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Unintended consequences are one way to add an element of surprise to a story. This week I’m reading a great lineup of celebrated novelists who capture  magic in the short story form.

•  “Silence”, by Alice Munro, The Best American Short Stories 2005, edited by Michael Chabon

Suspense builds in this story about a severed mother-daughter relationship. We are left to wonder what prompted a young woman to drop out of her mother’s life completely, even as her mother makes peace with heartbreak.

• “The Cousins”, by Joyce Carol Oates, The Best American Short Stories 2005, edited by Michael Chabon

In another story about severed relationships, two cousins who have never met begin a correspondence. The surprise is in how the shoe changes feet. Oates draws on family history in this story, which appears as the epilogue in her novel, The Gravedigger’s Daughter.

• “Balto”, by T.C. Boyle, The Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King

An unintended consequence of my reading this week is that once again the theme of severed family relationships has surfaced. No surprise here that Angelle breaks the tie that binds her to her father; she has been pushed too far.

• “Horseman”, by Richard Russo, The Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King

Great writing stirs emotions and brings personal images to life. Great teaching offers up personal experience to inspire students to be better people. An unintended consequence of severing passion from work and life is mediocrity.

• “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves”, by Karen Russell, The Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King

This gets my vote for the best title ever written. I would think the author would have had as much fun writing this I did reading it, but according to the Contributors’ Notes, not so. Glad she hung in there. I love the energy in this story.

• “Bohemians”, by George Saunders, The Best American Short Stories 2005, edited by Michael Chabon

Saunders is a magician at creating whole neighborhoods of vivid characters. The surprise is that the author is reliable, but by the end of the story we know that the “bohemian” characters are not. Like any neighborhood, all is not as it seems.

• “Monsters”, Delicate, by Mary Sojouner

Abortion is bad. Right-to-lifers who get in young girls’ faces and scare them are bad. Friends who may not agree with what you are doing but walk with you anyway are good; another delicate balance.