Favorite short stories

Cafe Society
1

I was in a discussion with friends about our favorite short stories and there wasn’t a single person who could come up with an absolute favorite. We had to narrow it down to a favorite by different authors. I have six stories here and have already broken the choices up by having one of the authors with two stories, the others with one each. I love many other authors and more stories by the authors here though.

James White—Custom Fitting—A British tailor has a client preparing to be presented to the Queen.

Saki/H.H. Munro—The Interlopers—Not the happy ending I like
—Tobermory—I liked this story so much I named a cat of my own for the title character.

Robert Heinlein—The Man Who Traveled in Elephants—A fantasty, not his usual scifi, and a wonderful ending.

Spider Robinson—True Minds—I got my ratty paperback copy that has this story signed by the author.

O. Henry—A Retrieved Reform—Most people remember this author for The Gift of the Magi, but I like this one best.

2

I like lots of short stories, but one is Robert Heinlein’s “-- All You Zombies --”.

3

I love short stories and typically prefer them to novels. These are my top ten (although it changes every time I try and put a list together):

‘Dance of the Happy Shades’ - Alice Munro.

‘The Inner Room’ - Robert Aikman.

‘Lost Hearts’ - M.R. James.

‘The Jaunt’ - Stephen King.

‘The Echo of Neighbourly Bones’ - Daniel Woodrell.

‘Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote’ - Jorge Luis Borges.

‘The Monkey’s Paw’ - W.W. Jacobs.

‘Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole?’ - Isabel J. Kim.

‘The Sisters’ - James Joyce.

‘The Birds’ - Daphne Du Maurier.

4

“Rip Van Winkle” and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving (especially the latter, perhaps my favorite short story)

A Queen in Thebes - Margaret Laurence

Paul’s Case - Willa Cather

The Pedestrian - Ray Bradbury

The Kite - W. Somerset Maugham

5

I’m also partial to “The Cop and the Anthem.”

James Joyce - “Counterparts”

Tim O’Brien - “Too Skinny”

William Faulkner - “A Rose for Emily”

John Updike - “Dentistry and Doubt”

Samuel Beckett - “Dante and the Lobster”

Cate Kennedy - “Cold Snap”

6

“The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benet is one of my favorites.

Benet wrote two sequels. I’ve got “Daniel Webster and the Sea Serpent” but I haven’t been able to find “Daniel Webster and the Ides of March”.

7

Another favorite of mine is Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas”.

8

Henry Miller’s “Sunday after the War” deals with his return from Europe, and visiting his aged parents after years away. They ask him how they look, and he breaks up, “I felt like a murderer”. And he still had issues with his mother.
I believe “Sunday after the War” is the name of the story, reprinted in a book of short stories with the same name.

9

Wandering Willie’s Tale by Sir Walter Scott.

10

For my money, the greatest science fiction short is “Inconstant Moon”, by Larry Niven. It works wonderfully both as hard and as soft SF: Aside from a touch of outdated terminology, it’s all scientifically sound, but it’s not about the science; it’s about the human reaction.

We had a thread on this one a while back. My fundamental problem is, what the Hell is wrong with this author, that her first reaction to Omelas is to kill the kid, instead of rescuing them?

11

I’ve favored Ambrose Bierce, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge*. Thanks for all the suggestions.

12

Ditto this. I also love his story Bordered In Black.

John Steinbeck - Of Mice And Men, although that might be a tad long for a short story - more of a novella, I suppose.

Jack London - All Gold Canyon. I only found this recently, due to the Coen Brothers filming it practically verbatim as one of the vignettes in their movie The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Guy du Maupassant - Boule de Suif.

13

“The Things They Carried” - Tim O’Brien.

“Cathedral” - Raymond Carver. I dislike a lot of his stuff, but this one’s great.

“The Conversion of the Jews”, Philip Roth.

“Dogs’ Lives”, Michael Bishop.

14

I read his story The Necklace in school and still remember it.

15
  • I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream – Harlan Ellison
  • Tell the Women We’re Going – Raymond Carver
  • A Perfect Day for Bananafish – J.D. Salinger
  • A Good Man is Hard to Find – Flannery O’Conner
  • The Last Flight of Dr. Ain – James Tiptree, Jr.
  • Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons – Cordwainer Smith
  • Nightfall – Isaac Asimov
  • 5,271,009 – Alfred Bester
  • Playmates – Chuck Rothman
16

“Jeffty is Five”-- by Harlan Ellison
“It’s a Good Life”–by Jerome Bixby
“‘—All You Zombies—’” by Robert Heinlein
“Word Processor of the Gods” by Stephen King
“The Last Question” -by Isaac Asimov
“Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex” by Larry Niven

17

I’m thinking :hot_face:

18

The Enormous Radio - John Cheever
The Piano Teacher - John Cheever
The Lottery - Shirley Jackson
Just Lather, That’s All - Henrnando Tellez
A Little Cloud - James Joyce
Miss Brill - Katherine Mansfield
The Ledge - Stephen King
The Mangler - Stephen King

off the top of my head - probably think of a bunch more down the road

19

Phoebe - O.Henry

20

Survivor Type - Stephen King
Croatoan; From A to Z in the Chocolate Alphabet - Harlan Ellison