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As much as I am a
big fan of Neil Gaiman and as great as his novel American Gods has
been said to be, I
have not read it. That’s
because I’m not a big fan
of novels that go over 400 pages regardless of genre. Not
that I’ll never read American Gods; I’m just not ready to
work my way through an extra long work any time soon. Anything more
than the equivalent of a 400-page mass trade paperback novel I
normally try to stay away from. I’m afraid that if I try reading it
that I’ll put it aside to read other things and take a break from
it--a permanent break. It’s
happened to me twice
with one book--Don
Quixote.
So, as much as I’d
like to read American Gods and probably will someday, I’ve
turned to the “alternative” instead. Actually I’ve turned to
two alternatives: two American Gods sequels
(see the list below for
titles). However, you
probably won’t find them on shelves at the bookstores, much less
the library, yet. At least not as their own books. That’s because
they are not novels. They are novellas. The novella: a little
shorter than the average size novel (and so not much longer than 100
pages), a little longer than a long short story (which is sometimes
referred to as a “novelette” and totals to about 50
pages).
Because I have a
short attention span for reading long novels, I have even a shorter
attention span for writing novels of any length. I can read an
average size novel (399 words or less) with no problem, it just takes
me longer to get through it than it would most people. But writing a
novel would probably not hold my patience for very long. I’ve
always told people that I’ll try writing one someday. Maybe I will,
maybe I won’t. But I have written a novella as an
alternative. I think this is a great way for a writer
to introduce him- or herself to writing novels--write a novella
first. It’s easier to keep track of and the revision process is
quicker, although I haven’t quite yet made it to that level of
writing my mine. The novella is also great for readers who are new
to sci fi and fantasy and don’t like reading really long works that
are so typical in the speculative genre. So, where do such readers
find science fiction and fantasy novellas if too few of them are sold
in stores? Traditionally, literary magazines, short fiction
collections and anthologies have included novellas. However, the lack
of science fiction and fantasy novellas in bookstores may come to an
end soon, according to an article by Jason Kehe at Wired.com entitled
“The Rise of the Sci-Fi Novella: All the Imagination, None of the Burden”.
Kehe discusses the
novella as ideal reading material for new readers of sci fi and
fantasy who often get the impression that the two genres consists
mostly of long, multi-volume works. Science fiction and fantasy book
series, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld
and Charles Stross’s Laundry Files, have eclipsed smaller works in
the two genres for decades. But, again, this may be changing. Kehe
says that the novella was mostly confined to fiction magazines and
anthologies where it would receive only a marginal readership. But
then he says that Tor.com fairly recently popularised the novella and
he goes into details about how it has done so and how the trend has
spread out to other markets. He also gives a list of contemporary
titles. To see this list, take a look at his article. For
more titles, take a look at my list below of science
fiction and fantasy novellas I’ve read and enjoyed.
Fairly recently,
shorter works have been selling more on Amazon—including novellas
and short stories. And so Amazon has been selling more short stories
individually as stand-alone books rather than just collectively in
anthologies and collections. That’s why I had self-published “Circa Sixty Years Dead” as a book rather than waiting to
include it in a short fiction collection or anthology. And you know
what? I haven’t made a penny from it. At least not on Amazon. My
short fiction collection, The Fool’s Illusion, has sold more copies. But hey, “Circa” is only one short
book. And I’ll admit, I haven’t given the time to promoting it as
much as I did “Fool’s Illusion”. However, I did sell some copies of “Circa” at Sac-Con almost a year ago. So
yes, people are looking for shorter works to read and Kehe explains
why in his article.
A Random List of Sci Fi/Fantasy Novellas I’ve Read and Enjoyed
Monarch of the
Glen, Neil Gaiman
Black Dog,
Neil Gaiman
Dr. Jekylle and
Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson
I Am Legend,
Richard Matheson
Rescue Run,
Anne McCaffrey
Do you read or write
novellas? What are your favourites?
Until next time . .
.
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