Writers On Writing / The short story as a pouch-sized epic with Eugen Bacon


“I adore that the short story allows an incompleteness that is self-sufficient, a lightness that carries heft, an accessibility that is complex yet eloquent.” We spoke to award-winning author Eugen Bacon on the short story form.


What is it that draws you to the short story form?

I adore that the short story allows an incompleteness that is self-sufficient, a lightness that carries heft, an accessibility that is complex yet eloquent. As author Paul March-Russell fondly posited, and readers of my fiction mostly suspect, I like to think of the short story as a literary fragment, a pouch-sized epic that leaves meaning to be uncovered.

What are some of your favourite works of short fiction?

I’m so random yet selective! I have a penchant for authors whose writing is metaphoric, has potential for poetry: Ray Bradbury, Sheree Renée Thomas, Lisa L. Hannett, Kathe Koja, Anthony Doerr, Andrew Hook (literary strange), Kaaron Warren, Jeffrey Ford… I love locating writers in new and old collections or anthologies, which give immense diversity in the breadth of storytelling.

In black speculative fiction there’s Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora by Sheree Renee Thomas (ed), Incomplete Solutions by Wole Talabi—sensitive and perceptive in a form that transforms you. Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora by Zelda Knight(ed) speaks for itself in its range of magical realism, existential crises, pre-colonial pasts, post-apocalyptic warnings. Coming soon is AfroSF4, in the tradition of AfroSF: Science Fiction by African Writers, AfroSFv2, AfroSFv3… this time climate-themed in the near future.

I’m currently reading New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Colour by Nisi Shawl (ed) and Nalo Hopkinson’s Skin Folk.

What is the key element that makes a compelling short story?

Oxford defines the short story as a very brief story with immediate point. Collins defines it as a prose narrative of shorter length than the novel, esp. one that concentrates on a single theme. A Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory says, when it comes to classification this is one of the most elusive forms … One is confronted with the question: how long (or short) is short?

Speculative fiction with its longer short and novelette tosses out expectations of a short story. 

One writer Paul Ariss says it best, what makes compelling short stories—they come to visit for a while, take you somewhere you didn’t expect, then put you back where you started, before you even realise you were gone.


Eugen Bacon is an African Australian author. She’s a British Fantasy Award winner, a Victorian Premier’s Literary Award finalist, a Foreword Indies Award winner, and a twice World Fantasy Award finalist. Eugen was announced in the honor list of the Otherwise Fellowships for ‘doing exciting work in gender and speculative fiction’. Danged Black Thing made the Otherwise Award Honor List as a ‘sharp collection of Afro-Surrealist work’, and was a 2024 Philip K Dick Award nominee. Eugen’s creative work has appeared worldwide.


Enrol in Online Feedback: Short Stories with Eugen Bacon, online from 9 September to 22 November 2024.

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