The Curiosities by Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, Brenna Yovanoff

Short Story Saturday was created by Lauren at 365 Days of Reading.  This is such a fun idea, and occasionally I will be posting my thoughts on short stories here.

The Vampire Box by Tessa Gratton

Anthology: The Curiosities

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab, October 2012

Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

From acclaimed YA authors Maggie Stiefvater, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff comes The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories.

But The Curiosities is more than the stories. Since 2008, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna have posted more than 250 works of short fiction to their website merryfates.com. Their goal was simple: create a space for experimentation and improvisation in their writing—all in public and without a backspace key. In that spirit, The Curiosities includes the stories and each author’s comments, critiques, and kudos in the margins. Think of it as a guided tour of the creative processes of three acclaimed authors. (Goodreads)

The Vampire Box Summary: “A vampire locked in a basement, for good luck.”

My Thoughts

The first paragraph hooked me into this story! I immediately liked the protagonist, Nicole, a high school senior who is responsible for feeding the vampire, Saxon, they keep locked in a cage in the basement. She has to microwave pig’s blood for him in the microwave, and the smell makes her gag. Lovely, yes? No? OK, I don’t know why really, but I immediately connected with Nicole. Her character is believable and relatable, which made the whole story of keeping a vampire in the basement doable for me. I even liked Saxon, and felt bad for him being trapped there.

This story was only nine pages long, and I was disappointed with how short it was, I wanted to continue reading! This was my first taste of Tessa Gratton’s writing and I look forward to reading more from her! Blood Magic has been on my TBR list and I hope to read it soon.

4.5 beans

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

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3 Responses to Short Story Saturday: The Vampire Box by Tessa Gratton

  1. fakesteph
    Twitter: fakesteph
    says:

    Why haven’t I read this yet? I was SOOOO excited for it! What happened to me???? Okay, I’m going to read this short story tonight. Before bed. Will it creep me out?
    fakesteph recently posted..Top Ten (Tuesday) Best Bookish MemoriesMy Profile

  2. Annie says:

    I loved this one too! I sent her a tweet about it and she hinted that she was thinking about expanding it into something longer… I’ve been keeping my fingers crossed! 🙂
    Annie recently posted..Affirmation: My Year of WritingMy Profile

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