The novella -- alive or just undead?

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Marc Joan

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Aug 26, 2014
I was pleased to see the below at a Waterstone's branch the other day. But a closer look seemed to suggest that most of the works were by dead authors. Not sure if this means the novella is alive, undead, or not dead but sleeping.
 

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Novellas and short stories are back in demand, owing to people reading in small chunks from their iPhones while commuting and taking a coffee break.

In France, they're giving stories away for free, printed on long paper tickets, like supermarket receipts.

How a City in France Got the World’s First Short-Story Vending Machines - The New Yorker

Short-%C3%89dition-vending-machinet.jpg
 
I am not sure the short story or novella were ever the 'undead' so I don't understand why you are saying that. I am currently reading through the Oxford Library of Classic English Short Stories, which can only be described as pure literary joy. Very soon we will be assailed by a short/story novella that will seem to be everywhere - Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

The short story is dead, long live the short story!
 
They were / are the undead because, as a rule, mainstream publishers won't touch them with a bargepole. Unless, as I point out above, they are reprints of well-known works by dead authors.
 
Novellas and short stories are back in demand, owing to people reading in small chunks from their iPhones while commuting and taking a coffee break.

In France, they're giving stories away for free, printed on long paper tickets, like supermarket receipts.

How a City in France Got the World’s First Short-Story Vending Machines - The New Yorker

Short-%C3%89dition-vending-machinet.jpg
That would be perfect! My daughter loves to read grocery receipts aloud in the back of the car. (she reads them quite dramatically, too...)
 
They were / are the undead because, as a rule, mainstream publishers won't touch them with a bargepole. Unless, as I point out above, they are reprints of well-known works by dead authors.

Have you seen these? If you keep an eye on supermarket bookshelves you will most likely see these cropping up in a lot of them. James Patterson at 150 pages or less - BookShots Patterson is a huge seller and frequently 'collaborates' with other writers. So in one form or another novellas are still being published.
 
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