Best Short Stories.

I'm going to kick this off with The Lottery by Shirley Jackson [1]

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison has left a big impression on me. It's the most disturbing piece of fiction I've ever read, and it actually makes me feel physically ill.

...I should really check out more of his stuff.

edited 23rd Oct '09 6:05:47 AM by Daiquiri

A Study In Emerald. An awesome crossover of the Cthulhu Mythos and Sherlock Holmes, written be Neil Gaiman. I don't even like Cthulhu too much, but this is a very clever story.

EDIT: forgot to put in the author.

edited 23rd Oct '09 8:37:48 PM by Xi Whoeverski

"The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe. "For the love of God, Montressor!".

"The Dandelion Girl" by Robert F. Young. It's a sweet little tale with an interesting application of time travel as a plot point.

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. Hilarious and educational.

I could probably go with any number of Borges stories, including "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius," "The Library of Babel," and "The Aleph."

I'm really fond of "Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon and "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" by H.P. Lovecraft.

Imipolex G: I could probably go with any number of Borges stories, including "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius, " "The Library of Babel, " and "The Aleph."

Right on.

In a similar vein I'd suggest Silvina Ocampo's "The Autobiography of Irene", a brilliant story about a perfectly prescient person.

edited 23rd Oct '09 1:58:49 PM by ~

Oh man I know so many of these. You know, like the old ones that they would publish in Amazing Stories or Analog or whatever it's called? But I can't remember any of their names! Urrrrrgh. Whatever, I'll pick others.

The Cyberiad: "Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines of King Genius" and "The Sixth Sally, or how Trurl and Klapaucius Created a Demon of the Second Kind to Defeat the Pirate Pugg"... it's all good, really.

"A Mu Offering" from Godel Escher Bach

"Hardfought" by Greg Bear

Ah, had to look up the name, but "The Lion of Comarre" by Arthur C Clarke.

Oh, and, I liked that story in Borges' Labyrinths about the tetragrammation murder, but again I suck at names. (looks up names) "The Lottery in Babylon", "The Circular Ruins", and the one I was thinking of, "Death and the Compass".

Oh, and the one in my signature. Duh. >_>

Also, Made of Meat's namesake, and a hilarious story I read online once called "A Boy and His God", and I should probably stop now.

edited 23rd Oct '09 4:36:35 PM by Tzetze

"The Nine Billion Names of God" by Arthur C. Clarke. Reminds me of King Crimson's "Starless."

"The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy will make you re-evaluate every circumstance in which you met a dying person, and how they treated you.

"Polaris" by H.P. Lovecraft has a poetic beauty to it. Also by him: "The Colour Out of Space" is quite fantastic. My favorite story of his.

"Soho Golem" and "The Man Who Got Off the Ghost Train," both by Kim Newman. Both are Richard Jeperson stories.

"Second Variety" is my favorite Philip K. Dick short story, but "Faith of Our Fathers" was also really good. Really, most anything by him.

• Harrisson Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut.

• The Veldt by Ray Bradbury.

"Frost and Fire" by Ray Bradbury. Now there's a story I couldn't put down and at the end I was like, "Woah."

"A Horse and Two Goats" by R. K. Narayan. Rather brilliant and hilarious portrayal of a clash of both culture and class.

"A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor is pretty great, too.

"The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham" by H.G. Wells

"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce

"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell

"All You Zombies" by Robert Heinlein

"Summer In Paris, Light from the Sky" by Ken Scholes

"Tideline" by Elizabeth Bear

And non-fiction, but short, and needs to be read repeatedly: "Politics and the English Language" by George Orwell

Anyone who hasn't read Owl Creek is a twerp, and The Most Dangerous Game is pretty good.

Oh yes, how could I forget Owl Creek??

Seconding I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. I cannot adequately describe the deliciousness of it.

edited 3rd Nov '09 10:54:46 PM by AFGNCAAP

Lamb to the Slaughter by Roald Dahl. Hilarious and educational.

Wait — Educational? Are we thinking of the same story, or are you planning on killing somebody?

[Ahem] Anyways, favorite short stories. For reasons I will never quite be able to explain even to myself, I tend to get attached to HP Lovecraft's short stories — Colour Out of Space and The Dunwich Horror in particular.

Lamb to the slaughter is brilliant and I do agree, that if you are planning to kill your cheating husband and make certain that the murder weapon is never found I would call it instructional.

Isaac Asimov: Liar! and Robot Dreams

Arthur C Clarke: The Nine Billion names of God as mentioned.

Frederic Brown: Answer

Damon Knight: And the Dust shall praise thee

Lots of Poe, and Lovecraft, of course too belongs here. The Tell-tale heart for instance, and for H.P. The Call of Cthulhu

George R.R. Martin's The Hedge Knight

edited 5th Nov '09 7:29:10 AM by Arilou

Gah! How could I forget "The Star" by Sir Clarke?

Ah yeah, that's a good one.

"A Feeling of Power"

Just found this one again: "Rescue Party". Earliest incidence of Brain Uploading that I know of.

I like Sir Clarke's If I forget thee, oh Earth.