What are your favorite short stories?

[keriflur]

I'm getting more into short stories (I usually read novels) and I'm looking for recommendations.  They don't need to be book recommendations - if you liked a particular story or a particular author, I'd like to hear that too.

Thanks!

[Sun_Cat]

I'll mention two favorite short story authors, both of whom I enjoyed as a teenager and both of whom I've revisited recently with great pleasure: Mark Twain and Arthur Conan Doyle.

I've read a number of the Sherlock Holmes stories in the last few weeks. (Conan Doyle only wrote four -- I think it was -- Holmes novels. All the rest of his cases were short stories.) They really are gems. Each one presents a complete, complex case in 20 or 30 pages. The writing is vigorous, very colloquial (the Nook dictionary is nearly useless; get an annotated edition), and makes subtle use of the under-informed and sometimes unreliable narrator, Dr. Watson. It's also extremely atmospheric. I remember being terrified by some of the stories when I was younger. "The Speckled Band" comes to mind.

[keriflur]

This is an awesome recommendation for me as I actually own the double-volume B&N classic version of the Sherlock Holmes stories, and completely forgot I had it.  Thanks so much!

[Sun_Cat]

You're very welcome. I think you'll enjoy them.

[Melissa_W Moderator]

"Harrison Bergeron" by Kurt Vonnegut

"All Summer in a Day" and "I Sing the Body Electric" by Ray Bradbury (actually, he writes the best short stores - if you come across Bradbury Stories (a collection of 100 of his stories from all parts of his career) I can't recommend it enough, I loved it).

[Beachgirl75]

Some of my favorites are"Lamb to the Slaughter,"  "Poison," and "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl. Kate Chopin's "The Story of an Hour" is another as are Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" and "The Jewels."  You may also try "A Christmas Memory" by Truman Capote and "The Scarlet Ibis"  by James Hurst. Enjoy

[kamas716]

I love Sherlock Holmes.  My mother got me reading them in grade school and I burned through all of them in a year.  I've gone back and read several of them many times.

"Green Days In Brunei" by Bruce Sterling is one of my favorites. 

I also really liked "Fringe" by Orson Scott Card. 

"Pots" by C.J. Cherryh was pretty good as well.

"Counting Potsherds" by Harry Turtledove struck me as very tragic.

"Dogfight" by Michael Swanwick and William Gibson I also enjoyed.

[Yatta99]

'By His Bootstraps' - R.A. Heinlein

'The Fourth Profession' - Larry Niven

'The Last Question' - Isaac Asimov

[akaCat]

Many of the stories in Machine of Death  are excellent. If I remember correctly, the sample contains all of the first 2-3 stories.

[RHWright]

So, so many.

The one that stands out is Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado."

But, really, anything by Poe, Dunsany, Lovecraft, Bradbury, or Harlan Ellison.

I'll have to dig through the files for individual titles. Also, I highly recommend most of the Nebula Awards collections, if you can find them. Not 100% great, but you get a nice assortment of classics and forgotten gems, as well as a snapshot of the state of the genre in a given year.