zambothegreat Posted October 7, 2013 Report Share Posted October 7, 2013 The first one that comes to mind for me is "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. Apparently, it was Asimov's favorite story of his, so you know it's good. http://filer.case.edu/dts8/thelastq.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiesIrae Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 Nice! I like sci fi these days although I also like those that are realistic and also fantastic at the same time. Here's a reimagining of Snow White by Neil Gaiman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow,_Glass,_Apples Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limon Posted October 8, 2013 Report Share Posted October 8, 2013 That's a hard one, I really love short stories.Off the top of my head, I'd go for "Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester in the older stories category, and "The Paper Menagerie" as a more modern entry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zambothegreat Posted October 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Nice! I like sci fi these days although I also like those that are realistic and also fantastic at the same time. Here's a reimagining of Snow White by Neil Gaiman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow,_Glass,_ApplesNice. I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and never heard of that before. Still on topic, Neil Gaiman has a book out called Fragile Things, which is a collection of short stories. I definitely recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limon Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 Nice. I'm a big fan of Neil Gaiman, and never heard of that before. Still on topic, Neil Gaiman has a book out called Fragile Things, which is a collection of short stories. I definitely recommend it.Fragile Things is wonderful! I recommend checking out the audiobook if you get a chance, he narrates it himself."Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" is one of my favorite Gaiman stories, cracks me up every time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jodiann12 Posted October 9, 2013 Report Share Posted October 9, 2013 The first one that comes to mind for me is "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov. Apparently, it was Asimov's favorite story of his, so you know it's good. http://filer.case.edu/dts8/thelastq.htmI have read the story "The Last Question" by Isaac Asimov, and I have to say that this is one of my favorites. I am not a big fan of short stories, but the story line of this one is very interesting, and love the ending! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiesIrae Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Yeah, it's funny because I thought about lots of things too, possibly the end of the universe. I love how the ending basically used the creation story from the Bible. <-- obviously a spoiler. Highlight if you have read the story!Oh, I'm reading a sci-fi group of short stories which you can get for free, it's the Machine of Death. There's a free version somewhere here. There are some funny and ironic short stories here, because the machine of death basically gives you a fact about your death, sometimes in a vague or cryptic way. Anyway, here's the shortest short story in the bunch which made me laugh.HIV INFECTION FROM MACHINE OF DEATH NEEDLE“Well,” I thought, “that sucks.”Storyby Brian Quinlan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiralArchitect Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Fragile Things is wonderful! I recommend checking out the audiobook if you get a chance, he narrates it himself."Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire" is one of my favorite Gaiman stories, cracks me up every time.While we are on the topic of Gaiman (he's my absolute favorite author), do get Smokes and Mirrors for his short stories. He also gives an introduction to each story in this one and they are occasionally really interesting reads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Posted October 12, 2013 Report Share Posted October 12, 2013 Is Animal Farm by George Orwell considered a short story? If it is, that has to be my favorite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LauraM Posted October 13, 2013 Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 I have several favorite short story authors and stories, but as I think about this question, right now, Jayne Anne Phillips' "Black Tickets" stands out for me. It's the title of the book of short stories as well as one of the stories. I like all of the stories. Probably my favorites from this collection -- if I had to choose would be "Home" and "Black Tickets." They are just amazing. Evocative, and yet very sparse in language. Her stories take elements from pop culture and television of the late 1970s, as that's when the book was published, but transform them so you see how they have influenced the lives of the characters. Her characters are "ordinary" people who are often down on their luck, and living in America's Appalachian region. Really a remarkable collection of stories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zambothegreat Posted October 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2013 Is Animal Farm by George Orwell considered a short story? If it is, that has to be my favorite.Well, it's definitely a quick read, so we'll count it. Besides, it's Orwell. Check out Clutch's lyrics for their song "Animal Farm". Pretty great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evelyne Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 The Long Walk by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachman is my favourite novella because it could so easily happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpiralArchitect Posted October 20, 2013 Report Share Posted October 20, 2013 Well, it's definitely a