Inspired by the favorite SF story thread. For me, it’s “The Little Black Train” by Manley Wade Wellman. It’s one of his Silver John stories.
How do you define “story?” If you mean any length work I would say either the Deryni series by Katherine Kurtz or Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague Decamp.
I’m pretty sure the OP meant “short story,” based on her own example and her reference to the SF short story thread [I assume that’s the one she meant], but she probably should have said so explicitly.
This is a more difficult question than the SF one, because Fantasy didn’t have a golden age as a short story genre the way science fiction did, and because it’s less clear what qualifies as a fantasy story—classic folk and fairy tales? Dr. Seuss stories? ghost stories?
I’m not at all sure what my own absolute favorite fantasy story would be—I’d have to think about it for quite awhile. But in hopes of getting the thread going, I’ll throw out one possibility that springs to mind: Lord Dunsany’s “The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth.”
Yes, I did mean short story. Sorry for not being more specific. And yes, I know it’s harder. Let’s be inclusive, though. Anything shorter than novel length is okay, and for any age. So Dr. Suess is fine, and so is Lovecraft.
Are we restricted to short stories?
If not, then C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces is an easy winner for me.
For me it’s definitely Heinlein’s The Man Who Traveled in Elephants. I think of it as fantasy, not science fiction. Every time I read it I choke up when the veterans pass in review.
Really hard to say. Since we’re here to make recommendations, I refuse to be limited!
I loved Tanith Lee’s “Red As Blood” when I read it in The Magazine of Fantasy & SF some years back. Collected in Red As Blood; or Tales From the Sisters Grimmer. Lee has several collections of really fine stories.
Avram Davidson wrote some wise & humorous tales–The Enquiries of Doctor Ezsterhazy is a short story collection, after all! But “Dagon” is haunting & unsettling…
R A Lafferty’s work is hard to classify; his hardest SF is pretty low on the Mohs scale. “Continued On Next Rock” is memorable, beautiful & slightly grotesque–& veers pretty far into fantasy territory. All of Lafferty (except Okla Hannali) is now OOP; word is that Locus has the rights & is planning new editions someday…
The Inner Room by Robert Aickman. It’s got a good dream-like creepy atmosphere.
“Red Nails” by Robert E. Howard.
“What Good is A Glass Dagger” by Larry Niven