Open Thread: What's Your Favourite Short Story?

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RT @nextread: New NR post: Open Thread: What's Your Favourite Short Story? http://bit.ly/agJkbq

RT @nextread: New NR post: Open Thread: What's Your Favourite Short Story? http://bit.ly/agJkbq

You reminded me of “Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman a few days ago, an incredible, charming and very English little tale, but I can’t be seen stomping on your toes, so… let’s say an old short story by Caitlin R. Kiernan – “Persephone” – or else one or another of China Mieville’s too occasional efforts from “Looking for Jake.”

I love short stories! I tend to read classics (Chekhov and Maupassant are two favorites) and I think I’ll be joining you this month in reading short stories. Thanks for the motivation!

I’ve not read Looking for Jake… I kept looking out for it as one of those books I’d buy if Waterstones (and Borders as was) had it on the shelves but they never did.

Kiernan is one of those names that I think I’ve left behind but not read – I know that sounds off as she’s from the same time as Poppy Z Brite who I’ve placed firmly in my Teenage Years box.

I’m not sure I can pick any one story that I think is the greatest, there is a lot of excellent short stories out there.
Most of the ones I read are in the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror genre. And if you like that there are a lot of collections with great stories.

As for good authors of short stories, Gaiman has already been mentioned, and he’s one of my favourites. And I have to mention H.P.Lovecraft, he’s written the best short horror I’ve had the pleasure to read.
There’s lots of others out there too, and I hope I’ll discover some new ones during “Short Story Month”.

I have a couple of Lovecraft collections floating about – though I think he’s better when filtered through other writers. I might have to go back.

I’m hoping that people will direct me to some good online sources.

Not read either of those and Rob from http://robaroundbooks.com/ is probably going to coming on to tell me off!

Let us know what you read.

My favorite short story of all time is Isaac Asimov’s The Last Question. I love most anything that deals with entropy on vast scales. My favorite ss writer, however, is Ted Chiang, for his amazing ability to explore ideas past their logical conclusions. Others I love are Thomas Ligotti, JG Ballard, China Mieville, HP Lovecraft, and more recently, Robert Reed. Viva la Short Forms!

You reminded me of “Chivalry” by Neil Gaiman a few days ago, an incredible, charming and very English little tale, but I can't be seen stomping on your toes, so… let's say an old short story by Caitlin R. Kiernan – “Persephone” – or else one or another of China Mieville's too occasional efforts from “Looking for Jake.”

Favorite short stories: “Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson and “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin. I have other favorites, but those are the two I always go back to.

Favorite writers who do shorts (today): Paul Melko, Tananarive Due, Jason Sanford, and some others.

Writes who should do shorts (if they don’t already): Iain Banks, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Edward Willett, and some others.

That’s all I’ve got. I’m not much for mini adventures with my favorite characters, unfortunately. I like original work

The Boogeyman by Stephen King

I love short stories! I tend to read classics (Chekhov and Maupassant are two favorites) and I think I'll be joining you this month in reading short stories. Thanks for the motivation!

I've not read Looking for Jake… I kept looking out for it as one of those books I'd buy if Waterstones (and Borders as was) had it on the shelves but they never did.

Kiernan is one of those names that I think I've left behind but not read – I know that sounds off as she's from the same time as Poppy Z Brite who I've placed firmly in my Teenage Years box.

I'm not sure I can pick any one story that I think is the greatest, there is a lot of excellent short stories out there.
Most of the ones I read are in the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror genre. And if you like that there are a lot of collections with great stories.

As for good authors of short stories, Gaiman has already been mentioned, and he's one of my favourites. And I have to mention H.P.Lovecraft, he's written the best short horror I've had the pleasure to read.
There's lots of others out there too, and I hope I'll discover some new ones during “Short Story Month”.

I have a couple of Lovecraft collections floating about – though I think he's better when filtered through other writers. I might have to go back.

I'm hoping that people will direct me to some good online sources.

Not read either of those and Rob from http://robaroundbooks.com/ is probably going to coming on to tell me off!

Let us know what you read.

My favorite short story of all time is Isaac Asimov's The Last Question. I love most anything that deals with entropy on vast scales. My favorite ss writer, however, is Ted Chiang, for his amazing ability to explore ideas past their logical conclusions. Others I love are Thomas Ligotti, JG Ballard, China Mieville, HP Lovecraft, and more recently, Robert Reed. Viva la Short Forms!

Favorite short stories: “Call Me Joe” by Poul Anderson and “Sandkings” by George R. R. Martin. I have other favorites, but those are the two I always go back to.

Favorite writers who do shorts (today): Paul Melko, Tananarive Due, Jason Sanford, and some others.

Writes who should do shorts (if they don't already): Iain Banks, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Edward Willett, and some others.

