What’s Adrian Markle Reading?
I teach a lot of short fiction, and I like to challenge myself to keep the content as contemporary as possible, so I’m always reading litmags from around the world. A high number of those are from Canada, since the quality is reliably high, and because it helps me feel connected to my home country. I’m also part of an informal short story club with primarily American authors, where this year we’ve discussed some great stories by Denis Johnson, Ted Chiang, and Danielle Evans. And I recently read Jess Walters’ We Live in Water, which was excellent.
“In terms of novels, I recently finished reading Rita Bullwinkel’s Head Shot, which I loved and which I mentioned in a piece for Electric Literature. I’m looking forward to Anne Fleming’s Curiosities, which is nearing the top of my to-be-read pile. I think Fleming is one of Canada’s most exciting writers and Anomaly is one of the best Canadian novels from this side of the millennium.”
But at this exact moment, I am taking my time with Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, where six astronauts on the ISS struggle to keep their focus and their professionalism when confronted with news of death and disaster back home. So high above the earth, they’ve never felt so much a part of—and apart from—humanity. Harvey is such a safe pair of hands; her level of craft is so elevated that her work is always enjoyable. And Orbital is short, coming in under 150 pages. I love a short novel. For me, this is evidence that the writer has a clear idea of the story she wants to tell and confidence in her ability to tell it. Give me a novel with focus, a novel that’s about something specific, any day of the week.
Adrian Markle is the author of the novel Bruise. He has numerous short stories in magazines and anthologies around the world, including EVENT, Queen’s Quarterly, and Pithead Chapel. He has a PhD from the University of Exeter and teaches at Falmouth University in Cornwall, UK, where he lives with his partner, the writer Eleanor Walsh.
Photo by Joyce Hankins on Unsplash