I asked writers Miles Klee and Mads Gobbo how they came to writing a short story collection instead of a novel–Klee offered a logistical take. “It was never really a question—we had too many ideas to stuff into a novel,” he told me. “We originally wrote these to entertain and surprise each other, so we kept on leaping to something new.” Mads put an even finer point on it, saying, “There’s a lot to be said for brevity. I won’t say it here, to avoid boring people.”

Together, the pair wrote the short story collection, Double Black Diamond, where stories hails “from prehistoric jungles to radioactive waters, from the haunted ruins of the old country to the glittering horrors of the new.” It explores the dystopian in both brutal and poetic ways; these stories becoming ever more relevant by the day. Gobbo tells me, their work on this particular theme was liberating. “I think of short stories like a postcard from a friend abroad–they awaken the reader to other ways of life, and estrange us from our routine,” she says. “Conjuring a dystopia can be strangely liberating—you’re writing about a time where everyone you know is dead. Nobody can prove your vision wrong. Many of these stories were written ten years ago. It’s funny to look back at them now and see that the future is even weirder than we imagined.”

It’s on this topic that Klee offers some to-the-point insight saying simply that the decision to write dystopian fiction just made sense. “They say write what you know,” he tells me.

For readers looking to explore short story collections for the first time, or who aim to add some variety to their TBR, I’ve got you covered; with some help from Mads and Miles, and from my own bedside TBR, I’ve compiled a list of short story collections for readers of all tastes.

Short Story Collections for Your TBR

‘Double Black Diamond’ By Mads Gobbo and Miles Klee: Naturally starting with Gobbo and Klee’s collection, for readers looking for something freaky, feral, and funny, look no further.

‘The Woman Who Borrowed Memories’ By Tove Jansson: Gobbo tells me they’re currently making their way through this collection from the Scandinavian author which explore solitude.

‘Palm-of-the-Hand Stories’ By Yasunari Kawabata: Klee is currently reading this collection by Kawabata who received the Nobel Prize in Literature. Written throughout his career, these stories also explore solitude, as well as love and the passage of time.

‘Italian Folktales’ By Italo Calvino: Both Klee and Gobbo mention Calvino’s collection to me; the Italian literary giant was a master of the surreal and the mystical. The pair read to each other from the book often, which holds a special place in Gobbo’s heart as she inherited a copy from her late grandmother.

‘Thrilling Tales of Modern Men’ By Danny McBride: My current read is an advance copy of this short story collection by the creator of The Righteous Gemstones, Eastbound & Down, and Vice Principals. I’m a fan of everything Danny does and this collection is no exception; it’s whipsmart and it makes me actually laugh out loud which is rare for a book.

‘Many People Die Like You’ By Lina Wolff: Wolff is one of my favorite novelists; she has a knack for exploring the mundane and the surreal in a way that feels both very human, and incredibly discomforting. This collection of short stories explores the constant hum of the everyday and what we’re capable of when no one is watching.

‘So Late In The Day’ By Claire Keegan: Booker Prize Finalist Claire Keegan has a number of short story collections available; each is as profound and meticulous as the next–this collection, which explores the fraught and clumsy dynamics between men and women, is my favorite.

‘Exit Zero’ By Marie-Helen Bertino: Death lurks behind every page of Bertino’s story collection which came on the heels of the success of her novel, Beautyland. Of Exit Zero, Michael Welch of the Chicago Review of Books lauds, “Luminous tales of haunting absurdity.”

‘The Good Eye’ By Jess Gibson: This short story collection which hits shelves next month; Gibson’s debut confronts readers with the unreal and the often narrow proximity between opposing forces; good and evil, the beautiful and the ugly.

‘Where Are You Really From’ By Elaine Hsieh Chou: Following Chou’s critically acclaimed novel Disorientation, this short story collection weaves together themes of alienation with the limits and power of truth. It earned Chou a starred Kirkus review, which hailed, “Chou is gifted at storytelling with a surrealistic bent... Sharp storytelling that bends and blurs genre expectations.”

‘Stories’ By Helen Garner: From one of the most acclaimed Australian writers, this short story collection os full of intimate and achingly real stories about passion, love, and desire. The New York Times Book Review hailed it as “Perceptive and virtuosic.”

‘The Age of Calamities’ By Senaa Ahmad: In this debut short story collection, Ahmad draws from history and positions everyone from Nefertiti to John Adams in a speculative and surreal world.

‘My Dear You’ By Rachel Khong: Nestled within the pages of Khong’s short story collection you’ll find: “A woman adopts a cat who conjures the ghosts of her ex-loves. A factory worker decides to befriend a sex doll she is tasked with selling.” And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

‘She’s Always Hungry’ By Eliza Clark: In Clark’s signature sharp prose, she sets her sights on hunger in all its forms in this incisive collection about women and the things that feed.

‘Highway Thirteen’ By Fiona McFarlane: A small town in Australia is being terrorized by a serial killer; in poignant detail, Highway Thirteen, interconnected stories draw out the private lives touched by this violence.

‘Midnight Timetable’ By Bora Chung: Chung who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize returns in this collection of sci-fi horror short stories each set in a mysterious institute that’s home to a selection of cursed objects. Follow along as an employee of the institute including a cat who holds the key to the horrors of its former family, a live streaming ghost, and a handkerchief with special powers.

‘Thin Places’ By Kay Chronister: From Shirley Jackson Award finalist, this gothic collection of fifteen stories strongly delivers on its promise of eerie and atmospheric stories about ghosts, witches, and thin line between here and they beyond.

‘The Lottery and Other Stories’ By Shirley Jackson: And speaking of Jackson–finally, no short story list would be complete without a mention of this collection from the queen of literary horror.