Favourite Short Stories?

[bigsleepj]

Oh, its one thing to list your favourite novels, but what about your favourite short stories? What short stories do you like?

Overall I don't actually read a great deal of short stories so only occasionally do I get read them and find some that are really good.

Here's mine:

• The Eye-Flash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
In a futuristic dystopian future a young blind boy travels the land with a senile former school principle and the former school custodian. One of the most haunting stories I've ever read.

• X-ing a Paragraph by Edgar Allen Poe
Not your average Edgar Allen Poe short story; it tells (more or less) about two newspaper dueling through articles.

• Finger Man by Raymond Chandler
Everything good that Raymond Chandler has to offer condensed into a quick read.

• The Seven Day Terror by R.A. Lafferty
Things start disappearing around the neighborhood; is one of the Willoughby children to blame?

• The Sign of the Broken Sword by GK Chesterton
I don't care much for his Father Brown stories, but this story is chilling to the core, and I enjoy how the story tightens slowly until you arrive at its Steve Moffat style ending.

• A Study in Emerald by Neil Gaiman
Sherlock Holmes meets HP Lovecraft in a story with a twist few would see come.

• Narrow Valley by RA Lafferty
A family want to homestead on a patch of land somewhere in Oklahoma, but find that, despite what the maps say, their piece of land is no bigger than a ditch. Funny thing is you can't seem to throw rocks across it...

[Fish and Chips]

He had never slept on a better bed, Rainsford decided.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell. That and also Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

[USSRGirl]

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

Gets my vote. Great ending. Temulin approves.

[EricTheFred]

A quick sampling. I have read too darned many short stories to declare actual favorites, but these would be high on the list, anyhow:
"The Menace from Earth" - Robert Heinlein
"Searchlight" - also Heinlein
"Balanced Ecology" - James H. Schmitz
"Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven" - Mark Twain
"The Purloined Letter" - Edgar Allan Poe

[Tsukuyomi]

"And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted- nevermore!"

Any guesses?

[spoiler] "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe[/spoiler]

[Doubleshadow]

The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allen Poe
A Rose for Emily - William Faulkner
A Man Called Horse - Dorothy M. Johnson Country

[Cognitive Gear]

Far too many to recount, but a couple that come to mind:

The Happy Prince- Oscar Wilde

A Dream of Armageddon- HG Wells

[Fish and Chips]

The Cask of Amontillado - Edgar Allen Poe
A Rose for Emily - William Faulkner
A Man Called Horse - Dorothy M. Johnson Country

The Cask of Amontillado was a great short story, but I couldn't get into the mood for A Man Called Horse.

Also, I forgot The Birds by Daphne du Maurie. Much scarier than the Hitchcock film.

[EricTheFred]

Far too many to recount, but a couple that come to mind:

The Happy Prince- Oscar Wilde

A Dream of Armageddon- HG Wells

I like the avatar, Cog, but you're going to have to start phrasing your posts like that! "Too many to recount.... two come to mind... Happy Prince, Wilde... Dream of Armageddon, Wells...."

[the_wolfs_howl]

I'm surprised you didn't mention Borges, bigsleepj.

"The Library of Babel" by Jorge Luis Borges - A dying librarian of the infinite, labyrinthine Library muses on various aspects of his world. It's rather depressing and agnostic, but I love it because it's so different from anything else I've ever read. He makes a lot of statements about the meaning of life (or the lack thereof) that I don't agree with, but it's amazing how he does it.

"The Lottery" (I think that's what it's called) by Jorge Luis Borges - Similar to "The Library of Babel", this is another extrapolation on what the meaning of life is (that's what I got from it, anyway). Instead of a library, though, this one is about a lottery that controls a society. I like it for the same reasons I like "Library".

"The Immortal" by Jorge Luis Borges - A story about a man (an Arab, if I'm remembering correctly) searching for immortality. He has several adventures and finally finds the place where the immortals live, though it's not quite what he had expected. I can't really remember how it ended (been a while since I've read it), but I liked it for its almost fairy tale quality merging with Borges' usual ethereal labyrinthine writing.

