Mammoth Book of Lesbian Short Stories

It’s no secret that commercial markets for short stories have been drying up for the past 30 years. This is considered a reflection of the diminishing readership for short fiction, and, as a result–with the occasional startling exception–book advances are small, reviews scarce, and promotion negligible. The prophets of literary doom have more or less ignored gay and lesbian fiction, however, where the short story flourishes among a feisty and increasingly discerning readership. “At the end of the 1990s,” notes Emma Donoghue, “the only difficulty in compiling a collection of three decades of superb lesbian stories is that there are so many to choose from.” Perhaps the best and widest-ranging of recent anthologies, the Mammoth Book includes the work of established writers (Jane Rule, Sara Maitland, Dorothy Allison) alongside that of novices, and corrects the usual overemphasis on American fiction. Like the editors of The Vintage Book of International Lesbian Fiction, Donoghue has chosen a thematic rather than biographical approach, including women writers “of all persuasions.” But don’t try to choose between this excellent book and the Vintage anthology, which has a different emphasis. Buy them both and become an expert in the lesbian short story. –Regina Marler