I really like short stories. Good ones at least. What are some people's favorites?

"The Yellow Wallpaper"
"The Tell-Tale Heart" Edgar Allan Poe

Both really good. I can't remember who "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written by but it is incredibly interesting.

Anything by Borges. Circular Ruins is probably as popular a place to start as any. He is pretty much the short story master as far as I am concerned.

I have no mouth and I must Scream - Harlan Ellison
(The best story by one of the better sci-fi writers of the 60s. If you get a chance to meet the guy, take it. He's impressively offensive.)

Summer Blond - Adrian Tomine
(Great short story comic ( I refuse to call them graphic novels for some reason) collection.

Dare I be ultra pretentious and throw out Barthleme's 60 stories? I guess I just did. Read it, if only because the pretentious 'post-modernist' carrying around a copy probably hasn't.

And last but not least, one of my favorite authors, Robert Coover - Pricksongs and Descants. If you like Dave Eggars or any of the McSweeneys gang, this is where they get all their tricks.

I love short stories, too, kd. Great topic!

"The Yellow Wallpaper" is by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Mike. It's a terrific piece of writing, but so crushingly sad, I rarely return to it.

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Originally posted by keylimetrev:
I have no mouth and I must Scream - Harlan Ellison
(The best story by one of the better sci-fi writers of the 60s. If you get a chance to meet the guy, take it. He's impressively offensive.)

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A friend of mine who is also an Ellison fan met him at a Con once. Having followed his career since practically day one, she thought she was ready to meet him. Even so, she was shocked at how abrasive he was, but she enjoyed the experience just the same.

IHNMAIMS is great, but I'm more partial to "The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World."

Two more favorites from the 60s and 70s New Wave of SF is Theodore Sturgeon's "The Man Who Learned Loving" and Samuel Delany's "Time Considered As a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones," both of which I'd like to try to convince pE (and others) to read after his great feedback on LeGuin's "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" in the Authors forums (I promise to respond to that after I've read the James essay, pE!).

Virtually all of Hemmingway is a given for me.

I'm very partial to the short stories of Raymond Carver, though I prefer his poetry.

I love and recommend the Alice Walker collection In Love & Trouble

Now Playing: "Lily One" Matt Pond PA Wintersongs

LT- I've never really been able to get into Delany. I tried Dahlgren and Time Considered..., but can't get through them. I have to admit though that sf really isn't a primary area of interest for me.

For another 60s/70s sf guy that I do like, check out J.G. Ballard's early short stories. I think drowned world was a pretty good collection.

I would second LT's recommendation of Raymond Carver ("So Much Water, So Close to Home" is a brilliant story that's been made into a brilliant movie, Short Cuts, and a brilliant song by Paul Kelly) and add T.C. Boyle.

I can't recall the authors, but I've always loved "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery."

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Originally posted by philosopherEric:
I can't recall the authors, but I've always loved "The Most Dangerous Game" and "The Lottery."

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Richard Connell and Shirley Jackson respectively, both excellent.

Somebody else was just recommending Drowned World to me several weeks ago, klt. I think it's time for a trip to the bookstore.

I should probably think of something everybody hasn't read, but I do love Kafka's "The Metamorphosis."

Now Playing: "A Time for Emily" The Elected Me First (Sub Pop)

Anything by O'Henry... Tobin's Palm and The Green Door in particular.

Great topic indeed. Some of my all-time favorites:

"The Birthmark" & "Rappaccini's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne
"The Imp of the Perverse" by Poe
"The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft
"Pie" by Dennis McKelvey -- my college roommate

Ok, well I loved most of the short stories by Phillip K Dick. I am now reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and enjoy most of those. I also have enjoyed others such as The Lottery. I also have a collection of 2 minute mysteries and enjoy those.

hmm... more recently...

"The Pugilist at Rest" by Thom Jones
"Why I'm Here" by Amy Hempel
"Strays" by Mark Richard

Jean Rhys - On Not Shooting Sitting Birds
Nadine Gordimer - The Moment Before the Gun Went Off
Anita Desai - The Scholar Gypsy
Katherine Mansfield - Daughters of the Late Colonel

PK Dick-The Second Variety

The best collection of short stories I've come across is The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories (ed. Tobias Wolff). My favorites from it are:

River of Names-Dorothy Allison
A White Horse-Thom Jones
The Things They Carried-Tim O'Brien
Testimony of Pilot-Barry Hannah
Wickedness-Ron Hansen

The Overcoat by Nikalai Gogol
A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger

Oh yes, Mr Ellison.

He is a master of concise plotlines.

One of my all time favorite collections of short stories is "The robot that looked like me" by Robert Sheckly.

I also hold "The Joker" by Isaac Asimov, and "The nine billion names of god" by AC Clarke in high regard.

"The call of Cthuulu." is a true highpoint of the horror genre, and I think that Clive Barker does some of his best work in the short form.
"The books of blood" Vol 1-3 contain some spine chilling tales.

Yes PK Dick is in there to.

Hell, if an author can get an idea across with economy and style, I'm all for them.

Has Stephen King written any short stories?

I suppose anything under 500 pages is a short story for him.

I would like to add The Dead by James Joyce to my list.

quote:

I have no mouth and I must Scream - Harlan Ellison
(The best story by one of the better sci-fi writers of the 60s. If you get a chance to meet the guy, take it. He's impressively offensive.)

They acutally made a game of this. Apparently its not that great. Game spot reveiw

I'd list several but here's just one for nostalgic reasons - Saki's "The Background". I've loved it since middle school.

"His assailant was severely reprimanded for assaulting a fellow-anarchist and received seven years imprisonment for defacing a national art treasure."

Since its "Favorite Short Storie"S" I can say this without feeling regretful the next day. I've read so many shorts, but one that stands out in my mind has been "Herbert West - The Reanimator" Lovecraft also did many others, I think I've grown partial to ol' West.