"The House of Asterion" by Jorge Luis Borges - The tale of Theseus and the Minotaur, told from an unexpected perspective. I can't even express how much this vitalized a certain story of mine.

Okay, now that we're done with Borges....

"Man from the South" by Roald Dahl - Oh, man I love this story! It's about a guy in a hotel somewhere tropical who gets roped into the craziest bet ever - if his lighter will light ten times in a row, he'll get a fancy car. If he doesn't, the man he's betting against will chop off his little finger. It sounds bizarre, and it is, but your eyes get glued to the page with the suspense. Made my heart pound, that's for sure.

"Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl - A chilling tale about a woman who kills her husband with a leg of lamb. Again, I love it for the bizarre way she does it, and for the ending. The irony of that ending killed me and made me incapable of speech for several minutes.

(And the best thing about my favorite Roald Dahl short stories is that both of them were made into episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.)

"The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe - Unfortunately, this is the only Poe short story I've ever read. No doubt his others are even better than this one, but I loved this anyway. My heart was pounding all through the tale of a man contemplating the murder of some old guy he lives with.

"Contents of a Dead Man's Pockets" - I forget who the author of this was, but I had to read this for school one year, and it was great. It's about this guy who has an important piece of paper that flies out the window of his apartment building and lands on a ledge a short distance away. Rather than giving it up for lost, he gets out and stands on the windowsill and tries to get the paper back. The majority of the story takes place with him hanging on high above the street (I forget how many stories up he is, but I think it's at least ten), trying to get the paper and then trying to get back inside. It's possibly the most suspenseful thing I've ever read, because we've all experienced the fear of heights.

Okay, I think that's it XD

[bigsleepj]

Ah, I forgot to list my favourite Borges stories. D'oh! Since I include The Library of Babel among them, I might as well list the others.

• Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius. A fictionalized version of the author finds an article of a fictional country in an encyclopedia. This bit of information may destroy the world. This story was difficult to read, but when I was done with it I could not help but be amazed. Not everyone's cup of tea, but definitely intriguing.

• The Circular Ruins - A man tries to create another man through dreaming.

• The Garden of Forking Paths. Words fail me.

[the_wolfs_howl]

^ Yup, those ones were definitely amazing too. I can't remember which story it was, but it might have been the Tlon, Uqbar, etc. one. I noticed that it mentioned Axaxaxaxaxa (or something like that), which is also mentioned in "The Library of Babel". I got so excited that I actually marked the places in the margins, and this was a library book.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Anything by H.P. Lovecraft is OK with me. The man was ahead of his time.

[ADXC]

@ Fish and Chips- I agree, I loved "The Most Dangerous Game" as well.

@ the_wolfs_howl- Yes, the Lottery was great!

I liked alot of Poe's short stories. Among them are Goldbug, The Masque of the Red Death, and the Raven. Also a Tale-Tale Heart, I haven't read it yet(But I know how the story goes.), but would like to read it.

And many other short stories.

[Radical Dreamer]

The Most Dangerous Game is my very favorite short story. I absolutely LOVE it. XD

My second favorite, however, and definitely close behind The Most Dangerous Game, is An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce. SO awesome. XD

I might come back to make another post here later, when I can recall more of them. XD For now, though, those two are amaaaazing.

[Maledicte]

"The Nightingale and the Rose" Oscar Wilde
"Elegy for a Demon Lover" Sarah Monette
"The Cask of Amontillado" Edgar Allen Poe
"Hills of the Dead" by Robert E. Howard
"The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

I know I've read more, but I can't think of any.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Forgive my ignorance, but how in the world does "The Raven" count as a short story? Isn't it a poem?

[Maledicte]

"The Lottery" (I think that's what it's called) by Jorge Luis Borges

For a second there I mixed this up with "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. That story terrified me.

