# Favorite Short Story **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970 "2017-07-23T22:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/1 "2017-07-23T22:34:48Z")
What’s your favorite Short Stories? The ones that you reread once in a while. Mine are: _There Will Come Soft Rains_ - Ray Bradbury \*The Passing of Black Eagle \*- O. Henry \*The Storyteller \*- Saki \*A Man Called Horse \*- Dorothy Johnson \*The Standard of Living \*- Dorothy Parker Crane ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/2 "2017-07-23T22:37:49Z")
_Answer_ - Fredric Brown ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/3 "2017-07-23T22:43:09Z")
Now, that’s a short story! ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/4 "2017-07-23T22:51:01Z")
Another Ray Bradbury: \*All Summer in a Day \* Stephen King’s _1408_ and _That Thing, You Can Only Say What it is in French_ ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/5 "2017-07-23T22:56:31Z")
“Among the Hairy Earthmen” by R.A. Lafferty. Haunting and brilliant. It’s so convincing, it just has to be the truth! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/6 "2017-07-23T23:45:51Z")
The Last Question by Isaac Asimov Bartelby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/7 "2017-07-23T23:51:52Z")
“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellision “And I Awake and Find Me Here on the Cold Hill Side” by James Tiptree, Jr. “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” by J.D. Salinger “Tell the Women We’re Going” by Raymond Carver “[If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love](https://www.apex-magazine.com/if-you-were-a-dinosaur-my-love/)” by Rachel Swirsky\* “The Game of Rat and Dragon” by Cordwainer Smith “Stable Strategies for Middle Management” by Eileen Gunn “The Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft “The Pusher” by John Varley “What Was the Name of that Town?” by R.A. Lafferty \*Probably the most controversial SF story in the past 20 years. There is an honest debate as to whether it’s SF or not, but it’s been chosen by some sad puppies as Everything That is Wrong With the Genre. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/8 "2017-07-24T00:18:44Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*Probably the most controversial SF story in the past 20 years. There is an honest debate as to whether it’s SF or not, but it’s been chosen by some sad puppies as Everything That is Wrong With the Genre. For the first bit, I thought it was stupid. Then I thought it was powerful. Then I didn’t know what to think. But I never even considered thinking of it as \*controversial. \* Fucking sad puppies. The whole fucking point of science fiction is to be weird and subversive and push boundaries. Those whiny little bastards are just pissed that bigoted conservative white men aren’t running the show any more. Not saying those bigoted conservative white men didn’t give us some great stuff, but Jesus, the 50s are over. Let’s evolve. (Hilariously, they nominated [Chuck Tingle](http://www.chucktingle.com/) for a Hugo in an attempt to make a mockery of it, and he responded by advertising on his website for all the more deserving writers they hated.) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/9 "2017-07-24T00:25:25Z")
_The Alligators_- John Updike ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/10 "2017-07-24T01:00:44Z")
“The Canvas Bag”, Alan E. Nourse “First Contact”, Murray Leinster “Songs of War”, Kit Reed “Aztecs”, Vonda McIntyre “The Last Question”, Isaac Asimov ---
**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:** [July 24, 2017, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/11 "2017-07-24T01:01:57Z")
Survivor Type; Jerusalem’s Lot - Stephen King Croatoan; The Three Most Important Things in Life - Harlan Ellison ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/12 "2017-07-24T01:11:53Z")
At The Mountains Of Madness. H.P. Lovecraft (not teally all that short) Dolan’s Cadillac. Stephen King Rita Hayworth And Shawshank Redemption. S.K. In The Hills, The Cities. Clive Barker (the most WTF monstrosity I have ever read about is featured in this story) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/13 "2017-07-24T01:14:46Z")
Almost anything by Paul Bowles. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/14 "2017-07-24T01:17:23Z")
Stephen King is coming up a lot here. I love his short stories. For him and Ray Bradbury, reading their shorts is like eating candy. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/15 "2017-07-24T01:30:44Z")
_Sunday After the War_- Henry Miller. Miller visits his family in NYC after years abroad, and is overcome with emotion. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/16 "2017-07-24T04:04:42Z")
_Random Sample_ - T.P. Caravan ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/17 "2017-07-24T04:08:24Z")
“The Lottery” - Shirley Jackson ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/18 "2017-07-24T04:49:51Z")
_Echoes_ - Alan Brennert _We See Things Differently_ - Bruce Sterling _Night of the Cooters_ - Howard Waldrop _Hoop-of-Benzene_ - Robert Reed _Into the Miranda Rift_ - G. David Nordley _Reave the Just_ - Stephen R. Donaldson ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/19 "2017-07-24T04:54:31Z")
“Sign At The End Of The Universe” by Duane Ackerman “Jeffty Is Five” by Harlan Ellison “Djinn, No Chaser” by Harlan Ellison ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/20 "2017-07-24T04:54:43Z")
“The Waltz” by Dorothy Parker is my all-time favorite. Her “Soldiers of the Republic” is very good as well. I also like “Witness for the Prosecution” by Agatha Christie a lot, but for obvious reasons, don’t reread it that much. I liked Tama Janowitz’s _Slaves of New York_, even though practically no one else did. My favorite story from that is “Physics.” I like Poe’s “The Mystery of Marie Roget” and “The Purloined Letter.” If you can call _The Canterbury Tales_ short stories, I love those. “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” is my favorite, and I will admit that as anti-Semitic as it is, “The Prioress’ Tale” creeps the hell out of me, and I can’t read it when I am by myself after dark. Or maybe the anti-Semitism is part of what’s so creepy about it. Almost forgot-- “Sally Bowles” from _The Berlin Stories_. By Christopher Isherwood. It’s really a chapter in a novella, but it reads like a short story. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970.md?page=2)