Catherine Sustana is a fiction writer who loves the density and compactness of short stories.
Experience
Catherine worked as an English professor at Hawai'i Pacific University for 11 years. Her short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Arts & Letters, Crazyhorse, Quarterly West, Calyx, and Alaska Quarterly Review. You can read some of her stories here:
- "Maybe You've Been There" at Fugue
- "What Gets to Me" at the Journal of Microliterature
- "Touch" at Wilderness House Literary Review
Education
Catherine holds a Ph.D. in English from the State University of New York at Albany and a B.A. in English from Brown University.
Catherine Sustana
When I was a child, I was mesmerized by short stories with a twist -- W.W. Jacobs' "The Monkey's Paw," Saki's "The Open Window," O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi," and anything by Edgar Allan Poe.
Almost as soon as I had stumbled on these stories, I tried to write one of my own. To the extent that it succeeded, it was a tribute to these masters. To the extent that it failed (and it was, for the most part, a failure -- but then again, I was only ten), it gave me an even deeper appreciation for the stories I admired.
For me, reading and writing have always gone hand-in-hand. As the About.com Guide to Short Stories, I hope I can foster the things that mesmerize you about short stories, whether it's rekindling your interest in old favorites, bringing some lesser known works to your attention, or helping you craft your own stories.