# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/21 "2017-07-24T04:57:00Z")
> [@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. It’s a good story (although I think it verges into prose poem territory). My personal opinion is that it isn’t science fiction. But I’m not going to get worked up over it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/22 "2017-07-24T05:01:19Z")
One of my favorites: [The Devil and Daniel Webster](http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602901h.html) by Stephen Vincent Benet. Benet wrote two sequels to the story but, annoyingly, I haven’t been able to find them to read. ---
**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, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/23 "2017-07-24T07:55:11Z")
Oh, I forgot about “His Wife’s Deceased Sister,” by Frank Stockton, the guy who wrote “The Lady or the Tiger.” I like TLotT, but HWDS is even better. However, you have to know the history of TLotT to appreciate HWDS. Isaac Singer’s “Yentl, the Yeshiva Boy” is good to: don’t let the Barbra Streisand movie fool you. ---
**Author:** ![jerez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c68b51/32.png) [@jerez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerez)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/24 "2017-07-24T10:01:06Z")
“Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, although it’s been a long time since I last read it. ---
**Author:** ![Cabbage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@Cabbage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabbage)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/25 "2017-07-24T11:36:57Z")
The Inner Room - Robert Aickman ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/26 "2017-07-24T11:51:30Z")
“Arena” by Fredric Brown (and quite a bit of his other stuff) “Uncommon Sense” by Hal Clement “Silver Blaze” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (and a lot of other Sherlock Holmes stories) “The Shadow over Innsmouth” and “The Call of Cthulhu” and “The DUnwich Horror” by H. P. Lovecraft “The Tower of the Elephant” and “Rogues in the House” by Robert E. Howard “Hornblower During The Crisis” (actually an incomplete novel) by Cecil Scott Foresster “The Gold Bug” by Edgar Allan Poe “The Colossus of Ylorgne” by Clark Ashton Smith ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/27 "2017-07-24T12:51:39Z")
\*\*The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber \*\*by Ernest Hemingway is the best I’ve ever read. I remember exactly where I was and what I felt when I read it the first time. **Winter Dreams** and **The Rich Boy** by F. Scott Fitzgerald are wonderful, Rick stories he wrote as he was working out The Great Gatsby. Beautiful beautiful writing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/28 "2017-07-24T12:57:02Z")
\*The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas \*- Ursula Le Guin _The Dunwhich Horror_ and _The Colour Out Of Space_ - HP Lovecraft. _Shoggoths in Bloom_ - Elizabeth Bear (possibly a bit long) _Snow, Glass, Apples_ and _A Study In Emerald_ - Neil Gaiman ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/29 "2017-07-24T13:02:49Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > \*\*The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber \*\*by Ernest Hemingway is the best I’ve ever read. I remember exactly where I was and what I felt when I read it the first time. > > **Winter Dreams** and **The Rich Boy** by F. Scott Fitzgerald are wonderful, Rick stories he wrote as he was working out The Great Gatsby. Beautiful beautiful writing. Sigh. Wonderful, _rich_ stories. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/30 "2017-07-24T13:10:07Z")
_Pickman’s Model_ - H.P.Lovecraft _The Gebbelins_ and _Two Bottles of Relish_, both by Lord Dunsany _The Unholy Grail_ - Fritz Leiber _Treasure Trove_ - F. Tennyson Jesse What these have in common is a last line that knocks the wind out of you. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/31 "2017-07-24T13:10:28Z")
**WordMan** beat me to it. The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway is it for me. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/32 "2017-07-24T13:51:57Z")
_Not Long before the End_ and _Neutron Star_, both by Larry Niven _Repent, Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman_ by Harlan Ellison ETA: _The Nine Billion Names of God_ by. Arthur C. Clarke ---
**Author:** ![Evin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@Evin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evin)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/33 "2017-07-24T14:00:13Z")
_An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge_, Ambrose Bierce ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/34 "2017-07-24T14:01:10Z")
_The Small Assassin_ by Ray Bradbury ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/35 "2017-07-24T14:36:48Z")
_Haircut_ by Ring Lardner and _For Esmé – with Love and Squalor_ by J. D. Salinger. Hands down, the best the medium has to offer. Something interesting I just learned while googling the story to copy and paste the accented “é”: The Salinger anthology of short stories, called “Nine Stories” in the US, was apparently called “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor” in most other countries. I wonder what they thought of Lisa Loeb’s band name? > [@jerez](#): > > “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, although it’s been a long time since I last read it. I thought that was a novel? Or novella, at least. I guess the cutoff between “short story” and “novella” is up to interpretation, though. I’ve always considered “short story” to apply to something you can read in one sitting, and that technically applies to “Of Mice and Men” (and even some full sized novels that are quick reads, like James Patterson’s). But I’ve also loosely considered short stories to be “chapter length”, and I wouldn’t put novellas or airport paperbacks in that category. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/36 "2017-07-24T15:10:21Z")
“Working With the Little People” by Harlan Ellison. “Night Meeting” by Ray Bradbury. “Rotating Cylinders and the Possibility of Global Causality Violation” by Larry Niven. “The Silver Key” by H.P. Lovecraft. “By This Axe I Rule” by Robert E. Howard. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/37 "2017-07-24T15:20:59Z")
“The Moon Moth” by Jack Vance - An Earth diplomat offends the local alien populace, all of whom wear masks and communicate by singing, while trying to catch a criminal. “Sandkings” by George R.R. Martin - A bored, dissolute rich man acquires alien pets - a culture of tiny warriors who teach him a deadly lesson. “The Scythe” by Ray Bradbury - During the Depression, a down-and-out man and his family find a peculiar farm, and he soon realizes he has a most unwelcome destiny. “Little Lost Robot” by Isaac Asimov - Dr. Susan Calvin must find a particularly wily - and dangerous - robot which is purposefully hiding on a military asteroid base. “Rescue Party” by Arthur C. Clarke - An alien starship comes to help the people of Earth just before the Sun goes supernova… and its crew gets a surprise that will reverberate for years to come. “Summer’s Lease” by Joe Haldeman - A teacher on an isolated Earth colony tries to keep his community from losing what few vestiges of higher knowledge remain. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/38 "2017-07-24T16:38:26Z")
_Benito Cereno_ - Herman Melville _Flight_ - John Steinbeck ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/39 "2017-07-24T16:44:59Z")
Melville’s “Benito Cerino” is the only short story (novella) I finished, then turned back to the first page to read it all over again. You kinda HAVE to do that to recognize its genius. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970/40 "2017-07-24T17:02:34Z")
Carl Ewald; “My Little Boy” (Published in Danish in 1906, largely forgotten now, was a great favorite of Alex Woollcott --which means it’s one HELL of a tearjerker) > **[My Little Boy](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1696110.My_Little_Boy)** > > My little boy is beginning to live. Carefully, stumblin… Guy de Maupassant; “Two Friends” Jacques Futrelle; “The Problem of Cell 13” Thomas Burke; “The Hands of Mr. Ottermole” H.P. Lovecraft; “The Whisperer in Darkness” John Collier; “Wet Saturday” Robert Aickman; “The Cicerones” & “The Wine Dark Sea” Mervyn Peake; “Boy in Darkness” & “Same Time, Same Place” Donald E. Westlake; “Too Many Crooks” (The best John Dortmunder short, possibly the funniest crime story ever) **Shodan** already named my top Lord Dunsany tales: “The Hoard of the Gibbelins” and “The Two Bottles of Relish.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-short-story/791970.md?page=3)