# Favorite short stories **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [May 31, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512 "2026-05-31T18:27:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/41 "2026-06-01T17:29:47Z")
I mentioned my two favourite authors earlier as a source for a wealth of short stories. For some reason completely out the blue this wonderful Gothic tale popped into my mind – “Sardonicus”, by Ray Russell. It’s Gothic style horror that reads very much like it might have been written by Edgar Allan Poe, but in fact it’s a relatively modern creation first published in _Playboy_ in 1961, and later made into a movie. Stephen King was effusive in his praise of it. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/42 "2026-06-01T18:27:50Z")
> [@Jas09](#): > > I also actually prefer Hemingways short stories to his novels I was going to say something similar-- not that I _prefer_ Hemingway’s short stories to his novels, necessarily, but that his writing style-- short declarative sentences that suggest much more happening between the lines-- really lends itself well to short stories. I’ll nominate of Hemingway’s: - A Clean, Well-Lighted Place - The ‘Nick Adams’ stories ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/43 "2026-06-01T18:35:40Z")
“Haircut” - Ring Lardner “Lamb to the Slaughter” - Roald Dahl ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/44 "2026-06-01T18:41:10Z")
De Sade – “Florville and Courval or Fate” Maugham (from _Ashenden_) - “The Flip of a Coin” Borges (from _Ficciones_) – “Death and the Compass” Hammett (title story of collection) – “The Big Knockover” > [@Moonrise](#): > > **Zweig** - _Amok_ I haven’t read it. Have you seen the movie? - [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190964/?ref\_=hm\_rvi\_i\_1](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190964/?ref_=hm_rvi_i_1) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/45 "2026-06-01T18:53:39Z")
Like many others here, I really like the short story format and have read a lot of it. But the one that stands out for me is “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville. My favorite author has been Franz Kafka for decades, and I also had read “Moby Dick” before I discovered this story (which is a whole different work), but I instantly felt that this is a predecessor (60 years before Kafka first was published) of the kind of alienation in the “modern” world and workspace like Kafka expressed it. “I would prefer not to.” is one of the greatest sentences in literature. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/46 "2026-06-01T19:51:59Z")
I had that story in high school and thought about it for here but it didn;t quite make it onto the list. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/47 "2026-06-01T19:53:07Z")
**The Jaunt** - Stephen King - easily my favorite, no question, with runner up being: **The Lottery** - Shirley Jackson ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/48 "2026-06-01T19:57:50Z")
I think Ursula LeGuin’s “The Bones of the Earth” is the very best later Earthsea story. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/49 "2026-06-01T19:59:22Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > After Twenty Years” - O. Henry. He’s known for his twist endings, but none of his work has such a twist as this, IMHO. I recorded this one as part of a “Reading for the Blind” service that I occasionally recorded for. I used to do the reading as well. But I had that story in a textbook in school and while I really liked it it made me sad.. I also like Saki, H.H. Munro, and think of him as a British O. Henry. Did you ever read his Toys of Peace? It should be in schools today. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/50 "2026-06-01T20:03:14Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Don’t forget that we used to have Flash Fiction short story contests here on the Straight Dope. They were hosted by @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela , and should still be available. Use our search for @Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela and “flash fiction,” and see if any of the offerings over a number of such contests are worthy of posting in this thread. (I hope you do; our Doper writers are very talented.) I used to love those and wrote in most of them. My own favorite of what I wrote had the first person protagonist contemplating murder at the end. I don’t know if that Doper will ever be back to host, but how is it done? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/51 "2026-06-01T20:05:12Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I also like Saki, H.H. Munro, and think of him as a British O. Henry. Did you ever read his Toys of Peace? It should be in schools today. Saki’s “Sredni Vashtar” is a rather ghoulish but entrancing story too. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/52 "2026-06-01T20:40:07Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I don’t know if that Doper will ever be back to host, but how is it done? He set up a dummy email account that you could email for an autoreply that had the story or poetry prompts, and so that also acted as a time marker when the clock started for you. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/53 "2026-06-01T20:52:37Z")
_All the Birds Come Home To Roost_ - Harlan Ellison _Flopsweat_ - Harlan Ellison _Nightfall_ - Isaac Asimov _There Will Come Soft Rains_ - Ray Bradbury _Paladin of the Lost Hour_ - Harlan Ellison _The Last Defender of Camelot_ - Roger Zelazny _Have You Heard The One About…?_ - Spider Robinson ---
**Author:** ![WalterBishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@WalterBishop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WalterBishop)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/54 "2026-06-01T21:37:13Z")
_Shadow over Innsmouth_ is a classic! Can’t believe I left it off my list. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/55 "2026-06-01T21:43:37Z")
When I was a teenager, I read a terrific story in Omni Magazine called “Sandkings”. Only much later did I realize that it was written by George RR Martin. Wiki also says it’s a novelette, whatever that means, so I’m not sure if it counts here. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/56 "2026-06-01T21:51:44Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Wiki also says it’s a novelette, whatever that means, so I’m not sure if it counts here. I’ve never heard the word “novelette”, but I know of novellas. I think that the borders between short stories, novellas and novels are quite stretchable. IMHO, a short story is up to 30 pages, a novella up to 100 and everything beyond is a novel. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/57 "2026-06-01T22:09:11Z")
According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#Versus_novelette), > [@](#): > > Dictionaries define “novelette” similarly to “novella”, sometimes identically,[[24]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-24) sometimes with a disparaging sense of being trivial or sentimental.[[25]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-25) Some [literary awards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_award) have a longer “novella” and a shorter “novelette” category, with a distinction based on [word count](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_count). Among awards, a range between 17,500 and 40,000 words is commonly used for the novella category, whereas a range of 7,500–17,500 is commonly used for novelettes.[[26]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-nebularules-26)[[27]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-wsfs-27)[[28]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-sjarules-28) According to _The Writer_ , a novelette is approximately between 7,000 and 20,000 words in length, anything shorter being considered a short story.[[29]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella#cite_note-29) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/58 "2026-06-01T22:13:38Z")
The definition that the Hugos and Nebulas (science fiction awards) use is this: 1. **Short Story:** Fewer than 7,500 words. 2. **Novelette:** At least 7,500 words, but fewer than 17,500 words. 3. **Novella:** At least 17,500 words, but fewer than 40,000 words. 4. **Novel:** 40,000 words or more. [[1](https://nebulas.sfwa.org/about-the-nebulas/nebula-rules/), [2](https://www.thehugoawards.org/hugo-categories/)] Some people use the term “flash fiction” for anything up to 1,000 or 1,500 words. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/59 "2026-06-01T22:23:12Z")
Ah, okay. “Sandkings” is 15,500 words, so that lines up. Let me tell you, it’s an excellent novelette. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512/60 "2026-06-01T22:28:10Z")
_Death to the Easter Bunny_ - Alan Ryan (You want to laugh and scream at the same time.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-stories/1030512.md?page=4)