# Your favorite five short stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2011, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993 "2011-03-17T02:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [March 18, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/41 "2011-03-18T03:13:32Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#): > > …“The Barbie Murders” - John Varley… If you liked that, you might also like “Press Enter,” another clever, well-crafted and delightfully disturbing Varley short story. ---
**Author:** ![Docta\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Docta\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Docta_G)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/42 "2011-03-18T04:46:43Z")
“Big Two-Hearted River” — Ernest Hemingway ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/43 "2011-03-18T12:19:59Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “The Cold Equations” – Tom Godwin Love that one! I gave it serious consideration, but my list is already oddly sci-fi heavy. I keep thinking I don’t like sci-fi, but sometimes I really _do_. ---
**Author:** ![Arkcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Arkcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arkcon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/44 "2011-03-18T12:27:37Z")
> [@Ronald\_C.Semone](#): > > Get a copy of The Complete Short Stories Of John Collier and pick any five stories at random. What he said, but substitute Issac Asimov. Seriously, when an eight year old asks, “Whas’ scifi?” I do just that. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/45 "2011-03-18T13:57:46Z")
I will limit myself to stories not mentioned yet. In no order - [ul][li]_[Nobody Bothers Gus](http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:v9wlc__YmncJ:www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/Sci-Tech-Society/algis-budrys.pdf+Nobody+Bothers+Gus&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiv4_OC-Xou9m8TvfjDGXHQv5qFEqzCBxvbKiU-2ldSSKWqNEaJUXqgqdC2MswyO8em5c2fN3gsQQUY4sUFqMx1mIcmfEdrz0Jo3xWyAGf6ku9odmK1HfeJID1NJ-_-GGF1wlNf&sig=AHIEtbQR9pdVrHEeZpHSGSaQdGG7ip7ztA)_ by Algis Budrys[/li][li]_[The Unholy Grai](http://www.conceptualfiction.com/swords_and_deviltry.html)l_, by Fritz Leiber[/li][li]_Treasure Trove_ by F. Tennyson Jesse[/li][li]_The Red-Headed League_, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle[/li][li]_[Pickman’s Model](http://dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lovecraft/pickmansmodel.htm)_, by HP Lovecraft[/ul][/li] Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [March 18, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/46 "2011-03-18T15:26:52Z")
“Grail” - Harlan Ellison “Ralph the Duck” - Frederick Busch “The Jar” - Ray Bradbury “Herbert West - Re-Animator” - H.P. Lovecraft And like many others, “The Jaunt” - Stephen King. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/47 "2011-03-18T15:49:21Z")
Too many good ones have already been mentioned but I’ll add some more: _A Rose for Ecclesiastes_ by Roger Zelazny _We Can Get Them For You Wholesale_ by Neil Gaiman ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/48 "2011-03-18T15:51:19Z")
“Guts” - Chuck Palahniuk ---
**Author:** ![HeadNinja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b4bc9f/32.png) [@HeadNinja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeadNinja)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/49 "2011-03-18T17:12:35Z")
As someone else said, this is today’s list. Tomorrow’s will be different. “The Ice Palace” Fitzgerald “There Will Come Soft Rains”, Bradbury “The Sea and the Little Fishes”, Pratchett “The Nine Billion Names of God”, Clarke “Majestic: The Big Chill”, By Alan Moore ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/50 "2011-03-18T18:23:45Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Hm. Needs more R. A. Lafferty, but I can’t think of one off-hand that really stands out. Maybe the one with the bear. The Hugo-winning _Eurema’s Dam_. No bears, but it does have an idiot savant who builds a machine to have hunches for him. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/51 "2011-03-18T21:46:56Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > “Guts” - Chuck Palahniuk I considered including that one. It’s a great story. But yikes! Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/52 "2011-03-18T22:43:11Z")
I’m not a great reader of short stories but I did like (and have read several times) _Consider Her Ways_ by John Wyndham. And James Thurber’s essay _How to Name a Dog_. I know essays weren’t part of the brief but I thought I’d sneak that one in. ---
**Author:** ![Estilicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Estilicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Estilicon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/53 "2011-03-19T00:16:14Z")
I’ll go Latin: 1. “El ahogado más hermoso del mundo” (The most beautiful drowned man in the world) by Gabriel García Marquez. 2. “The circular ruins” by Jorge Luis Borges. 3. “Casa Tomada” by Julio Cortazar. 4. “The lottery in Babilonia” by Jorge Luis Borges. 5. “Three versions of Judas” by Jorge Luis Borges. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/54 "2011-03-19T01:22:21Z")
\*A Piece of Steak \*by Jack London \*A Medicine for Melancholy \*by Ray Bradbury \*Silver Blaze \*by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle \*The Black Monk \*by Anton Chekov. I really don’t have a fifth story. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2011, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/55 "2011-03-19T01:32:47Z")
“Flop Sweat” - Harlan Ellison “All The Birds Come Home To Roost” - Harlan Ellison “There Will Come Soft Rains” - Ray Bradbury “The Long Watch” - Robert Heinlein “The Magnificent Conspiracy” - Spider Robinson ---
**Author:** ![TripleTee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac8455/32.png) [@TripleTee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TripleTee)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/56 "2011-03-19T01:46:24Z")
A few of my favorites. A couple have not been mentioned. Ambrose Bierce “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” Ray Bradbury “The Veldt” Jack London “To Build a Fire” Stephen King “Dolan’s Cadillac” Sir Arthur Conan Doyle “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” ---
**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:** [March 19, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/57 "2011-03-19T17:13:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > If you liked that, you might also like “Press Enter,” another clever, well-crafted and delightfully disturbing Varley short story. I’ve got that one, I think it’s in _Blue Champagne_. ---
**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:** [March 19, 2011, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/58 "2011-03-19T18:30:53Z")
“The Alligators” by John Updike- with one of the most poignant endings imaginable. ---
**Author:** ![amily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@amily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amily)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/59 "2011-03-19T18:53:12Z")
I usually just read here but I love short stories. So many great ones have already been mentioned but “The Swimmer” by John Cheever is, hands down, my favorite. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993/60 "2011-03-19T19:06:01Z")
_Goldfish Bowl_ - Robert Heinlein _What Friends are For_ - John Brunner _The Devil and Simon Flagg_ - can’t remember the author at this time. _The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown_ - G. K. Chesterton _The Absense of Mr. Glass_ - G. K. Chesterton [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-five-short-stories/574993.md?page=4)