of suspicion on the innocent.
A Christmas Tragedy [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I am genuinely unsure where the Christmas part of this came from? Miss Marple tells of the time she was sure a man she met on holiday was planning to kill his wife.
The Herb of Death [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
A little bit of a muddled story from Dolly Bantry. I did like the twenty-questions style of sharing info, which was fresh and clever, but the actual mystery wasn't much.
The Affair at the Bungalow [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
Another one with a stronger style than mystery. A rather dippy actress talks about a strange event that occurred to her surrounding a jewellery theft.
13th February
Death by Drowning [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
This was a good one - far more of a police procedural than a puzzle.
Miss Marple Tells a Story [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
Not one of the more memorable ones - something of a locked-room mystery.
14th February
The Story of the Siren [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
Considered by some to be Forster's finest work, this has many of his greatest hits packed into a very short story - mythology, queer yearning, the horrors of the English abroad, respectability, religious control, etc, etc. Also it takes place at the blue grotto in Capri which I missed out on seeing.
15th February
The Eternal Moment [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
I struggled with this one. It's long and literary and deals with Forster's other greatest hits - classism, gentrification, bourgeois ideals of relationships. women having repressed sexual feelings - which can be enjoyable but also can border on irritating. Which this did.
The Colour that Came to Chiswick [Gaslight Arcanum by William Meikle]
I'm still struggling with this collection, but this one was a bit more fun - in a sort of boys own adventure way. Green goo from outer space is trying to get into the London water supply.
From the Tree of Time [Gaslight Arcanum by Fred Saberhagen]
Possibly the best in the collection so far - Dracula (a far tamer beast than in legend) is consulted by Sherlock Holmes when vampiric expertise is called for, and they assist a lady who may or may not be receiving unwelcome attentions from a vampire. This actually felt like a good mashup of the two worlds.
16th February
Strange Jest [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I liked this one - it's more-or-less a treasure hunt in which Miss. Marple is the only one who actually understands clues.
Tape-Measure Murder [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
A paint-by-the-numbers murder mystery in St. Mary Mead. I actually figured out the killer right away, though not the motive.
The Case of the Caretaker [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I honestly had to go and look up what this one was about before typing this, so it's fair to say it didn't stick in the mind. Miss. Marple is sick and down in the dumps, so her doctor gives her a puzzle to solve.
The Case of the Perfect Maid [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I rather liked this one - it was a bit camp and involved people dressing up and pretending to be each other.
Sanctuary [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I will confess this didn't grip me - partly because it was the last one I read and I was eager to be done.
Greenshaw's Folly [Miss. Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Christie]
I've seen the adaptation of this - a rather Frankenstein one, mixing in a few of the short stories - and so I rather appreciated this one for it's simplicity, once all the other bits I knew of the story were removed.
17th February
No reading this weekend as some big life stuff got in the way.
18th February
No reading this weekend as some big life stuff got in the way.
19th February
The Machine Stops [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
This story is worth the admission price alone. It's one his better known shorter works and famed for 'predicting the internet' in 1909. What's amazing is that it doesn't predict the internet in itself - which would be amazing enough - but the control we allow it to have over us. The fact that the guy who wrote A Room with a View also wrote this - which is fresher than anything H.G Wells wrote - is astounding.
The Curate's Friend [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
This is something along the lines of The Story of a Panic, but without the sexuality metaphor.
Mr. Anderson [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
Clearly an argument against the church's portrayal of the afterlife, in favour of a humanist approach. A little heavy-handed, even though I more-or-less agree with the points.
Co-ordination [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
I didn't get this one. Like. Straight up didn't get it.
20th February
The Road to Colonus [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
Rather a bland one - though perhaps I missed some important point.
The Other Side [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
This took some getting into, but I liked the payoff a lot. A young bride-to-be is educated in the classics to tame her wildness, and her fiancé grows more controlling, culminating in her mythology inspired escape.
The Point of it All [The Collected Short Stories by E. M Forster]
A horrendously dark story to end the collection on, featuring grotesque visions of hell as a consequence for a softly lived life.
21st February
The Executioner [Gaslight Arcanum by Lawrence C. Connolly]
Much of my issue with this collection has been how little any of it really feels connected to Sherlock Holmes. This does the best so far, having Holmes brought back from his waterfall death by Frankenstein's creature.
A Country Death [Gaslight Arcanum by Simon Kurt Unsworth]
Another story that actually feels like it balances Holmes and horror. Here we begin with Holmes being found dead, seemingly poisoned, and we slowly discover more of the experiments he has been making on his bees, and how the bees finally outmatched him.
Sherlock Holmes and the Great Game [Gaslight Arcanum by Kevin Cockle]
I honestly skimmed through this one, it seeming ridiculous and out of character from the off. My patience with this collection is growing thin.
22nd February
Sherlock Holmes and the Diving Bell [Gaslight Arcanum by Simon Clark]
I actually enjoyed this one. It was Lovecraftian and involves deep sea travel, which I enjoy in horror. Parts of it were a bit hand-wavy but I'll forgive that for the vibes.
The Greatest Mystery [Gaslight Arcanum by Paul Kane]
One of the better ones in the collection but far from a strong story on its own. Sherlock Holmes vs. Death is always going to be interesting.
The House of Blood [Gaslight Arcanum by Tony Richards]
This one was the most cringe of the collection - immortal Holmes goes to Vegas. Sure, whatever.
The Adventures of the Six Maledictions [Gaslight Arcanum by Kim Newman]
The end was in sight and I skim read this simply because I'd already read it in Newman's Hound of the D'Urbervilles.
In Summary
I'm sad that the collection ended on a book that I didn't enjoy, but that's the nature of this sort of challenge. Naturally I focus on the stories I'm enjoying first. But overall I loved doing these short story months and it feels like it's opened up a real love for shorter fiction within me.
As for what's next? I'll be taking a month off to read some longer books, and then starting up a month of 'be gay do crime' short story collections - two crime themed collections, and two queer themed ones. See you then!
I write this blog purely for my own enjoyment, not to make a career or become a content creator. Even so, I put a lot of work into it. If you fancy supporting me on Ko-Fi, that would be incredibly cool of you!
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