A Small, Good Thing
A Small, Good Thing is a podcast dedicated to short fiction. In each episode, the host talks with writers, academics, publishers, and other people who love short stories. The show explores the short story form and what makes it work. It is a space for thoughtful conversation about reading, writing, and appreciating short fiction.
Episodes
A Career in Short Story Writing (with Elizabeth Baines)
In this episode, I get to chat with Elizabeth Baines about her career as a writer, from the first short story she ever published to her upcoming projects, passing through the times when she worked as a writer of radio plays and the co-editor of the short story magazine Metropolitan. Works cited: Elizabeth Baines, Five Different Stories about One Thing (Confingo, 2026). Elizabeth Baines, The Mounta
Writing Short Fiction in the Digital Age (with Vicky Grut)
Vicky Grut is a short story writer and an essayist. In this episode, Vicky discusses what it means to be a short story writer in the heyday of the digital revolution, and at a time of hyper-connectivity. Listen as she reflects on how much of the contemporary world can be integrated into fiction without risking obsolescence in just a few years. Works cited: Vicky Grut, 'My Own True Name', in Best
The Importance of Voice in Short Fiction (with David Hartley)
David Hartley is a short story writer, creative writing teacher, and the author of the collection of short stories Fauna (2021). In this episode we discuss the importance of voice in short story writing. What is voice? What does it mean for a writer to work on voice? How many voices can a short story writer have? How far can one trespass into alien territories when seeking for a character’s voice?
Lauren Groff's Florida (with Valentina Lopez Liendo)
Lauren Groff’s second collection of short stories, Florida (2018), is a powerful reflection on nature and climate. In this episode, Valentina Lopez Liendo takes a closer look at Groff’s representation of the relationship between humans and the environment and how this relationship reflects the inequalities that plague contemporary society. Valentina Lopez Liendo is a postdoctoral researcher at the
On winning a short story prize (with William Weightman)
In this episode, I chat with William Weightman about his short story “Green Green Grass”, which won first place in this year’s Bristol Short Story Prize. Listen as William talks about how the story came about, what matters to him when writing short fiction, and how he balances his writing with a full-time job and life as a new dad. Works cited: William Weightman, ‘Green Green Grass’, in Bristol S
The Short Story in Midcentury America (with Sam Reese)
Around 1950, the short story genre in America was at the highest and at the same time most delicate moment of its history. While the number of magazines publishing short fiction and of short story collections reached its apex, political and ideological pressures sought to undermine the prestige of the short story in order to promote other literary forms. In this episode, Sam Reese tells the fascin
David Foster Wallace's Short Fiction (with Marshall Boswell)
2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of Infinite Jest, arguably David Foster Wallace’s most famous and celebrated book. In this episode, Professor Marshall Boswell, one of the leading scholars in the field of David Foster Wallace’s studies, discusses Wallace’s three brilliant short story collections: Girl with Curious Hair (1989), Brief Interviews with Hideous Men (1999), and Oblivio
The New Yorker Short Story (with Naomi Kanakia)
In this episode, Naomi Kanakia (a.k.a Woman of Letters on Substack) tells the fascinating tale of the New Yorker Short Story. Since the times of Harold Ross and editor Katharine White, the New Yorker has been the most renowned literary magazine publishing short fiction in the US. Does a “New Yorker short story” really exists? And if it does, what does it look like?Naomi Kanakia is the author of a
Richard Brautigan's Short Fiction (with Chris Gair)
Richard Brautigan is most famous for his iconic novel Trout Fishing in America (1967), but he was also a prolific short story writer and poet. Whether you are a hardcore Brautigan fan, or you have never heard of him, this episode is for you! Chris Gair is the director of the Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and Culture at the University of Glasgow, an
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's Short Fiction (with Chigozirim Nwaosu)
Chigozirim Nwaosu is a PhD candidate in English Literature in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey (UK). Her research focuses on the intersectionality between race, gender and sexuality and how it affects contemporary societies. In this episode, Chigozirim discusses the representation of gender and sexuality in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2009 collection The Thing Arou
Writing Through Writer's Block (With Aaron Colton)
What can fictional representations of blocked short story writers teach us about writer’s block and what causes a writer to feel blocked? I discuss these questions with Aaron Colton, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of First-Year Writing in the Department of English at Emory University in Atlanta. Aaron is the author of the book Writing Through Writer’s Block: Lessons from Modern American
Women of Wonder: Women Short Story Writers in Science Fiction (With Paul March-Russell)
Paul March-Russell is the outgoing editor of Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction, the co-founder of Gold SF, an intersectional feminist science fiction imprint of Goldsmiths Press, and the author of The Short Story: An Introduction for Edinburgh University Press. In this episode, Paul discusses the importance of women writers in science fiction and the legacy of the short story
The Best of the Best: Literary Institutions and the American Short Story Canon (With Alexander Manshel)
Alexander Manshel is Associate Professor of English at McGill University in Montreal (Canada). His research focuses on twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literature, multi-ethnic American fiction, and the cultural institutions that organize the contemporary literary field. How is contemporary short fiction in America influenced by the people and institutions that contribute to its produc
Small, Good Things. A Special Episode
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:02:00) The Place to Find a Body (Ailsa Cox)
(00:06:17) The Woman in the Tracksuit (Charlie Hill)
(00:07:05) The Sunshine Skyway (Lauren C. Johnson)