quick read, so we'll count it. Besides, it's Orwell. Check out Clutch's lyrics for their song "Animal Farm". Pretty great stuff.Technically, Animal Farm is a novella and not a short story. Still, no doubting how good it is as a work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame6089 Posted November 3, 2013 Report Share Posted November 3, 2013 My favorite short story is the "Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar Allen Poe. It was the first horror story I ever read. It was so creepy to read it out lout in my 7th grade english class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekernel Posted November 5, 2013 Report Share Posted November 5, 2013 Well, I would never recommend anyone ever read it, but since you asked I guess I will tell. "Guts" by Chuck Palahniuk is my favorite short story. It's a very disgusting (thankfully fictional) account of sexual experimentation gone horribly wrong. No gruesome detail is spared. One might ask why it's my favorite, well, I find I've never been so physically affected by something I read. It's a great piece of literature for that reason; it leaves a very unique imprint on the reader that you would almost certainly never get from reading anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firelily99 Posted November 9, 2013 Report Share Posted November 9, 2013 If we are counting Animal Farm then that's where my vote would go. Terrific book; I haven't read it since high school but I have given some thought to reading it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kotro Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 I really enjoy the short story medium, although I'm afraid a lot of the authors of the genre which I enjoy aren't English writers - I suspect a lot of them haven't even been translated. Among English language authors my favourite is John Cheever, so much that I'm at a loss as to which of his short stories is my favourite. Apart from the better know, such as The Swimmer, Goodbye My Brother or O Youth and Beauty, I really enjoyed reading and still enjoy returning to The Enormous Radio, The Chimera, Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor or The Housebreaker of Shady Hill (I generally love the whole Shady Hill suburbial ambience repeated in many of his stories. It's the same thing I find in Mad Men, and probably one of the reasons I love that show so much).I also enjoy some classics by HP Lovecraft, like The Music of Erich Zann and At the Mountains of Madness. Is Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener a short story or a novella (it's between 60 and 90 pages, I think, depending on the edition)? That's also one of my favourites.If I had to pick an absolute favourite, I think the abovementioned The Chimera would be my choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejazu Posted November 10, 2013 Report Share Posted November 10, 2013 We had this whole book of short stories as a part of our course in school. My favorite one out of those was Dr.Heidegger's experiment by none other than Nathaniel Hawthorne. It's a story about 4 elderly people who have lost their youth in sinful pleasures and go in search of the fountain of youth. A really inspiring story that shows us the human behaviour and how susceptible we are to any kind of sins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatesWing Posted November 14, 2013 Report Share Posted November 14, 2013 I absolutely love Edgar Allan Poe's works! I think the one that comes to mind as one of the best, regardless of its popularity, would be The Tell-Tale Heart. If by some chance you've never read it here's the link to it in it's entirety: http://poestories.com/read/telltaleheartFrom beginning to end it grabs and keeps your attention and the suspense is well played out in this short story Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodserd Posted November 26, 2013 Report Share Posted November 26, 2013 The Lottery by Shirley Jackson.Link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizbeth19hph Posted December 11, 2013 Report Share Posted December 11, 2013 My favorite short story is "God Sees The Truth But Waits" by Leo Tolstoi. I love that story so much with all its dramatic plot and characters. It has been my well-loved short story ever since I first read that in a book collections of English essays and short stories I bought years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosa Posted January 15, 2014 Report Share Posted January 15, 2014 My favorite short story would be one from my childhood, Hansel and Gretel , for their wisdom and perseverance that brought them deliverance :angel:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandak Posted January 18, 2014 Report Share Posted January 18, 2014 I love "The Lesson" by Ionesco and "Continuity of Parks" by Cortazar. They're both thrillers, though one is exceptioanlly short, but an absolute mind blower. They both play with legitimacy of the story in the view point of the reader and reality vs realism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muthoni Posted January 24, 2015 Report Share Posted January 24, 2015 I love short stories and honesty I will pick from the children category. My all time favorite is the princess and the frog. I felt so sorry for the frog when it retrieved the ball for the princess and she ran off without fulfilling what she promised. I was amazed at the ending when the frog was able to get to the palace; Great ending to the story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidney Posted January 25, 2015 Report Share Posted January 25, 2015 My favorite short story is "The Little Matchstick Girl" by Hans Christian Andersen. It's quite poignant, and it really touched my heart the first time I read it. Most of Hans Christian Andersen's work always has a sad ending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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