After the Allies are victorious in the battle against the Axis in Europe, Sergeant Nathan Marx, in “Defender of the Faith,” is rotated back to the States, to Camp Crowder, Missouri.

    When the box fails to return, he constructs another and tests it the same way, but it also fails to return. Believing the entire experiment to be a failure, he discontinues his efforts and gives up on time machines. The first box arrives in the middle of the twentieth century and the second in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Both have had their time-travel circuitry irreparably damaged by the journey.Originally published in the February 1943 issue of "Astounding Science Fiction Magazine.Novelette, Classic science fiction, the basis for the film "The Last Mimsy"

    The oddly shaped room is full of paintings, and on his pillow the man finds a small book that appears to tell their stories. One painting in particular, of a beautiful girl, holds him spellbound, and, consulting the history book, he learns the startling secret of the oval portrait’s extraordinary execution.A pioneer of the short story genre, Edgar Allan Poe’s stories typically captured themes of the macabre and included elements of the mysterious. His better-known stories include “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Pit and the Pendulum”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”, “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Tell-Tale Heart”.HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

    they had other plans... (note: very short story!)

    Sherwood Anderson, introducing a collection of Dreiser stories, said of him: "If there is a modern movement in American prose writing, a movement toward greater courage and fidelity to life in writing, then Theodore Dreiser is the pioneer and the hero of the movement." Indeed, his bold example paved the way for a new generation of American writers.The five superb stories in this volume vividly attest to the sincerity and depth of Dreiser's gifts as a powerful and original storyteller. They are "Free," the story of a man trying, as his wife lies dying, to understand why he never found happiness in marriage; "The Second Choice" and "Married," two insightful tales of the complex relationships of men and women; "Nigger Jeff," a powerful, disturbing story of a lynching; and "The Lost Phœbe," a poignant tale of a man's search for a lost life partner.

    He has earned and spent a lot of money, both on himself and others, but is now so poor that he cannot even loan the money for a piece of steak. He has to fight a young opponent, Sandel, and in his preparation he can only eat bread and gravy. Though King is the more experienced and tactically much better boxer, he loses the fight to the younger man who has better stamina and recuperation. But King just knows that, if he could have eaten a steak before the fight, he could have won...

    

    Harnham agrees to help her young protegee Anna write to her lover, she begins the development of an ill-fated misunderstanding.

    'The color is hideous enough, and unreliable enough, and infuriating enough, but the pattern is torturing.'Written with barely controlled fury after she was confined to her room for 'nerves' and forbidden to write, Gilman's pioneering feminist horror story scandalized nineteenth-century readers with its portrayal of a woman who loses her mind because she has literally nothing to do.Also contains The Rocking-Chair and Old Water.

    If he lost, not even his wife would understand.places: New York, NY: Lexington Avenue, Wholesale Groceries, Public Library. Fifth Avenue, Loew's (theater), Fiftieth StreetOriginally published Collier's, October 26 1956

    Second publication Born to Be Wild (October 1991). Collected in short story form Angels & Visitations: A Miscellany (1993). Illustrated by Jouni Koponen and published in fanzine form 2002.

    This collects "Sonny's Blues", "The Rockpile" and "Previous Condition", all taken from Going to Meet the Man (Penguin, 1991).

    A short story by Kate Morton.

    The troubles that he faces, combined with the baffling events around him give an aura to the novel that is almost unsurpassable.

    What happens when you set a program to run for 1 billion seconds and then forget about it...Another short story from the guy that have us The Martian and The Egg, can be read for free straight from his website.