Reading Room 2019 IX - Our ninth story is...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Back to Ellis Ward this week...Bodie's Letter by Ellis Ward
Read it at:
Circuit Archive
ProsLib
The Hatstand

Any suggestions for November (or Christmas stories for December?) would be greatly appreciated. You don't have to host to suggest a story! I do have a request though - the stories people are suggesting seem to be getting longer and longer, and Whisper of a Kill is actually a novel! This is making it hard for people to join in, because that can be alot to read in one week - there are a lot of people in Pros who are reading English as a second (third, fourth!) language, and some of us who still work full-time. As fabulous as Pros novels and really long stories are, I think we need to keep the length down, please, for these weekly reads. I don't want to lay down a word count or anything like that, but please be sensible and kind, and take it into consideration when thinking about suggesting a story for us to read.

Reading Room Schedule
Week 1 - weekend of Friday 13th September - The Return by Ellis Ward - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 2 - weekend of Friday 20th September - A Widening Gyre by Rebelcat - hosted by firlefanzine
Week 3 - weekend of Friday 27th September - Transport Cafe by Elizabeth Holden (Fajrdrako) - hosted by paris7am
Week 4 - weekend of Friday 4th October - Endgame by Tarot - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 5 - weekend of Friday 11th October - Uriah by Verlaine - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 6 - weekend of Friday 18th October - A Different Game by DVS - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 7 - weekend of Friday 25th October - Decrescendo by Erushi - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 8 - weekend of Friday 1st November - Where the Worms Are by Pamela Rose - hosted by byslantedlight
Week 9 - weekend of Friday 8th November - Bodie's Letter by Ellis Ward
Week 10 - weekend of Friday 15th November - Whisper of a Kill by Lois Welling - hosted by gilda_elise
Week 11 - weekend of Friday 22nd November -
Week 12 - weekend of Friday 29th November -
Week 13 - weekend of Friday 6th December -
Week 14 - weekend of Friday 13th December -
Week 15 - weekend of Friday 20th December -

Comments

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

This is making it hard for people to join in, because that can be a lot to read in one week - there are a lot of people in Pros who are reading English as a second (third, fourth!) language, and some of us who still work full-time

And don't forget reading for the Big Bang stories. I'm sure I'm not the only person who, with the best will in the world, haven't managed to keep up with reading all the stories.

[God, you'd think I'd manage to type TWO lines without lots of edits!!!!!!}

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

True, although I can never keep up with reading them all anyway, and I don't expect to read all of them, sadly. It's another reason to be surprised about people choosing such long stories for Reading Room, though! And no one suggested any of the Big Bang stories either, to kill two birds and all that...

(and lol!)

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

Wasn't The Return done in chapters? I actually prefer longer stories because they're usually more complex, so there's more to talk about. Most short stories it's either, yeah, I like it, or I don't.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

When it was originally on the paper circuit? It might have been, but I've no idea what they were, and it doesn't automatically show in chapters anywhere now...

I love long stories too, and I agree that there's definitely more to talk about in them! Trouble is, if people don't have the time to read them then they're not going to come and talk anyway, which sort of defeats the whole point... *g* We were doing longer stories as the Pros Read-a-Long, but took a break for Reading Room because people got impatient... (*eyes rock and hard place*)

Choosing the right short stories should still leave alot to talk about... but yeah, there's not much to say besides yeay or boo... although I say that, and there's always explaining why to talk about!

[gilda-elise.livejournal.com]

No, I meant didn't we read it in chapters? One a week? That's something that can be done with long stories to make them easier to read. And it would fill up more weeks, too. *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're thinking of the Pros Read-a-long (https://ci5hq.livejournal.com/tag/pros%20novel%20read-along), where we read Painted Angels by Angelfish! Yes, we did do that - then we had a poll which voted for Reading Room back (https://ci5hq.livejournal.com/343559.html) for individual stories rather than another chapter-by-chapter read-a-long.

We could definitely do another one - except that people said they wanted individual stories (I'm eyeing the rock and the hard place here!) Of course not everyone wants/can do the same thing, so there's an element of compromise to try and help as many people as possible join in, but...

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Yep - I'm in the struggling to keep up group... which is infuriating because I love a longer read! But TIME!!!! And I promise it's not because I watch too much telly, because I lost my TV remote about a month ago and I still haven't needed to find it *g*

And I love the reading room to bits, so please don't stop! Can we maybe take two weeks to read the longer suggestions? Or does that cancel out the whole idea?

And I'd love to group read Larton too, but goodness, we're talking looong there! The only way I can think of even suggesting it is if we did one part at a time, and had a couple of other reads in between. I'll crawl back into my shell now *g*

Oh! Except thank you for the umpteenth time for getting this up and running and keeping it going. Bless you!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

There are definitely ways that we can read longer fic - we were reading longer stories as the Pros Read-a-Long, but then we had the Reading Room back for a break, except that people started suggesting long stories!

I guess the trouble is that everyone's up to different stages in their lives, and it's trying to fit them all in... There must be some way that we can include longer fic - I'd love to group read Larton too! That would definitely be in parts... Come right back out of that shell though, please... *vbg*

There must be a way we can do it all - I'll have a think! (And the second chapter of Larton would be a lovely Christmas read... *vbg*)