# Let's talk about great short stories (spoilers likely) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2008, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042 "2008-05-12T16:27:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/21 "2008-05-12T21:43:06Z")
**Any** story by Alice Munro. Many stories by John O’Hara. O’Hara is a much neglected author and is due for “rehabilitation”, I think. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/22 "2008-05-13T00:43:48Z")
[QUOTE=Skald the Rhymer] …What are your favorite short stories? [/QUOTE] I’ve got lots and lots of them, actually. The following are the ones that popped readily to mind: \*\*NB: I have been scrupulous about not revealing potential spoilers to any of these stories; if you are intrigued or mystified by my commentary you’ll just have to track down the tale in question and read it for yourself! \*\* _Through Channels_: an early horror story by Richard Matheson. It takes place mostly in a police interrogation room, where a very freaked-out teenage boy is being questioned by the police; by the time it was over it had me enmeshed in a snare of bizarre, unexplainable horror that had an effect on me every time I looked at a TV set for about a week afterward. _The Second Coming_ by Joe Gores: two jaded, rich-kid hipsters decide to witness an execution… _Cram_ by John Shirley: I’ve never much liked the whole idea of taking BART through the Transbay Tube because of the idea of what it’d be like to be down there when the Great Big One hits. I read this story and decided once and for all that if I ever need to visit the East Bay again either somebody’s giving me a ride across the Bay Bridge or I ain’t going. I can’t stand William Faulkner’s novels (and sometimes suspect that there’s a conspiracy of some kind among academics to puff his reputation all out of proportion so they can torture young Lit Majors with those damn novels). The man wrote four short stories, though, that are nothing short of **outstanding** in my not at all humble opinion: _A Rose For Emily, Barn Burning, Wash_, and in particular _That Evening Sun Go Down_. The latter is just incredible; I’ve re-read it several times and each time it hits the same notes of terror, pity, anger, creeping fear and anus-clenching suspense. _Black God’s Kiss_ by C.L.Moore is an exciting swords-and-sorcery tale with a rare bad-ass female protagonist and a premise that is treuily bizarre and original; the ambience of it moves seamlessly from medieval adventure to oppressively weird and threatening surrealism to a climactic moment of horror that fades into sadness, and it’s just an excellent story in general. _The Repairer Of Reputations_ by Robert W. Chambers. Just because.\* Brr-rrr-rrr.\* _Rain Rain Go Away_ is an early Isaac Asimov story that reads more like Ray Bradbury from the same era; as a kid reading it for the first time it bugged the shit out of me; nowadays I realize the basic premise is fairly ridiculous, but it’s still imaginative and cleverly done, and a pretty good quick read. Stephen King’s another one whose short stories are, I think, usually better than his novels – indeed, while a lot of the latter stink on ice, very few if any of the short stories do, in my experience. The standout [at the moment anyway] is _The Jaunt_ mostly because of the ending, and the idea of what it must’ve been like from the kid’s viewpoint…yeeesh! :eek: _A Gnome There Was_ by Anthony Boucher is one of the funniest fantasy stories I ever read, plain and simple. His _They Bite,_ on the other hand, is one nasty scary little piece of work. I know that HP Lovecraft has fallen out of favor with most modern-day readers, and for good reason, but three of his stories stand out for me to this day as incredibly creepy and frightening: _The Color Out Of Space, The Rats In The Walls_, and _The Dunwich Horror_. They just work for me, somehow, and I get a huge kick out of some of HP’s vocabulary (…“batrachian”…“squamous”…“ichorous”…“Cyclopaen”… ). Somebody already mentioned Harlan Ellison’s _I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream,_ a very scary and absorbing story indeed, so I’ll throw in a couple of other works by the same author which really grabbed me: _A Boy And His Dog The Prowler In The City At The Edge Of The World_ and (a collaboration with Joe L. Hensley) _Rodney Parish For Hire_ Flannery O’Connor’s been namechecked already in this thread too, and I agree wholeheartedly. Just about everything she wrote is freakin’ fantastic and should be read by everyone everywhere. But oh, man, this one story of hers, _The Lame Shall Enter First._..I remember real distinctly the first time I read it: I was like 16, the one cool English teacher at my high school had loaned me a copy of one of O’Connor’s short story collections, and I was at home the next night, sitting on the edge of my bed reading that story. The last sentence walloped me right upside the head; I dropped the book to the floor, muttered “_aw, shiiiit_” under my breath and just sat there like a poleaxed steer for maybe ten minutes. Great she is, great she is indeed. While we’re on the subject of Flannery O’Connor, does it make me look sick and evil that I found these stories of hers to be actually hilarious, for the most part: _Greenleaf, Revelation, A View Of The Woods_, and paricularly \*Good Country People \*(poor Hulga! but still…it’s fuckin’ **funny** , goddammit!) ? I have many more which I’ll no doubt remember, and kick myself hard for not including, two seconds after I hit “Submit Reply”; however this post is probably approaching tl, dr-length for most of you already, and my fingers are getting tired anyway, so I’m gonna stop right here. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/23 "2008-05-13T01:52:03Z")
_The Man In Bogota_ by Amy Hempel. _A&P_ by John Updike. _Sonny’s Blues_ by James Baldwin. _On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning_ by Haruki Murakami There are some others that I can’t think of right now. I’ve been reading non-fiction lately, but this thread made me remember how much I like short stories (and how many short stories there are that I like). ---
**Author:** ![Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@Tool\_of\_the\_Conspiracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tool_of_the_Conspiracy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/24 "2008-05-13T02:08:04Z")
[Andrew Vachss](http://www.vachss.com/av_books/short_stories/step_crack.html) hasn’t been mentioned yet… He’s pretty grim. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/25 "2008-05-13T02:08:14Z")
Isaac Asimov’s robot short stories. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/26 "2008-05-13T02:09:16Z")
Ted Chiang’s [The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate](http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/fiction/tc01.htm) is one of the best stories I’ve read this year. I recently read “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Can someone explain to me why they liked it so much? It didn’t do anything for me. (BTW, John Kessel wrote a sort of sequel to that story, I think.) ---
**Author:** ![fessie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@fessie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fessie)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/27 "2008-05-13T02:38:17Z")
Didn’t see Roald Dahl mentioned upthread. Dahl, Salinger and O’Henry are my favorites. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/28 "2008-05-13T03:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Almost anything by Flannery O’Connor. I just read _Revelation_ a few days ago, and it’s stunning. Also, _Everything that Rises Must Converge_, both because it’s a great title and because it’s a great, great story. Does _Leaf by Niggle_, by Tolkien, count? It’s kind of long, but I love it. [/QUOTE] It’s short for the Perfesser. OP says it counts. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/29 "2008-05-13T03:52:50Z")
How about **Punch** by Frederik Pohl? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/30 "2008-05-13T04:13:14Z")
**The Last Question** by Isaac Asimov. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/31 "2008-05-13T19:07:48Z")
“Ralph the Duck” by Frederick Busch. If you haven’t read it, seek it out. Hard to pin down, but I reckon the overall theme is “loss”. I’m a fan of “Grail” by Harlan Ellison. The plot revolves around a man and his search for a magical artifact: a cup that will show you your true love, the one perfect person for you. In the end, he finds the grail (a really gaudy thing, as it turns out), looks into it, and sees his dream girl, falling instantly in love. Then, of course, he realizes that even though he now knows what she looks like, he has no idea where she is, or where to begin looking for her. He is doomed to yearn forever for someone he’ll never meet. ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/32 "2008-05-13T19:29:35Z")
I’ll confess I don’t usually go back and reread short stories. But I prefer beer to champagne, go figure. I’ll nod assent to a number here: Salinger, Carver, and Saki are particular favorites. I should reread Bradbury, as it’s been eons. If you’ve only read _Dubliners_ under threat of punishment in a English class, the stories deserve being checked out again. “Araby” and “The Dead” in particular. “Gorilla My Love” by Toni Cade Barmbara is fantastic. Ditto Grace Paley’s “Enormous Changes at the Last Minute.” I really enjoyed reading Hammett’s Continental Op stories, which are mostly collected in the cleverly named _Continental Op._ Oh, here’s a book of short pieces I have reread: Mark Leyner’s _My Cousin, My Gastroenterologist,_ which I guess are less short stories than little miniature freakouts that he just stops writing after 10 or so pages. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/33 "2008-05-13T19:33:12Z")
