James asked Janet Fitch:

I'm reading and loving "White Oleander". However, another story that I particularly enjoyed was "The Method", a short story I found in the compilation, "Los Angeles Noir". Have you written other short stories? What are your favorites and do you have favorites by any other authors?

Janet Fitch I don't really write a lot of short stories--though I write a lot of short shorts on my blogsite, www.janetfitchwrites.wordpress.com. Novels take such a long time, I tend to limit writing short stories to the time I'm between books. I've written several, but its sometimes hard to find the journals in which they're published. White Oleander began as a short story, as did Paint It Black. There's a recent one called 'Room 721' in Black Clock which should be easily available. My favorite short stories… I love the Robert Stone collection 'Bear and his Daughter'--probably 'Porque no Tiene, Porque le Falta' my favorite. Faulkner short stories--my favorite's 'Barn Burning'. Joyce Carol Oates collections, 'Upon the Sweeping Flood' and 'By the North Gate', 'The Wheel of Love,' 'The Goddess and other Women'--favorite story, 'Where are you Going, Where Have you Been?' Other favorite collections: Melanie Rae Thon, 'First, Body.' Primo Levi 'The Periodic Tables.' Sergei Dovlatov 'The Suitcase.' Donald Rawley, 'Slow Dance on the Fault Line'. Dylan Landis' novel in stories 'Rainey Royal.'

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