Your Favorite Short Stories

[Philip Overby]

I know not everyone is as big a fan of short stories as they are books, but just wondered if anyone had some suggestions. They don't have to be fantasy (any other genre is fine) although that would be my preference.

Any short stories that really blew you away?

 

[Feo Takahari]

I Hold My Father's Paws, I Saw the Light by Terry Bisson (no copy available online), and, outside spec-fic, Lather and Nothing Else. (Also, We Don't Know Why by Nancy Springer, but that one's really hard to track down--I've only found it in one anthology, A Starfarer's Dozen.)

 

[Philip Overby]

I was hoping for stories that I could find online, but I can try to check out some of these also if they're in anthologies or something.

 

[Sparkie]

I've been on a kick reading some of the Elder Scrolls "books." You can find them online at a handful of sites. Also, try Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things, compilations by Neil Gaiman.

 

[CupofJoe]

"The Ruum" by Arthur Porges blew me away as a kid. Since then I've read a few anthologies but not really been hooked on anything new [I liked stories by the authors I already liked]. Most of these have been crime fiction; there seems to be more of that available in short story format...

 

[kayd_mon]

Tolkien's Farmer Giles of Ham is great. Most of the short stories I've read are ones often found in literature anthologies, and they are usually good.

 

[Butterfly]

A Sound of Thunder - Ray Bradbury

Came across whilst at school long ago. I still remember it, so it must have a good one. They've more recently turned it into a film now.

 

[Steerpike]

Angela Carter's book of short stories called The Bloody Chamber.

 

[Ophiucha]

The Courtship of the Queen by Bruce McAllister was one I read on a whim, but I ended up falling in love with it. I ended up buying this one for my Kindle so I could read it wherever I was, just because I'd get an itch to go through it again. -All You Zombies- by Robert A. Heinlein was the first short story I read that made me realize the potential for speculative short stories; I've always liked short stories, but I'd never read a good SFF one until that.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Farmer Giles of Ham -- good call kayd_mon.

In fantasy, I'd throw in Andrew J Offutt's Shadowspawn stories from the Thieves' World series. Outside fantasy, The Things We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver. Actually most of Carver's stories are pretty great.

 

[Feo Takahari]

Forgot to mention this earlier, but Orson Scott Card wrote some great short fiction before he went bonkers. I particularly remember Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory, for an ending few authors would have the guts for.

EUMENIDES IN THE FOURTH FLOOR LAVATORY - 27 Short Stories

 

[Penpilot]

Paolo Bacigalupi's short story collection Pump Six and Other Stories. He's currently one of my favorite authors.

 

[Ghost]

"Mateo Falcone" by Prosper Mérimée
"The Repairer of Reputations" by Robert W. Chambers
"The Derelict" by William Hope Hodgson
"The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"A Coup d'État" by Guy de Maupassant
"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter
"The Terrapin" by Patricia Highsmith
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"The School" by Donald Barthelme
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates

I remember the first time I read "The School." I was stunned a story could do that. It was the same with "The Lady or the Tiger?" and "Flowers for Algernon." Robert W. Chambers is one of my favorites. Guy de Maupassant and Edgar Allan Poe wrote many great stories, and you can easily access their work online.

 

[Steerpike]

Good picks, Ghost, and a +1 for having Angela Carter on the list!

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Did Orson Scott Card go bonkers? Have I missed something? For the avoidance of doubt, I know he's a Mormon but he's always been a Mormon (not that I think being a Mormon = going bonkers).

 

[Ophiucha]

Did Orson Scott Card go bonkers? Have I missed something? For the avoidance of doubt, I know he's a Mormon but he's always been a Mormon (not that I think being a Mormon = going bonkers).

To put it mildly and politely, he's become a little heavy-handed about putting his political beliefs into his work.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Ah, bummer. I don't mind a little (very little) subtext or editorializing, but it boggles me why writers on either the left or right would choose to alienate half of their potential fanbase. I guess since Ender's Game went Hollywood he figures he doesn't need the money anymore.

 

[James Lecky]

I've always had a tremendous affection for the Penguin Science Fiction Omnibus, which I first read many, many years ago, and was recently updated and reissued. Both the original and the reissue are well worth getting (the new version omits some stories and replaces them with newer materail). Among my personal favourites are The Liberation of Earth and Eastward Ho! by William Tenn, Lot by Ward Moore, Poor Little Warrior by Brian Aldiss and Skirmish by Cllifford Simak.

In terms of other short stories, I've always been a huge fan of Poe, Graham Green, Robert E. Howard, Angela Carter and James Tiptree Jr. Of late I've been reading The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien which is a sort of short story collection/ thematic novel about his experiences in the Vietnam War, the title story in particular is wonderfull.

 

[Steerpike]

I

Ah, bummer. I don't mind a little (very little) subtext or editorializing, but it boggles me why writers on either the left or right would choose to alienate half of their potential fanbase. I guess since Ender's Game went Hollywood he figures he doesn't need the money anymore.

It predates that. He is also very active lobbying and using his money to try to influence public policy in accordance with his religious views - far more so than most authors. So when you buy his work you are also funding his political activities. Of course, he has every right to act as his conscience dictates, but it is a major factor in why I avoid his work now. Having the beliefs set forth in the work itself doesn't necessarily bother me.

 

[Philip Overby]

"Mateo Falcone" by Prosper Mérimée
"The Repairer of Reputations" by Robert W. Chambers
"The Derelict" by William Hope Hodgson
"The Lady or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
"The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
"A Coup d'État" by Guy de Maupassant
"The Bloody Chamber" by Angela Carter
"The Terrapin" by Patricia Highsmith
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"The School" by Donald Barthelme
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates

I remember the first time I read "The School." I was stunned a story could do that. It was the same with "The Lady or the Tiger?" and "Flowers for Algernon." Robert W. Chambers is one of my favorites. Guy de Maupassant and Edgar Allan Poe wrote many great stories, and you can easily access their work online.

Thanks, Ghost. These are the kind of things I'm looking for. Some stories I can read online mostly instead of buying multiple collections. If there is a really good collection or anthology with multiple authors though, I'd be willing to get one or two.

Thank you others who have posted as well!