In a world that prizes renowned tomes like Dante’s Inferno orWar & Peace, there’s something crucial to be said about the shorter fiction book. Especially nowadays with social media users being swept away by (albeit hilarious) Tiktoks, Instagram Reels, and YouTube shorts, our collective attention spans are in the gutter. To find a happy medium, here’s a list of shorter fiction books that’ll make you think, ponder, and honestly feel like an accomplished reader.
1. A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt
Billy-Ray Belcourt has become an insta-buy author for me. Indigiqueer from the Driftpile Cree Nation, his rich, lyrical writing focuses squarely on being Indigenous, being queer, and all of the joys and heartaches that come from being both. This book follows a PhD writing student attempting to reckon with the pervasive whiteness in higher ed by making a visit to his tribal homeland. What stands out most to me is the heartfelt conversations between him and his family, friends, and lovers old and new.
2. Open Throat by Henry Hoke
This book is so unusual but in the best way. Our unnamed protagonist is a mountain lion, (yes, a literal lion), with a lot of thoughts and feelings worth exploring. Hiding out in the Hollywood hills, this mountain lion spends its days listening intently to the humans hiking past talking about their lives and watching over the homeless encampment at the base of the hills at night. All the while, climate change has rendered its habitat to critical condition and this extremely close proximity to humans has left it pondering its own purpose in life. The ending left me desperate to hold and pet one in the wild; rest-assured I know that I probably shouldn’t do that.
3. Model Home by Rivers Solomon
This short book leans more towards the horror side of fiction. Nevertheless, it’s got all sorts of genre-bending elements brimming at the surface, as it takes the traditional haunted house theme and spins it on its head. After their parents die suddenly under mysterious circumstances, our protagonist returns to their town in a white, affluent suburb of Dallas, reuniting with their estranged siblings, and to a house whose lurking evils never really made it feel like a home. Something sinister is going on, and its up to the siblings to get to the bottom of it before the house takes them next.
4. Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
If you liked the movie Sinners (aka, one of my favorite films of all time), you’re going to absolutely eat this up. In this novella’s 1920s American South, members of the kkk are actual demons and it’s up to three badass female resistance fighters to send them back to hell. As thrilling as it is hilarious, the plot is an action-packed ode to Black power, African magic, Southern folklore, music, and the strength of women.
