The collections you’re mentioning are nearly all limited to American or British or particular genres or to a single year or were first published decades ago or are restricted to a single POV or type of narrative. That’s not what I’m talking about. I want one that includes as many of the stories mentioned in this thread as possible. A publisher wouldn’t remotely care how many complaints they would be deluged with as long as they sell a lot of volumes. No one would care that your personal absolute favorite wasn’t included as long as many great stories are included. Many of the collections you’ve mentioned include a lot of mediocre stories. If I had come across a collection with many of the stories mentioned in this thread, I would buy in a second.
To Build A Fire by Jack London. The imagery it conjured up in my mind was so vivid, I could practically see the dog shrug.
There have been plenty of such anthologies published over the years (though not, obviously, based on this specific thread). They were more popular in the past. Nowadays, relatively few people read and appreciate short stories.
Name me one that fulfills all the requirements I gave in post # 81.
The new-to-me short stories that I’ve enjoyed over the past couple of years are Haita the Shepherd and An Inhabitant of Carcosa by Ambrose Bierce. Despite his Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, I assumed he was primarily a “wit” since being a wit was in those days and he wrote the Devil’s Dictionary. Until last year I didn’t know that he was one of the grandfathers of cosmic horror since he influenced Chambers who influenced Lovecraft.
Both stories are both so unanchored in place that they might as well take place on another planet. Haita is more of a meditative fable, Carcosa being more of a classic horror story, but both have the advantage of being short enough to thoroughly read in a short uncommitted session.
I also read his Chicamauga, which I didn’t like as much as the first two, but I don’t feel like I wasted my time since it was also very short, and it wasn’t so bad that it felt like a chore to read rather than a pleasure.
Why doesn’t someone here contact a publisher to persuade them to publish a book called something like Great Short Stories? It can include all the stories mentioned in this thread which are out of copyright. It can also include all the ones where the authors (or their estates) are willing to publish their stories for the right payment. If you can get permission for the right ones, it will be the best collection of short stories ever published.
First of all, you have exactly as much pull with the major publishing houses as we do, so I think you should show us how it’s done!
Secondly, there are lots of anthologies out there that might scratch your itch. Two that come to mind are Monkey Brain Sushi and Fierce Pajamas. Both collections have stories with something in common–one is Japanese short stories from the 80s and the other is humorous short stories from The New Yorker from a little later. Both have great variety, though.
These may be good, but they don’t satisfy the requirements I gave in post # 81.
I am surprised that no one has yet mentioned the works of Fredric Brown. Besides long-form novels, he wrote many, many short stories and could do a better job of telling a story in 2 to 3 pages than I have ever seen from any contemporary author.
To top it off, he often crafted a story with an unexpected twist–and still managed to do it with amazing word-efficiency.
There was a 2000 release of his collected short science fiction work titled “From These Ashes” that occupies a spot of honor on my bookshelf.
I should have mentioned him – I’m a huge Fredric Brown fan. He wrote not only science fiction, but also fantasy and mystery, and his Edgar-winning The Fabulous Clipjoint is one of my favorites.
As far as short stories, I still love Arena, which has often been copied but no one has ever satisfactorily filmed. I’d love to o it myself.
Similar 1950s-era “short story with a twist” authors include Robert Sheckley, William Tenn, Theodore Cogswell, Charles Beaumont, and the great Richard Matheson. All of them wrote short stories that ought to be in any “favorites” list.
Thanks. I’ll look some of those up.
I hate this question. How can I possibly name only five?
However, I have determined that one slot belongs to “The Shoreline at Sunset”, by Ray Bradbury.
Oh! Love that!
Flashbacks to being a kid, barefoot in the A&P (when that was legal), with my mom, shopping, and I could see this all happening!
If you’re a fan of Frederick Forsyth (Day of the Jackal, The Dogs of War, etc.), I highly recommend “No Comebacks,” a collection of ten short stories. My favorite is “The Emperor,” a tale about a mild mannered fellow who goes marlin fishing in Australia. HIghly satisfying!
The Forsyth story I recommended above – The Careful Man - is in that collection.