That's all I've got. I'm not much for mini adventures with my favorite characters, unfortunately. I like original work

The Boogeyman by Stephen King

I’m a big fan of George R.R. Martin’s short stories. In fact I think some of his best work is short form. I’m not sure if I can pick a favourite but Skin Trade, A Song for Lya and Sandkings are all excellent.

Paolo Bacigalupi has also made an impact on me with his short fiction. A particularly strong story is The People of Sand and Slag.

A third author who’s short fiction I usually enjoy is Nancy Kress. She written an awful lot of short fiction I haven’t read but of the ones I have I guess Inertia is a favourite.

At some point I’ve read it as I’ve just found my copy of Night Shift and the bookmark is on Grey Matter, the next story. Will have to go back and reread!

I'm a big fan of George R.R. Martin's short stories. In fact I think some of his best work is short form. I'm not sure if I can pick a favourite but Skin Trade, A Song for Lya and Sandkings are all excellent.

Paolo Bacigalupi has also made an impact on me with his short fiction. A particularly strong story is The People of Sand and Slag.

A third author who's short fiction I usually enjoy is Nancy Kress. She written an awful lot of short fiction I haven't read but of the ones I have I guess Inertia is a favourite.

At some point I've read it as I've just found my copy of Night Shift and the bookmark is on Grey Matter, the next story. Will have to go back and reread!

i like saki and maughams short stories ,modern writers vanns legend of suicide was great

i like saki and maughams short stories ,modern writers vanns legend of suicide was great

Don't forget I'm still looking for your favourite short stories – please comment here: http://bit.ly/cAMxFj

RT @nextread: Don't forget I'm still looking for your favourite short stories – please comment here: http://bit.ly/cAMxFj

One of my favorite short stories that I only recently discovered is Stephen King’s “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away.” It’s absolutely perfect.

Some classics:
Death and the Compass, by Jorge Luis Borges is genius.
The Kiss, by Angela Carter. It’s lovely and lyrical and just demands to be read aloud.
The Yellow Wallpaper, of course.
The Nameless City by Lovecraft – I think of this as one of his more quietly hysterical pieces. There’s a lot going on, though.

Just this last month, Red Hairs by Paul Jessup (from his Glass Coffin Girls collection). A little like the Carter piece, in that what I mostly like about it is the mood that it invokes.

One of my favorite short stories that I only recently discovered is Stephen King's “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away.” It's absolutely perfect.

Some classics:
Death and the Compass, by Jorge Luis Borges is genius.
The Kiss, by Angela Carter. It's lovely and lyrical and just demands to be read aloud.
The Yellow Wallpaper, of course.
The Nameless City by Lovecraft – I think of this as one of his more quietly hysterical pieces. There's a lot going on, though.

Just this last month, Red Hairs by Paul Jessup (from his Glass Coffin Girls collection). A little like the Carter piece, in that what I mostly like about it is the mood that it invokes.

My favourite sf short stories are: ‘Aye, And Gomorrah’, Samuel R Delany; ‘And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill Side’, James Tiptree Jr.; ‘A Little Something For Us Tempunauts’, Philip K Dick; ‘Air Raid’, John Varley; ‘The Gernsback Continuum’, William Gibson; ‘The Brains Of Rats’, Michael Blumlein; ‘A Gift From The Culture’, Iain M Banks; ‘Forward Echoes’, Gwyneth Jones; ‘FOAM’, Brian Aldiss; ‘The Road To Jerusalem’, Mary Gentle

Not sure about mainstream short fiction – I’ve not read as much of that. But I do like ‘Heavy Weather’ by Helen Simpson a lot.

My favourite sf short stories are: ‘Aye, And Gomorrah’, Samuel R Delany; ‘And I Awoke And Found Me Here On The Cold Hill Side’, James Tiptree Jr.; ‘A Little Something For Us Tempunauts’, Philip K Dick; ‘Air Raid’, John Varley; ‘The Gernsback Continuum’, William Gibson; ‘The Brains Of Rats’, Michael Blumlein; ‘A Gift From The Culture’, Iain M Banks; ‘Forward Echoes’, Gwyneth Jones; ‘FOAM’, Brian Aldiss; ‘The Road To Jerusalem’, Mary Gentle

Not sure about mainstream short fiction – I've not read as much of that. But I do like 'Heavy Weather' by Helen Simpson a lot.

Any of my PR friends know any short story collections that I could mention during SSM? Or want to share your short story http://j.mp/c5frgJ

Yes….reread The Boogeyman……for some reason, that story sticks with me til this day.

I think I read it first back in 1983 or so.

Troy

I think someone could probably argue that the single greatest (most influential/powerful/imaginative) piece of SF/F/Horror writing is a short story – Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu”.

