Deal Me In Short Story Challenge 2018

Jay at Bibliophilopolis is once again hosting the “Deal Me In” Short Story Reading Challenge, and I am definitely back for another year of reading one short story per week. I have so many short story anthologies sitting on my To-Be-Read shelves that I think I could probably do this challenge for the next fifteen years.

The unique and fun part of this challenge is that it involves using a deck of cards.

Here’s how Jay describes it:

Before you get started reading, come up with a roster of fifty-two stories (you can use any source) and assign each one to a playing card in a standard deck of cards. It can be fun to use different suits for different types of stories, but that is optional. I’ve often included one wild card for each suit too, so I can maybe read a story I’ve heard about during the year, or read another by an author I’ve discovered through this challenge. Each “week,” (if you’re like me, you may occasionally fall a story or two behind – that’s okay) you draw a card at random from your deck and that is the story you will read.

This year I’ve chosen four books from different genres: fantasy/horror, hardboiled detective, cozy mystery, and western:

The October Country by Ray Bradbury: Bradbury is one of my favorite authors, and this collection is one of his earliest, published in 1955.

The Hardboiled Dicks, edited by Ron Goulart: This 1965 collection features hardboiled detective stories from pulp magazines like Black Mask, Dime Detective, and Detective Fiction Weekly. All the stories were originally published between 1932 and 1941.

Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy Sayers: Sayers is the author of the well-known Lord Peter mystery novels, and this collection from 1928 comes fourth in the series chronologically, though it is the first collection of short stories.

The Montanans, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg: I’m making 2018 the year I get back to reading westerns, so I’ve chosen this anthology of thirteen stories set in Montana.

As with all my other reading challenges, I’ll be recording my progress on my 2018 Reading Challenges page.

Here are the stories I’ll be reading, along with the card assigned to each one:

♦ Diamonds (From The October Country by Ray Bradbury)

A♦ “The Dwarf”
2♦ “The Next in Line”
3♦ “The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse”
4♦ “Skeleton”
5♦ “The Jar”
6♦ “The Lake”
7♦ “The Emissary”
8♦ “Touched with Fire”
9♦ “The Small Assassin”
10♦ “The Crowd”
J♦ “Jack-in-the-Box”
Q♦ “The Scythe”
K♦ “Uncle Einar”

♥ Hearts (From The October Country by Ray Bradbury and The Hardboiled Dicks, edited by Ron Goulart)

A♥ “The Wind” (from The October Country)
2♥ “The Man Upstairs” (from The October Country)
3♥ “There Was an Old Woman” (from The October Country)
4♥ “The Cistern” (from The October Country)
5♥ “The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone” (from The October Country)
6♥ “Don’t Give Your Right Name” by Norbert Davis
7♥ “The Saint in Silver” by John K. Butler
8♥ “Winter Kill” by Frederick Nebel
9♥ “China Man” by Raoul Whitfield
10♥ “Death on Eagle’s Crag” by Frank Gruber
J♥ “A Nose for News” by Richard Sale
Q♥ “Angelfish” by Lester Dent
K♥ “Bird in the Hand” by Erle Stanley Gardner

♣ Clubs (From Lord Peter Views the Body by Dorothy Sayers)

A♣ “The Abominable History of the Man with the Copper Fingers”
2♣ “The Entertaining Episode of the Article in Question”
3♣ “The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager’s Will”
4♣ “The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag”
5♣ “The Unprincipled Affair of the Practical Joker”
6♣ “The Undignified Melodrama of the Bone of Contention”
7♣ “The Vindictive Story of the Footsteps that Ran”
8♣ “The Bibulous Business of a Matter of Taste”
9♣ “The Learned Adventure of the Dragon’s Head”
10♣ “The Piscatorial Farce of the Stolen Stomach”
J♣ “The Unsolved Puzzle of the Man with No Face”
Q♣ “The Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba”
K♣ “Homecoming” (from The October Country by Ray Bradbury)

♠ Spades (From The Montanans, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg)

A♠ “The Lamb of the Flying U” by B.M. Bower
2♠ “Bannack Doctor” by Norman A. Fox
3♠ “Beyond the Frontier” by Dorothy M. Johnson
4♠ “Killers’ Country” by Dan Cushman
5♠ “Psychology and Copper” by W.C. Tuttle
6♠ “No-Fights” by T.V. Olsen
7♠ “Bargain” by A.B. Guthrie, Jr.
8♠ “All the Long Years” by Bill Pronzini
9♠ “Bet the Wild Queen!” by Norman A. Fox
10♠ “Blood Truth” by Ed Gorman
J♠ “Wooden Indian” by Jack Foxx
Q♠ “Buffalo Horns” by Arthur Winfield Knight
K♠ “Queen of Rustler’s Range” by Les Savage, Jr.