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Happy International Short Story Day!

6/20/2012

11 Comments

 
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Did you know today is International Short Story Day? It is the shortest day/night of the year (depending on which hemisphere you live in) so it is the perfect day to celebrate one of the quickest, most powerful ways to tell a story or capture an emotion. Short stories are often exactly what I'm looking for--if I am having a hard time getting into a book, if I am burned out from reading too many long ones, if I want to up my Goodreads challenge count, or if I just want to feel a specific emotion and need a quick delivery method. (usually around 5-20 pages) There are so many short stories out there that it can be totally overwhelming. I know I have gone to websites like Classic Shorts and Classic Reader and just stared at the lengthy lists of authors and titles without a clue as to where to being. Sometimes I get lucky and a short story review will come through my Goodreads feed. I've also been given some wonderful recommendations from friends. Today, I just want to share some of the short stories I've loved, some I plan to read soon, and some that readers have recommended. Where possible, I've linked the title of the story to somewhere it is available to read online. I've only included stories which can be read legally for free at the time of this blog post. (6/12) 
READ THESE NOW:
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury | Kids living on a planet where the sun comes out very rarely
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu | A boy/man's relationship with his Chinese mother
Ponies by Kij Johnson | Captures the ridiculousness of trying to fit in
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson | Everybody gets a number, but for what?
Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut | The government hinders abilities so everyone is "equal"
2 B R O 2 B by Kurt Vonnegut | A world where the government restricts population growth
The End of the Party by Graham Greene | A creepy game of hide and seek
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman | A glimpse into one woman's mental state
The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi | A very disturbing glimpse of a futuristic world 
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THESE ARE WORTHY ADDITIONS TO SERIES:
Glitches by Marissa Meyer (prequel to Cinder, Lunar Chronicles #1)
Necromancer: A Novella by Lish McBride (follows Hold Me Closer Necromancer)
Fed by Mira Grant (an alternate ending to Feed, Newsflesh, #1), technically not a SS.
Career Day by Barry Lyga (SS to accompany I Hunt Killers), scroll to end.

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OTHER READERS:
The Rocking Horse Winner by D.H. Lawrence
Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
A Perfect Day for Bananafish by J.D. Salinger
The Call of Cthuhlu by H.P. Lovecraft
For Esme--With Love and Squalor by J.D. Salinger
The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
Circular Ruins by Jorge Luis Borges
The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury
Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Bad Medicine by Robert Sheckley
Sleep by Haruki Murakami
Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
On the (nearly lethal) comforts of a luxury cruise by David Foster Wallace
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Where the Trees Grow Too Close Together by Keith McCafferty
Symbols and Signs by Vladimir Nabokov

RECOMMENDATIONS FROM OUR READER COMMENTS:
For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal (Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks) 
The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman (Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks)
Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (Heidi from Bunbury in the Stacks)
Cathedral by Raymond Carver (Jo from Wear the Old Coat)
Sredni Vashtar by Saki (author Andrea K Höst)

SOURCES FOR SHORT STORIES ONLINE:
International Short Story Day 
Classic Reader
Classic Shorts
Tor.com
Dowse
American Literature
The Literature Network
Reddit r/readitnow
Long list of sources from ISSD
Fifty-Two Stories

ONLINE LISTS OF "THE BEST" SHORT STORIES:
20 Great American Short Stories (American Literature)
10 Wonderful Short Stories to Read for Free Online (Flavorwire)
List of Hugo Award for Best Short Story Winners (Wikipedia)

If you know of any short stories or sources that we should add to any of these headings, do put them in the comments. I will update each of the lists with links if you provide them to make it more comprehensive. This is very much a work in progress so let us know if we are missing one of your favorites, something you've enjoyed, a source or a fantastic list. 

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL SHORT STORY DAY! You should read at least one short story today to celebrate. I know I'll be reading at least five.
Readventurer F Signature
11 Comments
Sarah link
6/20/2012 04:36:19 am

Oooooh! I love that Graham Greene one--I read it ages ago when I went on a Graham Greene binge (which I don't recommend really, his stuff is a little much for binge-reading). Great suggestions!

Reply
Heidi link
6/20/2012 06:15:21 am

Love this post!! (Of course I do). Already bookmarked and added it to my 'Shorts' list I go through for Salute Your Shorts posts. :P

Here's what I read today: <a href="http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/for-want-of-a-nail-is-a-hugo-nominee/">For Want of a Nail</a>, which won the Hugo in 2011.

A couple of others I really enjoy that I don't see here/read about before I was on GoodReads:
<a href="http://www.fiftytwostories.com/?p=1338">The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman</a> and <a href="http://www.robinsloan.com/mr-penumbra/">Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore</a>.

The site with the Gaiman story has many other stories, but I'm sad to say I haven't read any of them (yet).

Reply
Anna link
6/20/2012 06:16:57 am

I second your opinions on short stories - when you find an amazing one, it's just, well, amazing.
Did you see my post earlier today? - I'm going to do a Short Story Summer feature on the blog to encourage myself to read more of them in the limited time I have. And I will be picking some off your list :)

Reply
Heidi link
6/20/2012 06:17:38 am

Apparently HTML doesn't work in comments, woops!

Here's the links:
For Want of a Nail by Mary Robinette Kowal: http://www.maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/for-want-of-a-nail-is-a-hugo-nominee/
The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman: http://www.fiftytwostories.com/?p=1338
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore: http://www.robinsloan.com/mr-penumbra/

Reply
Jo [Wear the Old Coat] link
6/20/2012 06:23:54 am

Cathedral by Raymond Carver.
Go.. GO NOW.

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Andrea link
6/20/2012 06:29:35 am

Sredni Vashtar by Saki.

http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/668/

Lots of other things by Saki as well, but Sredni Vashtar is the standout. You can read more of his work in The Chronicles of Clovis: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3688 Most of the stories are a little like Oscar Wilde meets Woodhouse with evil intent.

Reply
VeganYANerds link
6/20/2012 12:09:19 pm

I didn't know if was Int. Short Story Day but I'm really happy that you posted about it and included some links. I just read The Paper Menagerie, it made me cry, a lot, but it was so beautiful!

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Maggie, Young Adult Anonymous link
6/20/2012 06:23:30 pm

How did I not know there was a Necromancer novella??

The Paper Menagerie made me cry cry cry. And The Lottery fucked up my charmed elementary school life. Great suggestions, Flann.

Reply
Jasprit link
6/20/2012 08:57:59 pm

A fantastic post Flan, thanks so much for sharing all these short story links, I didn't even know that most of these prequel novellas existed I'll be off to check them out and be able to add more to my gr reading challenge! :)

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Maja link
6/20/2012 10:24:54 pm

I am ashamed to admit that I've read very few short stories in my life. Most of the ones I have read were in Uni, because I had to. It rarely works for me as a format: I need more time with the characters in order to really get emotinally invested. There is, however, a Spanish author named Lucia Etxebarría, who writes fabulous short stories.

I will read The Paper Menagerie as soon as I can, Flann, I promise, there was no need to threaten me with bodily harm!

Reply
Cassi Haggard link
6/22/2012 12:30:40 pm

I'm going to read a couple short stories now! I'm sad that I was in the woods and missed the official day. I always loved Hemingway short stories but haven't ventured much outside of those. This is a great post for finding quick reads.

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