Favourite short stories

pavb2

Here's 3 of mine but then I had to put in a 4th

An incident at Owl Creek Bridge - Ambrose Bierce

The Lottery - Shirley Jackson

Leningen versus the ants - Carl Stephenson

The Lady or the Tiger - Frank Stockton

Dirty Dingus McGee

The Dead by James Joyce

Mr.Buzz

The snows of Kilimanjaro (Hemingway)

First_October

Have to agree with An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge; it's unbelievably good!

Other favourites:

The Lumber Room - Saki

The October Game - Ray Bradbury

Guests of the Nation - Frank O'Connor

Up The Bare Stairs - Sean O'Faolain

FrKurtFahrt

The Artificial ****** - Flannery O'Connor

Two Gallants - James Joyce

Or for a laugh:

The Unrest-cure
Tobermory - Both Saki

lockman

Pastures of Heaven - John Steinbeck; a wonderful expose on human nature.

Harry Angstrom

The Widow's Son by Mary Lavin.

Left a lasting impression on me from when I first read it many years ago.

Mr.Nice Guy

A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger.

I thought this was stunning when I first read it, and it has stayed in my mind since.

I'd highly recommend 'Nine Stories' which is the short story collection that features this work.

Richard Roma

Ms. Lola - Junot Diaz
A Shingawa Monkey - Haruki Murakami
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Extreme Solitude (later incorporated into the Marriage Plot) - Jeffrey Eugenides

Oink

Tales of unrest - Conrad
Especially "Karain - A memory"

Swiper the fox

What is the William Trevor story about the old Anglo-Irish brother and sister who were hanging on to the big house with the background of local nationalism??

I used to love the stories from Padraig O'Conaire on the leaving cert course, Nora Mharcais Bhig, Na lig sin I gcathú.

Kevin Barry is an outstanding modern short story writer, Beer trip to Llandudno is one that springs to mind as it won a very big award a couple of years ago.

Frank O'Connor's first confession story is onei have very fond memories of from primary school.

scream

'Fish' by Anna Taborska,

That link takes you to a PDF of the story that Anna Taborska has kindly given the site in question permission to use. It's one of my all time favourite stories, very Lovecraftian in feel, and quite pulpy in it's own way. It's a fantastic tale of transformation and vengeance that manages to inject a little humour into the guts of it all, and the way in which the author brings it all together is inspired.

If you like it, she has a collection out called 'For Those Who Dream Monsters'.

Neleven

Raymond Carver - almost anything by him.

FaulknersFav

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger.

I thought this was stunning when I first read it, and it has stayed in my mind since.

I'd highly recommend 'Nine Stories' which is the short story collection that features this work.

A Perfect Day for Bananafish is my favourite ever short story.

Coincidentally I read a short story by Salinger last weekend called "The Ocean Was Full of Bowling Balls." It's unpublished but available online. It reduced me to tears, even the third time I read it. Since you loved A Perfect Day for Bananafish you should check this out if you haven't yet

FaulknersFav

A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner is a masterpiece.

George Orwell's Such, Such Were the Joys

adrian522

Currently working my way through Hemmingway's short stories. Some very good stuff in there, most of them are worth a second read.

I'd go with "Hills like White Elephants" and "A Simple Enquiry" as my favourites so far, so much going on that is just beneath the surface.

Stechkin

Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace" .

Mr.Nice Guy

I recently listened to a recording of the short story The Last Question by Isaac Asimov. You can listen to it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojEq-tTjcc0

I thought this was great. I will definitely have to check out more works by the author.

buck65

Colin Barrett's "Young Skins" is an excellent collection from a brilliant young Irish writer.

Denis Johnson "Jesus' Son"

Das Kitty

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. Dark and strange and shocking, a masterclass in slow burn tension building.

The Other Place by Mary Gaitskill is compelling and terrifying.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. When I read it first it was like someone had documented my worst nightmare.

The Beast and the Bear by Ethel Rohan. It really stayed with me.

Right Turn Clyde

[QUOTE=FaulknersFav;94668274
George Orwell's Such, Such Were the Joys[/QUOTE]

I know I'm nitpicking here but that's an essay, not a short story.

Qiaonasen

Out of curiosity. Where do people read short stories? Do you buy the short story collections. I was under the impression they are published elsewhere and add to collections at a later time. But like are their regular places that are not short story collections to read them?

scream

Qiaonasen wrote: »

Out of curiosity. Where do people read short stories? Do you buy the short story collections. I was under the impression they are published elsewhere and add to collections at a later time. But like are their regular places that are not short story collections to read them?

I read collections and anthologies but also frequent a horror forum that posts lots of out of copyright short stories(as well as some new ones that they have specific permission from the respective authors to host). As well as that, each year they post a story a day for advent in the lead up to Christmas, strangely enough. For example, here's a list of daily horror short stories for advent for the past 4 years. Loads of stories for to enjoy here. They really are worth your time too,

http://vaultofevil.proboards.com/post/42586/thread

(I'm not sure if you have to be a forum member to download each story though, but it's free, quick and simple to join(of course))

Enjoy.

scream

Das Kitty wrote: »

The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman. Dark and strange and shocking, a masterclass in slow burn tension building.

The Other Place by Mary Gaitskill is compelling and terrifying.

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Stetson. When I read it first it was like someone had documented my worst nightmare.

The Beast and the Bear by Ethel Rohan. It really stayed with me.

The Yellow Wallpaper really is a great story. I only came across it myself recently.

PressRun

A Good Man is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor is a great example of Southern Gothic literature.

http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfiles/447/Classes/28660/A%20Good%20Man%20Is%20Hard%20To%20Find.pdf

pavb2

PressRun wrote: »

A Good Man is Hard To Find by Flannery O'Connor is a great example of Southern Gothic literature.

http://www.boyd.k12.ky.us/userfiles/447/Classes/28660/A%20Good%20Man%20Is%20Hard%20To%20Find.pdf

Yes that story definitely leaves an impression.

Qiaonasen

pavb2 wrote: »

Yes that story definitely leaves an impression.

A good man is hard to find. Just click the link. How is it possible to class that as a short story. It's 300 pages.

Das Kitty

Qiaonasen wrote: »

A good man is hard to find. Just click the link. How is it possible to class that as a short story. It's 300 pages.

"... and other stories."

?

GLaDOS

About 30 pages going by the PDF numeration