Just an ordinary day is a gift to a new generation san francisco chronicle acclaimed in her own time for her short story the lottery and her novel the haunting of hill house classics ranking with the work of edgar allan poe shirley jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil madness and . Just an ordinary day is a gift to a new generation san francisco chronicleacclaimed in her own time for her short story the lottery and her novel the haunting of hill house classics ranking with the work of edgar allan poe shirley jackson blazed a path for contemporary writers with her explorations of evil madness and cruelty. Just an ordinary day is a collection of stories and fragments found collated and published after her death from light as air comedy and romance written for womens magazines of the fifties through slices of day to day life a if edgar allan poe is the father of the american short story shirley jackson is the godmother. Just an ordinary day just an ordinary day is a long overdue collection of jacksons short fiction jackson at her best plumbing the extraordinary from the depths of mid 20th century common it is a gift to a new generation san francisco chronicle book review