Melissa Marr

Kelley Armstrong

Gripping and powerful original stories of dystopian worlds from New York Times bestselling authors Kelley Armstrong Rachel Caine Kami Garcia Nancy Holder Melissa Marr Beth Revis Veronica Roth Carrie Ryan Margaret Stohl

Shards and Ashes

Susan 

I enjoyed most of these stories! I will definitely be looking into some of these writers.

Maggie Gordon

The Good

Short stories are extremely hard to write. Authors have limited space to tell stories that are often complicated and broad in scope; therefore, every word counts. When done correctly, though, short stories can be very powerful as they are compact bundles of emotional impact.

One way of structuring an effective short story is to focus on the characters. For example, in Hearken by Veronica Roth, her universe is not particularly detailed, but the story focuses on how this world affects the choices and life of her protagonist. In this dystopic future, some people have developed the ability to hear the life and death songs of others. We are not really given much information as to how or why this occurred, but instead follow the main character as she chooses which role she is going to occupy. This universe could definitely be expanded, but I never felt like my unanswered questions harmed the story of the one person that I was reading about. Kelley Armstrong’s story Branded was quite similar. In her world, humans have fled behind fortress walls because of the existence of supernatural creatures, and the story involves our main character’s attempts to escape from this life. The hows and whys of the dystopia were less important than whether the main character was going to escape safely and reunite with her lover. As a final note, even if the exact details of the universe are not the focus of the story, they still need to make sense and flow well for a character-driven piece to work.

Another short story method that often works well is to write a story that exists within an already established universe. Beth Revis’ Love is a Choice is set in her Across the Universe series, and was meant to explore a character that didn’t get much attention in the series at large. Such a format is a great way of addressing a subject that adds to the overall story, but doesn’t fit easily into the main novels. In this case, Love is a Choice happens before the events of Across the Universe, and is meant to contextualise Orion’s choices, complicating the ethics and morals presented in the rest of the series.

The Bad

As I said above, short stories are a very difficult type of literature to master, and authors can go astray in many ways. One of the most common problems is when authors try to cram too many ideas and concepts into their piece. This leads to a lack of cohesion and clarity, and your readers just end up confused. This was an issue for Margaret Stohl’s Necklace of Raindrops, as well as Nancy Holder’s Pale Rider. Both offered an interesting glimpse at a dystopic world, but there wasn’t enough information given to readers for either of these stories to make sense. I didn’t really understand what was happening, and all of the questions I had in my head distracted me from enjoying the stories themselves. An important lesson, therefore, is to ensure that your idea is appropriate for a short story, and know when it needs to be simplified for this particular form.

For other authors, their misstep is to write something that is really just a chapter in a broader story. This was the problem with Melissa Marr’s Corpse Eaters. A short story, despite its length, needs to tell a closed story. It may be that you are writing about a universe that could be the topic of its own novel, but you need to give your readers something definitive in this particular piece. In Corpse Eaters, we are thrust into a world where a “God” has arrived and is taking over with reptilian monsters. Our main characters are rebels, and the father of one of them betrays them for inadequately explained reasons. This could have been its own story had there been more concentration on the betrayal itself, but instead it felt like a portion of a novel that was dropped randomly into the collection without any context. Consequently, when writing a short story, you should ensure that it can stand on its own.

Finally, because authors have such a short time to woo their readers, the topic of a short story needs to be interesting and unique in some sense. You don’t have enough space to reiterate something that’s come before. This was the central problem with Burn 3 by Kami Garcia. It was not that the story was poorly written, but that the framework of the dystopic world and the conflict that occurred were not terribly novel. The ozone was destroyed, making it difficult for people to avoid life-threatening burns, and, consequently, there was a black market for the skin of children for people to heal themselves. This story had potential, but it didn’t push the horror of the situation enough to make this not particularly original situation shine. In fact, I completely forgot about this story until I checked the table of contents. The lesson, therefore, is that short stories depend on something memorable or poignant that will stay with your readers.

Final Thoughts

Shards and Ashes isn’t the strongest collection of short stories, but it was still an enjoyable read, and the book certainly offers a lot of insight into what makes a well-constructed short story! For those who enjoy the latest trend of YA dystopic literature, this is a fun and quick volume to pick up, and for fans of Bath Revis’ Across the Universe series, the book contains a new story from that universe.

ashley hopkins

In A Nutshell
I've found that I really enjoy reading anthologies because we get to view so many different worlds in one book. The only problem is when I really love one of the stories, and want to know more it kind of ends. That's what happened with a few of these.

This roundup of works are all pretty grimy and dark, but the strength some of these characters have will definitely give you hope.

Harken by Veronica Roth
Loved
At the end of this story I was wanting to know more about Darya and this world of Life and Death songs.

Branded by Kelley Armstrong
Liked

Necklace of Raindrops by Margaret Stohl
Loved
There was something kind of beautiful about the way these characters lived their life. Yes, their life was basically kept on a necklace, but it was different. This is one of those stories that I wouldn't mind seeing a more thought out complete story from.
The ending is what made it for me. 

Dogsbody by Rachel Caine
Liked
I definitely had a brief moment where I thought of Hunger Games. 
At the beginning of the story kids from Level K are sent tickets to see a game/show, and when they get on this train to go to this "game" the MC realizes that it's not somewhere you're coming back from. He is one of the lucky ones. He gets off the train, and works his way up to being a Dogsbody (a type of bodyguard for CEOs), and when he meets a girl he thought he left behind at the train station so many years ago a plan is formed. Violence, guns, death all insues. If one thing changes for the better then those lives didn't die in vain.

Another I would like to explore more of.

Pale Rider by Nancy Holder
Disliked
I really didn't care for the characters or what was going on. The little bit of what we saw of this world just didn't grab my attention. At first I was thinking riders of the Apocalypse, but it turned more towards magic. A line that was severed so many years ago. Then it started with a guy finding this girl he had been searching for, and I just was interested.

Corpse Eaters by Melissa Marr
Disliked

Burn 3 by Kami Garcia
Okay


Love is a choice by Beth Revis
Okay
I feel like this might be a prequel or something of that nature to her Across the Universe series. I haven't read the series so I'm not 100percent. However, now that I've read this one I'm a bit more intrigued with the world that's created here. 

Miasma by Carrie Ryan
Okay
I couldn't really decide whether I thought this was ok or not. The plot of the story I really could care less about. These "monsters" went around with like a death hound and had them sniff out people who had the plague. It just wasn't what I enjoy, but what made it okay was the strength and will the MC had to keep her sister from being discovered as a potential plague victim. The ending wasn't what I was expecting either so another check+

Shards and Ashes

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