[Htom Sirveaux]

Forgive my ignorance, but how in the world does "The Raven" count as a short story? Isn't it a poem?

[Tancos]

• The Eye-Flash Miracles by Gene Wolfe
In a futuristic dystopian future a young blind boy travels the land with a senile former school principle and the former school custodian. One of the most haunting stories I've ever read.

...

• The Seven Day Terror by R.A. Lafferty
Things start disappearing around the neighborhood]Narrow Valley[/I] by RA Lafferty
A family want to homestead on a patch of land somewhere in Oklahoma, but find that, despite what the maps say, their piece of land is no bigger than a ditch. Funny thing is you can't seem to throw rocks across it...

I've got a shelf of nothing but Lafferty and Wolfe, and I'm pleased to see than I'm not the only one around here who reads them.

A few favorites:

Lafferty: "Continued on Next Rock," "This Grand Carcass Yet," "In Our Block," "Been a Long Time"

Wolfe: "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story," "When I Was Ming the Merciless," "Westwind"

And some from other writers, off the top of my head:

Lionel Trilling: "Of This Time, of That Place"

Flann O'Brien: "John Duffy's Brother"

P.G. Wodehouse: "The Crime Wave at Blandings," "Jeeves and the Impending Doom"

Joanna Russ: "Gleepsite," "My Dear Emily," all the "Alyx" stories.

Thomas M. Disch: "Descending"

Flannery O'Connor: "Revelation," "Good Country People"

Muriel Spark, "The Portobello Road"

John Sladek, "Elephant with Wooden Leg"

[bigsleepj]

I've got a shelf of nothing but Lafferty and Wolfe...

Are you trying to make me jealous?

[The Liar XIII]

Anything by Ed Smith. Seriously... Best writer EVER.

Plus, I got a few good short stories under my belt.
Such as:
"Death Penalty"
"What Lies Within"
"Don't You just Hate Mondays?"
"They Call Me Crazy"

A lot of good stuff.

OOC: Also, I'm working on "Death Penalty Part II".. And a short novelette entitled "Twisted."

[Tancos]

[quote="bigsleepj (post: 1277056)"]Are you trying to make me jealous? ]

Did I succeed?

While most of Wolfe's books aren't too hard to find, my Lafferty collection is the product of years of haunting book stores, new and used, and many special orders, back in the days before you could find everything online.

[bigsleepj]

Did I succeed?

Vaguely. I'm actually very new to Lafferty, though what I've read amazed me. One of my favourites are Okla Hannali?; have you read it?

[Tancos]

[quote="bigsleepj (post: 1277158)"]One of my favourites are Okla Hannali?]

Yes, I've read it and most of his other novels. Some of them — Okla Hannali, The Devil Is Dead, Past Master — are very good, but I think he was at his best in his short stories, which are unlike anyone else's.

[bigsleepj]

Indeed, his short stories are the best. His novels strike me as hit and miss sometimes, especially Not to mention camels.

[Sheol777]

Where to begin?

Rats in the Walls by H.P. Lovecraft - By far my favorite short story writer, but if I had to pick just one to give a hint of what to expect in future readings and a good feeling of madness...it would be this one - a man inherits the land of his ancesters and suspects rats of making a disturbance, or are they leading him to something?

The Horla by Guy de Maupassant - Inspired Lovecraft to his style of writing - A man is haunted..or is it his imagination? Or something worse then the two put together?

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe - Once again if I had to pick just one story by an author this would be it. This one kinda stuck with me through the years - The wealthy try to wall themselves up to protect from the plague that is spreading.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde - A sparrow and a statue strike a deal.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - I always liked this one.

The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell - I am in agreement with a lot of people in this thread on this one. This story like the one above it have been done and redone and parodied to death, but the original beats them all.

The Tinder Box by Hans Christian Andersen - Yeah it's a fairy tale I know, but it's a darn good one! None of that 'traying to teach you a lesson' garbage. - A soldier finds a tinder box that puts three magic dogs under his mastery...and then he marrys a princess.