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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsPost a few of your favorite short stories
I have two co-favorite short stories:
- "Driving in the Spikes" by Harlan Ellison
- "The Horror on the # 33" by Michael Shea
Other short stories that I love include:
- "The Dead Woods" by Larry Tritten
- "The Three Most Important Things in Life" by Harlan Ellison
- "Three Bananas" by Larry Tritten
- "Gopher in the Gilly" by Harlan Ellison
A great short story that you can read for free is called;
"Raft" by Larry Tritten
(It can be found easily by doing a Google search)
Va Lefty
(6,252 posts)Mars is Heaven Ray Bradbury
The Jaunt and Quitters Inc. Stephen King
lunatica
(53,410 posts)By O'Henry
A rich kid is kidnapped for ransom and he terrorizes his kidnappers but when they try to give him back to his father, his father makes them pay him to take him back.
It's very funny.
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)rurallib
(62,463 posts)Loved every story of his I ever read.
Shemp Howard
(889 posts)red dog 1
(27,872 posts)(I like both Shemp and Curly)
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,894 posts)I especially like Sredni Vashtar, Filboid Studge and Tobermory. https://americanliterature.com/author/hh-munro-saki Most of his stories are simultaneously funny and a bit dark.
DFW
(54,447 posts)"The Story-Teller" too.
FSogol
(45,553 posts)It can be read here:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/04/21/what-you-pawn-i-will-redeem
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,729 posts)I also like two collections of short stories.
The first is science fiction by Arthur C. Clarke. It's called "Reach for Tomorrow." Wonderful stuff, even if you're not that much into science fiction.
The second is a book of short stories by Stephen King called "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption."
sarge43
(28,946 posts)The Other Side of the Sky
sarge43
(28,946 posts)Three Skeleton Key, George Toudouze
Young Goodman Brown, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Superiority, Arthur C. Clarke
Anything by Jean Shepherd
Second that on Ellison's The Three Most Important Things in Life
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)(The sheer volume of his work is staggering)
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...both in and out of the SF genre. He is simply a great American writer, and his non-fiction--criticism, story intros, whatever--is every bit as impressive as his fiction. I suspect he'll be as famous 100 years from now as Poe or Lovecraft is today...
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)It's every bit as good as "The Three Most Important Things in Life"
sarge43
(28,946 posts)I probably did read it back in the neolithic.
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)(From inside the book jacket)
By 1983, with the publication in Los Angeles Magazine of "Driving in the Spikes," Harlan Ellison had become what the Washington Post called "one of the great living American short story writers."
sarge43
(28,946 posts)It'll go on the list - the ever expanding, never ending list.
By the way, according to Wiki he's published over 1,700 works.
Skittles
(153,212 posts)First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...from 1950, but could have been written yesterday. My list is from SF/Fantasy:
...It, Theodore Sturgeon
...The Sex Opposite, Theodore Sturgeon
..."All You Zombies--", Robert A Heinlein
...Vintage Season, Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore
...The Dark Angel, Henry Kuttner
...Fondly Fahrenheit, Alfred Bester
...Come and Go Mad, Fredric Brown
...The Women Men Don't See, James Tiptree, Jr (aka Alice Sheldon)
...Slow Tuesday Night, R.A. Lafferty
...A Voice is Heard in Rama, Spider Robinson
...By His Bootstraps, Robert A Heinlein
...The Dead Lady of Clown Town, Cordwainer Smith (aka Dr Paul Linebarger)
...I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream, Harlan Ellison
Paladin
(28,277 posts)Shrek
(3,984 posts)Also this one, about a future where war is replaced by Olympic-style battles fought by teams of soldiers. There's a disturbing twist at the end.
http://like-the-hunger-games.blogspot.com/2011/12/books-like-hunger-games-survivor.html
Brother Buzz
(36,478 posts)It deserves a mention because it has the best opening paragraph in literature, bar none.