Granted, it’d be a hell of an argument (and not really one that anyone could ever finish), but that’s a pretty damn big gun.

I mean, beyond that, short stories were *where it was at* for a half-century of genre fiction. From Weird Tales to the Golden Age, that’s where the talent / imagination / diversity was… the rise of the novel didn’t happen until the 1960′s, when (basically) paper got cheap. [That there's some bastardized history, but, whatever.]

(Anyway, my favorite? The Repairer of Reputations by Robert Chambers).

Yes….reread The Boogeyman……for some reason, that story sticks with me til this day.

I think I read it first back in 1983 or so.

Troy

I think someone could probably argue that the single greatest (most influential/powerful/imaginative) piece of SF/F/Horror writing is a short story – Lovecraft's “The Call of Cthulhu”.

Granted, it'd be a hell of an argument (and not really one that anyone could ever finish), but that's a pretty damn big gun.

I mean, beyond that, short stories were *where it was at* for a half-century of genre fiction. From Weird Tales to the Golden Age, that's where the talent / imagination / diversity was… the rise of the novel didn't happen until the 1960's, when (basically) paper got cheap. [That there's some bastardized history, but, whatever.]

(Anyway, my favorite? The Repairer of Reputations by Robert Chambers).

M John Harrison’s Gifco.

My all time favourite (so far) is A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, it has haunted me since I read it over fifteen years ago. I love his short stories. Thanks for the great question, I now have a list of other stories to seek out

M John Harrison's Gifco.

My all time favourite (so far) is A Sound of Thunder by Ray Bradbury, it has haunted me since I read it over fifteen years ago. I love his short stories. Thanks for the great question, I now have a list of other stories to seek out

I think I’d have to choose pretty much anything and everything by Ray Bradbury. The master of the short story, point ends.

I think I'd have to choose pretty much anything and everything by Ray Bradbury. The master of the short story, point ends.

[...] entirely dormant though: I am now on that Twitter. I’m also planning to write something for SMS and start on Part Two of The Ascent Of [...]

OK, here goes – some of my all-time faves:

“Nine Hundred Grandmothers” and “The Six Fingers of Time” by R.A. Lafferty
“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison
“The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke
“We Can Get Them For You Wholesale”, “Murder Mysteries”, “October in the Chair”, “Troll Bridge”, “Chivalry” and “Sunbird” by Neil Gaiman
“Westwind”, “A Cabin on the Coast”, “Death of the Island Doctor”, “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” (technically a novella), “The Eyeflash Miracles” and “Seven American Nights” by Gene Wolfe

OK, here goes – some of my all-time faves:

“Nine Hundred Grandmothers” and “The Six Fingers of Time” by R.A. Lafferty
“I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison
“The Nine Billion Names of God” by Arthur C. Clarke
“We Can Get Them For You Wholesale”, “Murder Mysteries”, “October in the Chair”, “Troll Bridge”, “Chivalry” and “Sunbird” by Neil Gaiman
“Westwind”, “A Cabin on the Coast”, “Death of the Island Doctor”, “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” (technically a novella), “The Eyeflash Miracles” and “Seven American Nights” by Gene Wolfe

There’s no question that my favourite short story in the world ever is still Night Surf by Stephen King. Found in King’s short story collection Night Shift, I first read this beautiful story when I was 16 and it’s been with me ever since. I was so haunted by it that I was compelled a couple of years later to write a homage titled The Beach (thankfully no copies exists now) but I can see echoes of its influence in much of my writing.

There's no question that my favourite short story in the world ever is still Night Surf by Stephen King. Found in King's short story collection Night Shift, I first read this beautiful story when I was 16 and it's been with me ever since. I was so haunted by it that I was compelled a couple of years later to write a homage titled The Beach (thankfully no copies exists now) but I can see echoes of its influence in much of my writing.

There's no question that my favourite short story in the world ever is still Night Surf by Stephen King. Found in King's short story collection Night Shift, I first read this beautiful story when I was 16 and it's been with me ever since. I was so haunted by it that I was compelled a couple of years later to write a homage titled The Beach (thankfully no copies exists now) but I can see echoes of its influence in much of my writing.

“Journey into the Kingdom” by M. Rickert. Readers of F&SF may remember this story in the May 2006 issue; I was a mere 17 (not that I’m that much older now, obviously) at the time, and I remember finishing the story and thinking, “This is it. This is what I want to write.” Interestingly, I’ve gone back and read it again since then, and while I still think it’s a great story, I’ve probably read better ones–but the way it resonated with me so strongly has etched it into my memory.

Other favorites: “Aunt Granny Lith” by Chris Offutt, “Mule Killers” by Lydia Peelle, “Some Zombie Contingency Plans” by Kelly Link, pretty much any story from Neil Gaiman’s Smoke and Mirrors, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut.

