The Power of Short Stories

When Ray Bradbury passed away this past week I clicked around the 'net reading many of the posts about this wonderful writer.  Checking out his biography I discovered that he wrote twenty-seven novels and over 600 short stories.  Of the novels only three were mentioned frequently "Fahrenheit 451",  "The Martian Chronicles" and "Something Wicked This Way Comes". 

Amazingly it was his short stories that resonated with readers.  Stories like "The Veldt", "Dandelion Wine", "All Summer Long", and "A Sound of Thunder" were mentioned over and over.  Chuck Wendig, over on his blog, Terrible Minds, asked people to name their first Bradbury and the overwhelming majority had a short story tale to tell.  You can check it out here http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/06/07/your-first-bradbury/

Well written short stories have a sticking power that lasts well beyond their fleeting appearances in magazines.  They live forever in the minds of short story readers.