I can’t name one favorite. But allowing for several favorites, here they are, in order of preference,(more or less). 1. ``` "The Man Who Traveled in Elephants" by Robert Heinlein ``` 2. ``` "True Minds" by Spider Robinson ``` 3. ``` "Tobermory" by H. H. Munro(Saki) ``` 4. ``` "Shredni Vashtar by H. H. Munro(Saki) ``` 5. ``` "After Twenty Years" by O. Henry ``` 6. ``` "The Law of Conservation of Pain" by Spider Robinson ``` 7. ``` "The Interlopers" by H. H. Munro(Saki) ``` ---
**Author:** ![bytheway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df705f/32.png) [@bytheway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bytheway)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/34 "2008-05-13T23:23:04Z")
I like many of the authors already mentioned, especially Roald Dahl (Lamb to the Slaughter), Alice Munro (The Bear Came Over the Mountain), Shirley Jackson (My Life with R.H. Macy), Larry Niven (Inconstant Moon), Saki (Laura) and O. Henry ([The Last Leaf](http://mclibrary.nhmccd.edu/lit/lastleaf.html)). Other stories that have stuck in my mind are [A Man Who Had No Eyes](http://www.niles-hs.k12.il.us/cynphi/images/ESL_3-4_summer_reading.pdf) and [Inflexible Logic](http://nsm.uh.edu/~dgraur/Texts/logic.htm). Zsofia, the story you are thinking of is “What a Thought” from “Just an Ordinary Day.” ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/35 "2008-05-14T04:50:03Z")
A story that still, after decades, creeps me out and makes me shiver even as I type this: “It’s a Good Life” by Jerome Bixby. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/36 "2008-05-14T12:54:31Z")
Is that the one with the boy and the super mind powers? ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/37 "2008-05-14T13:16:31Z")
Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/38 "2008-05-14T14:01:31Z")
“Who Goes There?” by John W. Campbell – I read it before either of the movies based on it came out, and it was a mind-blower. Don’t know if it would have the same effect on people who’ve already seen the movies. “We Are Idio” by Doris L. Piserchia. Very little-known story by a little-known writer, but … had a very nice kick to it. “Persistence of Vision” by John Varley. Very few short stories have been able to impress me as an adult. This one did. There’s more, but can’t think of them at the moment. ---
**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:** [May 14, 2008, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/39 "2008-05-14T14:19:43Z")
Jeffrey Archer is one of my favorite short story writers. I’ve liked just about everything of his. _A Twist in the Tale_ is a good collection of his work. Likewise David Sedaris, although I prefer to hear his as books on tape - his delivery is half the fun. _Barrel Fever_ and _Holidays on Ice_ are outstanding collections. Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes short stories are timelessly wonderful. My favorites: “The Red-Headed League,” “The Norwood Builder,” “The Speckled Band,” and “The Problem of Thor Bridge.” June Thomson has written a series of Holmesian short stories that are every bit as good as Conan Doyle’s best; her first collection is _The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes_. Joe Haldeman has written some wonderful short stories. _Infinite Dreams_ is a fine collection with which to begin. George R.R. Martin’s “Sandkings” and “The Way of Cross and Dragon” are both so good I can’t even begin to describe them. _Tuf Voyaging_ is a collection of Martin’s interrelated short stories, all with the same odd protagonist, and is one of my all-time favorite books. Run, don’t walk, to get yourself a copy. Arthur C. Clarke’s “The Sentinel” (the inspiration for the film _2001: A Space Odyssey_) and “The Rescue Party” are both terrific. Seconded as to Asimov’s robot short stories. “Little Lost Robot” and “The Bicentennial Man” (much, _much_ better than the Robin Williams movie) are standouts for me. I also really like Heinlein’s “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants,” and would add “The Green Hills of Earth” (tragicomic but ultimately heartwarming) and “The Long Watch” (stirring and inspirational) as well as “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” (more of a novella, I guess - delightfully unsettling and thought-provoking). John Varley’s “Press Enter” is the best computer-as-menace story I’ve ever read. Chillingly good. Jack Vance’s “The Moon Moth” is the best, most delightful and witty exploration of an alien culture I’ve ever read. Enjoy! ---
**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:** [May 14, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042/40 "2008-05-14T14:27:00Z")
Lots of my favorites have been named already, but I have to add Harlan Ellison’s “All The Birds Come Home To Roost,” which is hand’s-down the second-scariest short story I have ever read. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lets-talk-about-great-short-stories-spoilers-likely/449042.md?page=3)