I’ve been trying to read more short fiction. It’s a form of writing I’ve  appreciated in many genres, from John Updike’s slices of life to Philip K. Dick’s futuristic visions. I love Roald Dahl’s devilish twists and Ted Chiang’s philosophical musings.

While I love me a good novel as well, there are many ways in which short fiction is equal or at times a superior form for a story.

1. Short fiction is short: while I am stating the obvious, short fiction does give a busy reader (like most of us) a broader exposure to authors and markets. A typical short story or novelette will often range from 3,000-20,000 words. A novel will typically exceed 80,000 words. One can read up to a dozen short stories in the time it takes to read a novel.

2. Short fiction invites new ideas: writing a novel requires a substantial amount of capital. It may take an author a year or more to write the novel, then there is an agent, a series of editors, book cover artists, layout designers, publicists, and other folks who have their hands in bringing a book to market. Short fiction, on the other hand, requires substantially less investment. Editors have more freedom to take a chance on a new idea or a unique style of writing. It may be a choose-your-own-adventure or a second person slipstream. A short story can be a strange genre mash-up or it can push unconventional boundaries. With the few novels published each year by a particular publisher, most novel editors are unwilling to take the same chances that a short fiction editor will.

3. Short fiction does not need to conform to genre conventions: There seems to be a certain amount of pressure for authors to brand themselves and stay within their genre boundaries. Often pseudonyms are adopted when authors wish to write a work in a different genre (Daniel Abraham and Kristine Kathryn Rusch come to mind). Short fiction allows authors to dabble in other genres without consequence. They are free to write the story they want to write, rather than try to conform to the market of their previous stories. For example, Mary Robinette Kowal’s novels are period fantasies, yet her short fiction spans fantasy, horror, and science fiction. Giving an author complete freedom in their writing will often result in the story they want to tell — not the one they feel obligated to tell.

4. Short fiction deals with subjects that cannot be handled in long form: Let’s face it — some ideas are great, but don’t have the capacity to have a novel written about them. These are the stories Ted Chiang often writes — humanoids functioning solely on the pressurized air of the Earth or a man meeting his future self through a time traveling gate. But these ideas sometimes are so great they must be told. The shorter form allows the author to tell the story the way it was meant to be.

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I am not certain how many short stories I will be reviewing, but I think it will be an interesting addition to the blog. It will reward aspiring writers to have their newly published stories reviewed. It should also allow me to review more frequently than my current rate.

We’ll see how it goes.

I have recently made changes to Odd Engine’s review policy.

In short, there are two key changes:

• I now will accept self-pubbed submissions, but I plan on being discriminatory with regards to which ones I actually read.
• I am no longer going to be rating books on a 1-5 star scale. 5-star books will be represented as a “starred review,” similar to what is seen at Kirkus or Publisher’s Weekly for exceptional works.

Further explanation can be found below and on the “Review Policy” page.

Do you review self-published books? Yes, but I will be more discriminate. Other than Hugh Howey’s Wool series, I have avoided reviewing self-published novels in the first year of this blog. This was partly out of fear — fear that an author would contact me directly, send me their baby, and that I would dislike it and feel obligated to write an honest review. I am no longer plastering a 1-5 star rating on my reviews, thus removing the label, “this book sucks,” whenever it falls short of the rest of the population. Furthermore, I am finding some of the less popular titles get a lot more traction on this blog. Nobody is going to come here to find a review of George R. R. Martin’s latest book, but up and coming authors may appreciate some publicity and direct their fans and friends to read a review on their work.

For self-published works, please inquire using the form below. I am most interested in books that are unique from the traditionally-published works. Maybe it’s a novella (too short for typical publishers) or maybe the form or subject deviates from typical novels. I am most interested in stand-alone, thought-provoking stories. I am least interested in book series, particularly self-published epic fantasies.

What type of reviews do you write? My reviews are completely subjective. I try to be positive about the reviews, but honest in where I think the strengths and weaknesses lie. A blog of all positive reviews does nothing for the reader in search of new books and destructive reviews only come at the expense of the author and publisher with little benefit to anyone else.

As of May 16, 2013, I will no longer be rating books on a scale of 1-5 stars. I have found this method to be too arbitrary for my taste. The impression one has between a 3-star and 4-star book is monumental, yet I often find myself waffling between the two as if there is little distinction.

Furthermore, I am finding that my reviews are often focused on justifying the rating with lists of pros and cons rather than just writing a review with a viewpoint. If someone wants a book rating, they are much better served browsing Amazon or Goodreads.

What I still plan on doing is having starred reviews (like Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews) to highlight exceptional works. I estimate this will denote the top 20% of the books I read.