Returning briefly to that crazy time that is Christmas, and one of the best presents I could have received this year, and did, was finding out that one of my favourite short story portals, Fifty-Two Stories, was keeping its virutal doors open.
Originally launched by Harper Perennial on 1st January 2009 to coincide with their ‘Summer of the Short Story Campaign’, the original intention was to only keep the Fifty-Two Stories website running for a year. However, due to popular demand, the powers that be at Harper Perennial have decided to reset the story counter and run the site throughout the whole of 2010 as well (and hopefully beyond – Rob).
If you’ve never visited Fifty-Two Stories good people then let me tell you that you’re very much missing out on the unmissable. Each week elegant host Cal Morgan carefully selects a new short story (usually from Harper P’s back catalogue or from upcoming releases), and offers it up to the ravenous masses for eager consumption. The width and breadth of stories served up by Cal is astounding. From classics from the likes of Leo Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde and Willa Cather to up-to-the-minute story offerings from contemporary talents such as Ben Greenman, Margot Livesey, and one of my absolute favourites – Alex Burrett.
Personally I couldn’t be more delighted to see that Fifty-Two Stories is heading into its second year. Not only has the website entertained me, thrilled me and inspired me throughout 2009, but it has also been a real source of discovery. Without its presence I would never have wandered the hard-hitting story worlds of Barb Johnson and Dan Fante, discovered sublime story-tellers such as Simon Van Booy, Casey Kait and Alaa Al Aswany. Or, indeed, would I never have been left utterly confused, yet wholly satisfied, by the completely unique stories of Blake Butler 
.
I do make a point of reviewing every story that gets published on the Fifty-Two Stories website as part of my 100 Shots of Short project (I’m a few stories behind but catching up), so if you want a bit of an unqualified opinion on any of the published stories then please do a search on here for ‘Fifty-Two Stories’.
OK, so all that remains is to thank Cal Morgan and Harper Perennial for a wonderful year of short story reading, and to wish them all the very best for an equally wonderful 2010 (as if they need best wishes on that score ). And remember if you’ve never had the pleasure of visiting their website up to this point, then believe me, all your Christmases are all about to come at once.
About Rob
