#ShortStorySunday: "A Mindreader’s Guide to Surviving Your First Year at the All-Girls Superhero Academy"

A couple of weeks ago, I read about something on Twitter called #shortstorysunday, a hashtag people use to share short stories they've read. I thought Yes! I can use this to read a short story on Sundays! That would be great! I would love to do that! 

Though all those thoughts definitely were followed my exclamation marks in my mind, and I was really excited about this whole thing, by the next weekend, I'd forgotten about it.

But I remembered today and read A Mindreader's Guide to Surviving Your First Year at the All-Girls Superhero Academy by Jenn Reese who wrote A Game of Fox and Squirrels, which released last month. This short story appeared at Uncanny.

Back fifteen years ago, when I was trying to define "story" for myself, I read Writing in General and the Short Story in Particular by Rust Hill. He said that a story is about something happening to somebody. It's the only definition of story I've ever found. If something doesn't happen, there's no story.

In a short story, it can be easier to understand in simple terms what the story is, because the story is short. And in A Mindreader's Guide to Surviving Your First Year at the All-Girls Superhero Academy, you can see that. It's not a slam-bam flashy event, but something very specifically happens.

I liked this story, and I think it has a lot of YA appeal.

I'll be reading more of Jenn Reese's stories on Sundays. Unless, of course, I forget.