Major Acid's E-Rag
What Else Is There?
Volume 1, Number 10
Storyteller
Sayings are assumed to be simple, direct, easily understood. Sayings that aren�t all those things are puzzles. Yet sayings can be interpreted in different ways, sayings such as, �You get what you pay for.� Consider, for example, Storyteller, self-proclaimed as �Canada�s Short Story Magazine.�
If you stand in front of your local magazine stand, leafing through Storyteller, scanning the openings of the various stories and glancing through the publisher�s introduction, then decide to buy the magazine, you get exactly what you paid for. You shouldn�t be surprised, either. You knew the level of writing, and you felt it was worth the $5.95 Canadian (plus taxes): you got what you paid for.
As for the staff of Storyteller, they get what they paid for, too. The magazine buys its stories, which makes a story�s appearance in the magazine a paying gig. Sadly, it doesn�t pay much. In fact, the inevitable web-site says the going rate is one half of one cent per word for a story ranging between 2,000 and 6,000 words. At the top end, that translates to $30. Oh � the writer might also get two free copies of the magazine.
Before you succumb to the obvious inference, read on. There are at least two elements that figure into a well-written short story. One is the story itself, the plot, such as it may be. The other is the style, the rhythm and the word choice � the technique, in other words. It�s best to have both, of course, but writers who can produce that combination consistently don�t generally publish in venues that pay one half of one cent a word. Still, there are many writers who are good at one or another, and there are many readers who prefer one to the other, if they think about it at all.
The current issue of Storyteller (Spring 2004) has nine stories, some with more plot some with less. A couple with style. Chances are good you�ll find something entertaining between the covers.
If your taste runs to historical fiction, set in Canada, try �Kelly�s Run.� This is the cover story, set in the days of the North West Rebellion, long on events, short on style. If you prefer more remote history, or fable of the historical sort, remote in time and place, try the closing story, �Two Moon City.� This fable has little plot, more style, and deals with young people suppressing their baser instincts to preserve family honour and civic stability. I�d like to think there�s some irony in the tale (I find the philosophy repugnant) but if it�s there, it�s well hidden.
Other stories feature a vampire with troubling neighbours, an inconvenient angel, and a woman who drastically overdresses for casual day at work.
One of the best stories � as in a combination of plot and style � might be Stephen Leclerc�s �Living the Dream,� a hockey story with a twist. The twist is obvious early one, but the story is both solid enough, and brief enough, to carry the reader through.
Beyond the stories, however, Storyteller has little else to talk about. Three books are reviewed, briefly, and advertising is sparse. In fact, most of the adverts are for Storyteller itself, such as a page flogging back issues. For a change, you aren�t paying a lot for advertising.
On a final, curious note, Storyteller has a pricing anomaly. The magazine is a quarterly, so if you buy four issues off the newsstand, the total cost, including GST and Ontario�s PST (the magazine is Ottawa based) ends up as $27.37. But if you subscribe to Storyteller, you will have four issues mailed to you for a total price of 26.50 plus GST - $28.35.
Maybe that�s not as odd as it seems. Storyteller has been around for about ten years, but this is the first issue I have noticed on my somewhat out of the way magazine stand. It is likely to disappear as suddenly. If you want to make sure you get four sets of new Canadian short stories to feed on every year, subscription may be the way to go. At the least, you�ll probably get what you pay for.
Storyteller is published quarterly by Tyo Communications and sells for $5.95 Canadian.
