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My top 3 of 2025

After a long hiatus, I restarted blogging about my favourite short stories half-way through 2025. Here are some of my favourite novels from my 2025 reading, to join those short stories: On the Calculation of Volume I, by Solvej Balle (trans. Barbara J. Haveland) This novel is the first of a series, which will eventually…

Short story analysis

A short story I recently read

In Winter the Sky, by Jon McGregor Read it here in about 50 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… This version of the story (see the introduction from Granta) is written in the 3rd person, limited to the POV of the female character (Joanna), but it also includes extracts from Joanna’s writing (starting ‘In…

Short story analysis

A short story I recently read

On a Winter’s Night, by Kate DiCamillo Read it here in less than 10 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… I love metafiction, so the opening sentence – ‘My father told me this story.’ – immediately entices me; it makes me think, ‘Yes! Tell me the story! I want to hear it!’. This first sentence…

Short story analysis

A short story I recently read

The Great Silence, by Ted Chiang Read it here in less than 10 minutes. Thinking about why I love it… There aren’t nearly enough stories featuring sentient animals, let alone narrated by them; this story is narrated by an unnamed parrot, who speaks eloquently on behalf of the entire parrot collective (‘We’re a nonhuman species…

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About Me

My name is Mina Ma. I’m an English teacher, and a writer of short stories and short creative nonfiction.

I blog about short stories (etc.), because analysing what other writers do helps my own writing.

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