The Complete Stories, Vol. 1


Isaac Asimov - 1990
    Volume One contains the following 48 short stories:- The Dead Past- The Foundation of S. F. Success- Franchise- Gimmicks Three- Kid Stuff- The Watery Place- Living Space- The Message- Satisfaction Guaranteed- Hell-Fire- The Last Trump- The Fun They Had- Jokester- The Immortal Bard- Someday- The Author's Ordeal- Dreaming Is a Private Thing- Profession- The Feeling of Power- The Dying Night- I'm in Marsport Without Hilda- The Gentle Vultures- All the Troubles of the World- Spell My Name with an S- The Last Question- The Ugly Little Boy- Nightfall- Green Patches- Hostess- Breeds There a Man…?- C-Chute- In a Good Cause—- What If—- Sally- Flies- Nobody Here But—- It's Such a Beautiful Day- Strikebreaker- Insert Knob A in Hole B- The Up-to-Date Sorcerer- Unto the Fourth Generation- What Is This Thing Called Love?- The Machine That Won the War- My Son, the Physicist- Eyes Do More Than See- Segregationist- I Just Make Them Up, See!- Rejection Slips.

The Long Valley


John Steinbeck - 1938
    Set in the idyllic Salinas Valley in California, where simple people farm the land and struggle to find a place for themeselves in the world, these stories reflect many of the concerns key to Steinbeck as a writer; the tensions between town and city, labourers and owners, past and present. Included here are the celebrated tales, THE MURDERER and THE CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories


Washington Irving - 1810
    In two sketches, he experiments with tales transplanted from Europe, thereby creating the first classic American short stories, Rip Van Winkle, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Based on Irving's final revision of his most popular work, this new edition includes comprehensive explanatory notes of The Sketch-Book's sources for the modern reader.

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov


Vladimir Nabokov - 1995
    Written between the 1920s and 1950s, these sixty-five tales—eleven of which have been translated into English for the first time—display all the shades of Nabokov's imagination. They range from sprightly fables to bittersweet tales of loss, from claustrophobic exercises in horror to a connoisseur's samplings of the table of human folly. Read as a whole, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov offers an intoxicating draft of the master's genius, his devious wit, and his ability to turn language into an instrument of ecstasy.The Wood-SpriteRussian Spoken HereSoundsWingstrokeGodsA Matter of ChanceThe SeaportRevengeBeneficenceDetails of A SunsetThe ThunderstormLa VenezianaBachmannThe DragonChristmasA Letter That Never Reached RussiaThe FightThe Return of ChorbA Guide to BerlinA Nursery TaleTerrorRazorThe PassengerThe DoorbellAn Affair of HonorThe Christmas StoryThe Potato ElfThe AurelianA Dashing FellowA Bad DayThe Visit to the MuseumA Busy ManTerra IncognitaThe ReunionLips to LipsOracheMusicPerfectionThe Admiralty SpireThe LeonardoIn Memory of L.I. ShigaevThe CircleA Russian BeautyBreaking the NewsTorpid SmokeRecruitingA Slice of LifeSpring in FialtaCloud, Castle, LakeTyrants DestroyedLikMademoiselle OVasiliy ShishkovUltima ThuleSolus RexThe Assistant ProducerThat in Aleppo OnceA Forgotten PoetTime and EbbConversation Piece, 1945Signs and SymbolsFirst LoveScenes From the Life of A Double MonsterThe Vane SistersLance

The Cats of Ulthar


H.P. Lovecraft - 1920
    Lovecraft in June 1920. In the tale, an unnamed narrator relates the story of how a law forbidding the killing of cats came to be in a town called Ulthar.The Cats of Ulthar was a personal favorite of Lovecraft's, who was an ardent cat lover.

The Most Beautiful Woman in Town & Other Stories


Charles Bukowski - 1983
    In Europe, however (particularly in Germany, Italy, and France where he is published by the great publishing houses), he is critically recognized as one of America's greatest realist writers.

Stephen King Goes to the Movies


Stephen King - 2009
    1408 starred John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson and was a huge box office success in 2007. The short story "Children of the Corn" was adapted into the popular Children of the Corn. The Mangler was inspired by King's loathing for laundry machines from his own experience working in a laundromat. Hearts in Atlantis (based on "Low Men in Yellow Coats," the first part of the novel Hearts in Atlantis) starred Anthony Hopkins. This collection features new commentary and introductions to all of these stories in a treasure-trove of movie trivia.

The Collected Stories


Grace Paley - 1994
    Whether writing about the love (and conflict) between parents and children or between husband and wife, or about the struggles of aging single mothers or disheartened political organizers to make sense of the world, she brings the same unerring ear for the rhythm of life as it is actually lived.The Collected Stories is a 1994 National Book Award Finalist for Fiction.