“Journey into the Kingdom” by M. Rickert. Readers of F&SF may remember this story in the May 2006 issue; I was a mere 17 (not that I'm that much older now, obviously) at the time, and I remember finishing the story and thinking, “This is it. This is what I want to write.” Interestingly, I've gone back and read it again since then, and while I still think it's a great story, I've probably read better ones–but the way it resonated with me so strongly has etched it into my memory.

Other favorites: “Aunt Granny Lith” by Chris Offutt, “Mule Killers” by Lydia Peelle, “Some Zombie Contingency Plans” by Kelly Link, pretty much any story from Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors, “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut.

I’ve seen several of my favorites in the SF/F vein, but wanted to flag a few other classics that I love: “Rautavaara’s Case” by Philip K. Dick; “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore (writing as “Lewis Padgett”); “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merril; “The Screwfly Solution” by Alice Sheldon (writing as “Raccoona Sheldon” rather than “James Tiptree, Jr.” for a change).

There are tons of recent short stories that I adore; Ted Chiang and S.P. Somtow and Kelly Link are names that will make me buy an anthology.

Two Sherlockian pastiches I’ve really loved lately were Neil Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald” (Doyle gone Lovecraft) and Barbara Hambly’s “The Lost Boy” (Holmes meets Peter Pan).

As for mainstream/literary shorts, you can’t beat Alice Munro these days. She is a wonder.

I've seen several of my favorites in the SF/F vein, but wanted to flag a few other classics that I love: “Rautavaara's Case” by Philip K. Dick; “Mimsy Were the Borogoves” by Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore (writing as “Lewis Padgett”); “That Only a Mother” by Judith Merril; “The Screwfly Solution” by Alice Sheldon (writing as “Raccoona Sheldon” rather than “James Tiptree, Jr.” for a change).

There are tons of recent short stories that I adore; Ted Chiang and S.P. Somtow and Kelly Link are names that will make me buy an anthology.

Two Sherlockian pastiches I've really loved lately were Neil Gaiman's “A Study in Emerald” (Doyle gone Lovecraft) and Barbara Hambly's “The Lost Boy” (Holmes meets Peter Pan).

As for mainstream/literary shorts, you can't beat Alice Munro these days. She is a wonder.

I really enjoyed Short Story Month and have rediscovered the joy of reading short stories again, so thanks!

One story I read this month really stood out, and that was Darwin’s Anathema by Stephen Baxter…
“It is set in a London where a hidebound Catholic Church reigns supreme and the Inquisition puts Charles Darwin’s bones on trial for heresy. Given the current attacks on evolutionary theory (and evidence) by the Creationist movement, the story has particular resonance today. One particular line made me laugh at it’s irony…

“We prefer not to use that word [Inquisition],” he said evenly. “The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, newly empowered under Cardinal Ratzinger…”

mainly because it is actually true in our world, up until he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. While the story is set in 2009, the technology is still mainly steam and coal powered and indicates how the resistance of the Church towards free-thinking has hindered the progress of science, with all that this entails. A fascinating story with a surprising conclusion.”

I really enjoyed Short Story Month and have rediscovered the joy of reading short stories again, so thanks!

One story I read this month really stood out, and that was Darwin's Anathema by Stephen Baxter…
“It is set in a London where a hidebound Catholic Church reigns supreme and the Inquisition puts Charles Darwin’s bones on trial for heresy. Given the current attacks on evolutionary theory (and evidence) by the Creationist movement, the story has particular resonance today. One particular line made me laugh at it’s irony…

“We prefer not to use that word [Inquisition],” he said evenly. “The Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, newly empowered under Cardinal Ratzinger…”

mainly because it is actually true in our world, up until he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005. While the story is set in 2009, the technology is still mainly steam and coal powered and indicates how the resistance of the Church towards free-thinking has hindered the progress of science, with all that this entails. A fascinating story with a surprising conclusion.”

I’m really chuffed you got so much out of it!

The Baxter story is from The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, right?

I’m looking forward to reading more Baxter – not as dry as I thought he would be. Stone Spring and Ark are both looking at me atm so sooner rather than later.

But interesting subject for him to tackle. Going to wait for a few of the collections I’ve ordered to arrive and then order that one I think

Thanks for taking part and glad it’s lit a flame.

I'm really chuffed you got so much out of it!

The Baxter story is from The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories, right?

I'm looking forward to reading more Baxter – not as dry as I thought he would be. Stone Spring and Ark are both looking at me atm so sooner rather than later.

But interesting subject for him to tackle. Going to wait for a few of the collections I've ordered to arrive and then order that one I think

Thanks for taking part and glad it's lit a flame.