"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
csziggy
(34,139 posts)Maybe my second favorite after The Ransom of Red Chief.
Pigs is a fun story about shipment of a guinea pig and the angst caused by a stubborn station agent.
Sinistrous
(4,249 posts)My favorite is "Eine Altes Blatt", or, "An Old Leaf". Everyone should read it.
diva77
(7,664 posts)Also a story that was in the New Yorker years ago -- something about Mrs. Longo -- it was full of clever double entendres; wish I could find it!!
stonecutter357
(12,697 posts)lapfog_1
(29,228 posts)fNord
(1,756 posts)If so, its one of my favorites Ive ever read, but as a novel or book its down in the thousands....
You know....
Somewhere below Critique of Pure Reason but slightly better than V For Vendetta. Slightly
Either way, its still a badass and uplifting story of personal triumph. Witch, when its all said and done, is really what its all about. Shedding judgement not only from your peers, but from the young and strong, from the ritch and prosperous, from time itself, and most importantly, from the damning traps in your own mind and body that try to tell you you just cant do it!
I reread that story every year or so, just as a reminder
red dog 1
(27,872 posts)(A great novel)
pansypoo53219
(21,004 posts)TuxedoKat
(3,818 posts)Always bookmark them. Here are three of my all time favorites:
The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit by Rad Bradbury
Bernice Bobs her Hair - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Mother to the World - Richard Wilson
The first two I've reread several times. The last one I finally tracked down and bought a used copy so I could reread it again.
Rustynaerduwell
(665 posts)Ray Bradbury. Originally published in 1947... 1947!
Nay
(12,051 posts)UTUSN
(70,761 posts)One of the disgraced players was reduced to playing in small league, playing with home town amateur teams.
The "hero" of the story was on Second Base. The home town kid adored/worshipped baseball players as heroes. Just as the kid was about to go to bat, somebody told him the Second Base dude was one of the 1919 players. The kid was devastated and decided to give him JUSTICE.
So the kid hit, (he was so good) just enough to get to Second, and SLID in there and SPIKED him. The Second didn't wince or anything, just sat down on the ground, with blood through his pants' leg, and pulled up the pants leg in front of the kid's eyes, and exposed tens of SCARS on his shin - because every damned little town he went to SOMEBODY would SPIKE him.
**********I've asked for help finding this here before (years), have Googled. One of the likely authors is Ring LARDNER, but have never found it. Apparently that story made an impression on me that has lasted, what, SIXTY or whatever years.
TuxedoKat
(3,818 posts)that sounds like a story I would like to read as well. I recently purchased a Sci-Fi anthology that had a story in it that I'd read MANY years ago too as a teenager (mentioned in post above) but I remembered the title so it was easy to find. There are websites where you can post details about the story you are looking for in the hopes that someone will see it and know the story in question.
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/lost/novels.html
Hmmm, just had another idea for you. Maybe contact the Baseball Hall of Fame? Or send a message via their FB page? Maybe someone on staff will know someone affiliated with them who has an interest or knowledge in this area. Or contact a Librarian at the Cooperstown Library? Just some thoughts.
https://www.facebook.com/baseballhall
Good luck!!!
UTUSN
(70,761 posts)It's not as though I have done all I could to find it, but it's been one of those nagging things over the years when I have a SPURT for a couple of days. And obviously it's not about sports, so my not being a sports aficionado rules out reading all the possible baseball stories. I *will* follow up on your ideas, thanks again!
TuxedoKat
(3,818 posts)If you find it, will you PM me the title? Would love to read it myself. I sure hope you find it!!!
UTUSN
(70,761 posts)3catwoman3
(24,064 posts)The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry.
DFW
(54,447 posts)Elsewhen -- by Robert Heinlein
Lost Legacy --by Robert Heinlein (the ULTIMATE anti-Republican feel-good short story!)
For Esmé, with Love and Squalor -- J.D. Salinger
Obstinate Uncle Otis -- Robert Arthur