If you liked that, you might also like “Press Enter,” another clever, well-crafted and delightfully disturbing Varley short story.
“Big Two-Hearted River” — Ernest Hemingway
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.
What he said, but substitute Issac Asimov. Seriously, when an eight year old asks, “Whas’ scifi?” I do just that.
I will limit myself to stories not mentioned yet. In no order -
[ul][li]Nobody Bothers Gus by Algis Budrys[/li][li]The Unholy Grail, 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, by HP Lovecraft[/ul][/li]
Regards,
Shodan
“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.
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
“Guts” - Chuck Palahniuk
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
The Hugo-winning Eurema’s Dam. No bears, but it does have an idiot savant who builds a machine to have hunches for him.
I considered including that one. It’s a great story. But yikes!
Regards,
Shodan
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.
I’ll go Latin:
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“El ahogado más hermoso del mundo” (The most beautiful drowned man in the world) by Gabriel García Marquez.
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“The circular ruins” by Jorge Luis Borges.
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“Casa Tomada” by Julio Cortazar.
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“The lottery in Babilonia” by Jorge Luis Borges.
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“Three versions of Judas” by Jorge Luis Borges.
*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.
“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
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”
I’ve got that one, I think it’s in Blue Champagne.
“The Alligators” by John Updike- with one of the most poignant endings imaginable.
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.
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