Why I love the Novella and/or Novelette...

[pendragonpress]

... they can be read in one sitting, quite easily, and perfect for an otherwise boring train journey.

The restrictive word count is just enough to lose you sense of disbelief, especially if the tale is supernatural or horror-related.

The story has no room for supefluous padding, but enough space to allow the characters to breathe.

So, any other fans? Is there a revival taking shape?

[HardScienceFan]

Originally Posted by pendragonpress

... they can be read in one sitting, quite easily, and perfect for an otherwise boring train journey.

The restrictive word count is just enough to lose you sense of disbelief, especially if the tale is supernatural or horror-related.

The story has no room for supefluous padding, but enough space to allow the characters to breathe.

So, any other fans? Is there a revival taking shape?

Ben here,see the SF reading group I was willing to start up

[Troo]

I like novellas. They can force a sloppy, unduly wordy writer (*looks guilty*) to stop writing tat and focus on telling a story. But they can also be read very quickly, and when you don't have much free time, something you can finish before you've forgotten how it started is essential

[chrispenycate]

I believe a story has a natural length, at which it works best. I wouldn't recommend trying to fit Dune into novella format, nor pad out the nine billion names of god.
But the best version of "Stardance" is the novella. It didn't need expanding into the novel or (for shame, Spider) the sequels.

The market, however, has decided I should like multi-volume epics. Most of the magazines of my youth 8the natural substrate for shorter works) have disappeared (and it would have been difficult getting them here anyway) so the only way to find it is collections of an already successful author, or electronically (an art I have not yet mastered)

I assume series like MZBs "Sword and sorceress" are no longer economically viable.

[Ian Whates]

Originally Posted by chrispenycate

I assume series like MZBs "Sword and sorceress" are no longer economically viable.

Actually Chris, they were accepting submissions for Sword and Sorceress 22 only recently -- between mid-March and mid-April of this year -- with a projected publication date later in the year, so all is not lost!