Great Short Works


Edgar Allan Poe - 1970
    Dreams! in their vivid colouring of life-As in that fleeting, shadowy, misty strifeOf semblance with reality which brings To the delirious eye more lovely things Of Paradise and Love-and all our own! Than young Hope in his sunniest hour hath known. [1827, 1828]SPIRITS OF THE DEADThy soul shall find itself alone'Mid dark thoughts of the graytomb-stone--Not one, of all the crowd, to pryInto thine hour of secrecy: IIBe silent in that solitude, Which is not loneliness-for thenThe spirits of the dead who stoodIn life before thee are -againIn death around thee-and their will Shall overshadow thee: be still. IIIThe night-tho' clear--shall frownAnd the stars shall look not down, From their high thrones in the heaven, With light like Hope to mortals givenBut their red orbs, without beam, To thy weariness shall seem As a burning and a fever Which would cling to thee for ever. IVNow are thoughts thou shalt not banishNow are visions ne'er to vanishFrom thy spirit shall they pass No more-like dew-drop from the grass. VThe breeze---the breath of God-is still-And the mist upon the hillShadowy-shadowy-yet unbroken, Is a symbol and a token-How it hangs upon the trees, A mystery of mysteries!--[1827, 1839]EVENING STAR'Twas noontide of summer, And mid-time of night; And stars, in their orbits, Shone pale, thro' the lightOf the brighter, cold moon, 'Mid planets her slaves, Herself in the HeavensHer beam on the waves.On her cold smile; Too cold-too cold for me-There pass'd, as a shroud, A fleecy cloud, And I turn'd away to thee, Proud Evening Star, In thy glory afar, And dearer thy beam shall be; For joy to my heartIs the proud partThou bearest in Heav'n at night, And more I admireThy distant fire, Than that colder, lowly light.[1827]

My Life and Hard Times


James Thurber - 1933
    In My Life and Hard times, first published in 1933, he recounts the delightful chaos and frustrations of family, boyhood, youth, odd dogs, recalcitrant machinery, and the foibles of human nature.

The Bell


Iris Murdoch - 1958
    A new bell, legendary symbol of religion and magic, is rediscovered. Dora Greenfield, erring wife, returns to her husband. Michael Mead, leader of the community, is confronted by Nick Fawley, with whom he had disastrous homosexual relations, while the wise old Abbess watches and prays and exercises discreet authority. And everyone, or almost everyone, hopes to be saved, whatever that may mean....Iris Murdoch's funny and sad novel has themes of religion, the fight between good and evil, and the terrible accidents of human frailty.

100 Years of The Best American Short Stories


Lorrie Moore - 2015
    For the centennial celebration of this beloved annual series, master of the form Lorrie Moore selects forty stories from the more than two thousand that were published in previous editions. Series editor Heidi Pitlor recounts behind-the-scenes anecdotes and examines, decade by decade, the trends captured over a hundred years. Together, the stories and commentary offer an extraordinary guided tour through a century of literature with what Moore calls “all its wildnesses of character and voice.” These forty stories represent their eras but also stand the test of time. Here is Ernest Hemingway’s first published story and a classic by William Faulkner, who admitted in his biographical note that he began to write “as an aid to love-making.” Nancy Hale’s story describes far-reaching echoes of the Holocaust; Tillie Olsen’s story expresses the desperation of a single mother; James Baldwin depicts the bonds of brotherhood and music. Here is Raymond Carver’s “minimalism,” a term he disliked, and Grace Paley’s “secular Yiddishkeit.” Here are the varied styles of Donald Barthelme, Charles Baxter, and Jamaica Kincaid. From Junot Díaz to Mary Gaitskill, from ZZ Packer to Sherman Alexie, these writers and stories explore the different things it means to be American.

A Treasury of Sherlock Holmes


Arthur Conan Doyle - 1906
    They have been selected for entertainment of the modern reader by Adrian Conan Doyle, son of Sir Arthur. This fine collection includes A Study in Scarlet, in which Dr. Watson, the narrator, first meets the man who was to become his lodging-mate and friend; and The Hound of the Baskervilles, a novel generally considered to be the most baffling, most masterly of all. Rounding out this connoisseur’s volume are twenty-seven classic short stories, including The Adventure of the Dancing Men, The Five Orange Pips, The Musgrave Ritual and The Red-Headed League. It is a volume filled with delightful entertainment—spine-tingling stories forever imitated but never equaled.2 Novels:A Study in ScarletThe Hound of the Baskervilles27 Short Stories:The Red-Headed LeagueThe Adventure of the Six NapoleonsThe Final ProblemThe Five Orange PipsThe Adventure of the Dancing MenThe Adventure of the Dying DetectiveThe Adventure of the Blue CarbuncleThe Naval TreatyThe Adventure of the Beryl CoronetSilver BlazeThe Musgrave RitualThe Adventure of the Speckled BandThe Adventure of Black PeterThe Reigate PuzzleThe Adventure of Charles Augustus MilvertonThe Adventure of the Engineer's ThumbThe Adventure of the Second StainThe Adventure of the Abbey GrangeThe Adventure of the Mazarin StoneThe Problem of Thor BridgeThe Adventure of Shoscombe Old PlaceThe Adventure of the Devil's FootThe Greek InterpreterThe "Gloria Scott"The Adventure of the Priory SchoolThe Adventure of the Empty HouseHis Last Bow

The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction


Henry James - 1981
    Devious children, sparring lovers, capricious American girls, obtuse bachelors, sibylline spinsters, and charming Europeans populate these five fascinating nouvelles, which represent the author in both his early and late phases. From the apparitions of evil that haunt the governess in “The Turn of the Screw” to the startling self-scrutiny of an egotistical man in “The Beast in the Jungle,” the mysterious turnings of human behavior are coolly and masterfully observed—proving Henry James to be a master of psychological insight as well as one of the finest prose stylists of modern English literature.Includes “The Turn of the Screw” • Daisy Miller • Washington Square • “The Beast in the Jungle” • “The Jolly Corner”

Love in a Fallen City


Eileen Chang - 1943
    At the heart of Chang's achievement is her short fiction—tales of love, longing, and the shifting and endlessly treacherous shoals of family life. Written when Chang was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. Love in a Fallen City, the first collection in English of this dazzling body of work, introduces American readers to the stark and glamorous vision of a modern master.