More than seven years ago, I set up a website called McStorytellers. Its purpose was to showcase the work of Scots-connected short story writers like myself. It was also intended to cock a snook at the plethora of middle-class, Middle-English short story sites I kept coming across at the time. Over the years, McStorytellers has had its ups and downs; more so its founder. But both it and I have persevered. In the words of a much more famous writer: So we beat on, boats against the current.
All of which preamble paves the way for me to announce that this week McStorytellers published its 1,000th short story. To mark that event, I’ve gone back through the site’s rather extensive archive of stories and selected my favourite dozen. The stories I’ve selected are not necessarily the best on the site, nor the most popular, but they are the ones that have stayed with me over time; the ones that, in my opinion, epitomise the art of short storytelling. I’ve included one of my own, because… well, just because.
So here they are. My McEditor’s Pick listed alphabetically by author’s first name.
Greek As A Foreign Language – Andrew McCallum Crawford
Papillon’s Coconuts Carry Cars And Dreams – Andrew Velzian
Maudie – Bill Kirton
Man Up – Brendan Gisby
Postcards from the Departure Lounge – Gavin Broom
The Orange Walk – Jack O’Donnell
Eternal Shadows – James McPherson
The Entrepreneur – John McGroarty
The Resurrection of Andy McPhail – Karen Jones
The Secret Life of The Sheriff – Olga Wojtas
Bite – Pat Black
My Beloved Edith – Tom Gillespie
If you’d like to compile your own list of favourite stories on the site, go to the By McStoryteller page and scroll down. There’s plenty to choose from!