Film adaptations of novels have been around almost as long as the motion picture itself. Short story adaptations, on the other hand, are a rare breed, often lacking the plot complexity and character development necessary for a feature-length production. This is, however, not the case with Portland author and screenwriter Jon Raymond, whose new short story collection "Livability" has generated not one, but two movies.

Unlike The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was very loosely based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, Raymond adapted both stories to the big screen himself. “Old Joy,” which opens "Livability," tells the story of two old friends reconnecting during a camping trip in the Oregon Cascades. In 2006, this simple plot spawned Raymond’s first film, of the same name, which was well-received at a number of independent film festivals.

"Livability," published by Bloomsbury ($15), was released in late December to coincide with the Jan. 13 opening of Wendy and Lucy, based on “Train Choir,” the book’s last — and longest — story. Nearly identical to the film, “Train Choir” follows a woman’s troubles in a small Oregon town while on her way to a summer job at an Alaskan cannery. Between her car breaking down, the loss of her dog and a misdemeanor arrest, the protagonist Verna (Wendy in the film) is an upsettingly accurate reflection of the current economic state.

With a burgeoning career in screenwriting, it seems likely that the 37-year-old Raymond would put his fiction writing on the back burner. "Livability," however, suggests otherwise. The nine shorts that comprise the collection are well-crafted pieces that reveal the beauty and story in everyday life, even where neither are overtly present.

Perhaps the most memorable of these nine, “The Suckling Pig,” tells of a wealthy Chinese-American, Tom, who through a bit of miscommunication finds himself hosting an odd dinner party — the guest list includes both his well-to-do friends and two impoverished Mexican laborers. The story is ripe with uncomfortable human interaction and reveals the complications inherent in the American class system.

Raymond honed his fiction while earning an MFA degree in creative writing from The New School in New York City, but has since returned to his native Oregon. Based in Portland, Raymond is very much a writer of the Northwest. Every one of the stories in "Livability" is based in and around Portland, as is his 2004 novel "The Half-Life." The spread of suburbia up and down the I-5 corridor and its byproducts — uniformity and increased living costs — is a theme that runs throughout the author’s works.

The message underlying Raymond’s short story collection is not, however, entirely pessimistic. Rather, what Raymond’s characters consistently represent is precisely what the title suggests — a pragmatic livability.

Reach A&E editor Joe Darda at arts@dailyuw.com.