(00:13:53) New You (Shelley Roche-Jacques)
(00:16:05) The Whites of Her Eyes (Molly Treweek)
(00:21:58) Muguette (Elsa Court)
(00:30:22) bill (Timothy Fox)
(00:33:49) Spirits (Elizabeth Geoghegan)
(00:37:01) Curtain Call (Niamh Swa
Flash Fiction and Three-Dimensional Story Worlds (with Shelley Roche-Jacques)
Shelley Roche-Jacques is a poet, flash fiction writer and Senior Lecturer of Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University (UK). In this episode, Shelley will be our guide into the world of Flash Fiction. How can a writer mobilise the story world and create three-dimensional stories when all they have at their disposal is a few hundred words? Listen and find out!Works cited:Shelley Roche-Jacques
Like Old Photographs in Second-hand Books (With Nicholas Royle)
Nicholas Royle is a short story writer, a novel writer, the editor of the Best British Short Stories series. In this episode, I get to chat with him about his latest collection of short stories, Paris Fantastique (Confingo), and about his passion for second-hand books. Nicholas is also the founder of Nighjar Press, which publishes individual short stories as limited-edition chapbooks. Listen to fi
William Saroyan: Life at Full Volume (with Scott Setrakian)
Scott Setrakian is the president of the William Saroyan Foundation. At the time we recorded this interview, he had just come back from Armenia, where he had taken part in a seven-day event called Saroyan Days. In this episode, he tells me about the life and works of Armenian American short story writer William Saroyan. Saroyan’s is a story of determination, perseverance, Pulitzer Prices, Academy A
More Facts and Fiction of Short Story Writing (with Ailsa Cox) [Part Two]
Ailsa Cox is a professor Emerita at Edge Hill University (UK) and a short story writer. In this second part of the interview we discuss famous pieces of short story writing advice like “show don’t tell”, the Freitag pyramid, ending with a moment of insight and much more! Listen to find out what is a fact and what is fiction! Works mentioned: Sarah Hall, ‘Sarah Hall on why we should have a short
The Facts and Fiction of Short Story Writing (with Ailsa Cox) [Part one]
Ailsa Cox is a Professor Emerita at Edge Hill University (UK) and a short story writer. In this first part of the interview, we discuss famous claims about short stories and short story writing, like reading short stories in one sitting, the connection between short stories and poetic language, and much more. Listen to find out if they are facts or fiction! Works cited: Ailsa Cox, Writing Short S
The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (with Andrew Levy)
Andrew Levy is professor of English and Creative Writing and the Edna Cooper Chair of English at Butler University in Indiana (USA). In this episode, I get to ask him a few questions about his book The Culture and Commerce of the American Short Story (Cambridge UP, 1992), a real watershed in short story criticism.Works referenced (in order of appearance) Andrew Levy, The Culture and Commerce of t
Short Fiction and Knowledge for Living (with Michael Basseler)
How does the short story form contribute to our understanding of life and the world? To find out, listen to this episode of the podcast, in which I get to interview prof. Michael Basseler, from Justus-Liebig University, author of the monograph An Organon of Life Knowledge: Genres and Functions of the Short Story in North America.Works cited:Michael Basseler, An Organon of Life Knowledge: Genres an
Failed Summer Vacation (with the author, Heuijung Hur)
In this episode I get to interview Heuijung Hur on her collection Failed Summer Vacation, which has recently been published in English by Scratchbooks. Listen to Heuijung talk about her favourite stories in the collection and what it feels like to read her own work in translation.Works cited:Heuijung Hur, Failed Summer Vacation, trans. by Paige Aniya Morris (Scratchbooks, 2025).George Saunders, Te
Contact Zones (with Michael Collins)
Michael Collins is Reader in American Studies at King’s College, London and co-editor of the Cambridge Companion to the American Short Story (2024). In this episode, I ask him why the short story is so popular in the US and yet relatively underrepresented in academic research. Works cited:Michael J. Collins, The Drama of the American Short Story, 1800-1865 (University of Michigan Press, 2016).Mic
[Part Two] Lucia Berlin: Laundromats and Missing Puzzle Pieces (with Elizabeth Geoghegan)
In this two-part episode, I have the privilege of chatting about Lucia Berlin’s short fiction with writer (and Lucia Berlin’s personal friend) Elizabeth Geoghegan. In the first part, Elizabeth tells me how she met Lucia Berlin and what kind of teacher she was; we also discuss the story “Angel’s Laundromat”. In the second part of the episode, I ask Elizabeth about the stories “A Manual for Cleaning
[Part One] Lucia Berlin: Laundromats and Missing Puzzle Pieces (with Elizabeth Geoghegan)
In this two-part episode, I have the privilege of chatting about Lucia Berlin’s short fiction with writer (and Lucia Berlin’s personal friend) Elizabeth Geoghegan. In the first part, Elizabeth tells me how she met Lucia Berlin and what kind of teacher she was; we also discuss the story “Angel’s Laundromat”. In the second part of the episode, I ask Elizabeth about the stories “A Manual for Cleaning
Flannery at the Grammys: Flannery O'Connor and Popular Culture (with Irwin Streight)
In this episode, Prof. Irwin Streight (Royal Military College of Canada) discusses the unexpected legacy of short story writer Flannery O'Connor on popular singers and songwriters such as Bruce Springsteen, U2, Lucinda Williams, and Nick Cave.Works mentioned (in order of appearance): Lucinda Williams, “Get Right With God”, from Essence (Lost Highway, 2001). Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, dir
Cat Scratches and DeLoreans: On Publishing Short Fiction (with Tom Conaghan)
Meet Tom Conaghan, founder of Scratch Books! In this episode, I ask Tom what it takes and what it's like to run a publisher entirely dedicated to short fiction. Find out more about the origins of Scratch Books, their amazing publications and short story competition!Works cited (in order of appearance):John Cheever, “Reunion”, in A Vision of the World: Selected Stories, ed. by Julian Barnes (Vintag
Introducing "A Small, Good Thing"
Intro credits: Shield, Leroy, Taylor Holmes, and Robert W Service. The shooting of Dan McGrew. 1923. Audio. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
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