The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Short Stories
Cheerios
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Anyways, I was looking through the Evolution thread and I came across several science fiction short stores that I really enjoyed. So I thought I would make a thread where people could share short stories whither they be science fiction or any other genre.
To stick with the theme of science fiction, heres a sf short story that I really enjoyed. It called The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury.
http://www.wits.ac.za/Humanities/LLS/Holistic/bradbury.htm
I thought it was pretty interesting and believable too, considering the way that television has become such an obsession in our culture.
So what are some of your favourite short stores?
To stick with the theme of science fiction, heres a sf short story that I really enjoyed. It called The Pedestrian by Ray Bradbury.
http://www.wits.ac.za/Humanities/LLS/Holistic/bradbury.htm
I thought it was pretty interesting and believable too, considering the way that television has become such an obsession in our culture.
So what are some of your favourite short stores?
Cheerios on
0
This discussion has been closed.
Posts
also: Ellison's I have no mouth and I must scream is so good.
I have the same damn problem, except the stories are from an anthology I've read in the library when I was like twelve. I think it might have been a '7x edition and unfortunately with my town's influx of tax money they've expanded their collection, sold old books and replaced them with new ones.
Man, you better not tell him that.
Seriously, Ellison appears to hate almost every story of his that's become popular (or at least dislike them relative to other stories).
From what I can tell, his most popular stories are ones like the aforementioned and "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman", which he wrote in a day or two at the most; whereas the ones he thinks deserve greater attention are the ones he spent months on.
Case in point: On the audiobook Voice of the Edge, Ellison complains that his story "Grail", which he says is "Approximately 273,000 times better than 'I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream'", has never been reprinted, whereas the latter has about a million times.
I tried listening to "Grail". Ellison's reading was probably part of the problem, but honestly I couldn't get through it because it was just so stupid, and I'm a big Ellison fan.
Another story which I recall that he spent a long time on is "Paladin of the Lost Hour", which I also find rather stupid.
What it seems to come down to is that Ellison's most polished fiction is his worst. The less time he spends on a piece, the better.
There Will Come Soft Rains.
It's amazing.
EDIT: Here's the link for a nice quick read
http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/books/haunted/guts.php
I think he meant things deliberately written as short stories, rather than novels of abnormally short length.
I remember reading a while ago a collection of Ernest Hemingway's short stories that had these super short "scenes" in between sections. A paragraph or two at most. Interesting stuff. Snipets from a bull fight, the Spanish Civil War, &c.
Also from Bradbury, The Dragon Danced at Midnight and The F. Scott/Tolstoy/Ahab Accumulator are a couple of his more memorable ones that don't lean too heavily on the whole science-fiction angle. Especially the former; it's a delightful little piece about a couple of Z-grade moviemakers who achieve critical renown by allowing a drunk projectionists to mix up their film canisters. His hyperactive dialogue's at a peak in that story.
Ah, ok, I wasn't 100% sure, my fault
EDIT: apparently Ray Bradbury hasn't been dead long enough (or at all?) for his stories to be available on Project Gutenberg. Too bad.
Really, every short story in here is amazing.
Other than that, I've only read Orson Scott Card's and Isaac Asmov's short fiction.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Er. He's not dead, and even if he died tomorrow, his writing wouldn't pass into the public domain for about a century, given current copyright laws.
Arthur C. Clarke must be spinning in his grave over my mistake ;-)
I read it at least once a year.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Also, the idea that a story called "0wnz0red" could be good boggles my mind.
Funnily enough, I was actually thinking of pre-emptively posting, "Fuck Cory Doctorow and everything he's ever produced," but I thought that would be a dick move.
But now that somebody else has brought him up... Fuck Cory Doctorow and everything he's ever produced.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
This is a good collection as well, perhaps better.
I liked "Passengers" by Robert Silverberg a lot. Rather creepy.
Some are, some aren't, in my opinion. His sci-fi is usually better than his fantasy, too, I think.
arr b'garr
Speaking of Arthur C. Clarke, "The Star" is a pretty great short story. I can't really give any details without spoiling it, though.
A lot of crime authors write/wrote very decent short stories - often better than their full-length novels. GK Chesterton's Father Brown stories and any of Agatha Christies' are really good.
I also enjoy some of Chekhov's work.
Hemingway also has some crackers, my favourites being Hills Like White Elephants and The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
Janson's on the right ticket with Checkhov, too. Read Gusev for a wonderful little tale that is simultaneously tragic and magical. The guy wrote a lot though and rumour has it they weren't all quite so great.
As for more recent stuff, Murakami comes out with some good stories, and it's very new so it's always exciting. He's a breeze to read- sometimes it feels like he's cheating somehow by getting away with such plain language - but, like all good shorts, the magic comes from what he doesn't say rather than what he does. Check out Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.
(edit: this is a terrible thread to make on the very night I have to write a 1,500 word reflective essay on my own short fiction, jeeze. and if anyone happens to be interested in helping out by reading a story of mine tonight - it's good, I promise - pm me, because I'm always grateful for an audience)
Pain. I don't know where I stop and the pain begins. It caresses my senses like a velvet glove - its almost seductive in its pervasiveness. My eyes snap open and realisation hit me - I had been shot, and one of my lungs wasn't responding to my ragged breathing.
Where am I? My vision clears and reality hits me like a brick, contrasting with the pain and sparking a burst of adrenaline. Living room. Window, with small hole. They had fired through the window. The enemy is outside. How many?
A cough of blood snapped me back into reality from my strangely analytical thought process - move or die. Move. Back entrance is no doubt being watched. Windows too. Only one option - front door, hope they didn't expect it. Who? How many? Why?
Car keys, next to the front door. I pray that the electronic key will open the car from here. I can't see outside, no windows. I look through the peephole, and can see the car on the street. I push the unlock button, hoping to see the reassuring flash of indicator lights.
The explosion lights up the night sky. A trap. My only avenue of escape gone. They must have watched me - know I almost never use the button. The bomb was meant to finish me off. Should have gotten that phone line installed. Shouldn't have dropped my mobile today. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Dead. They can finish me and be gone before the police get here.
Footsteps on the gravel leading to the door. Despair. Pain. Blackness.
And one I wrote for a friends daughter
"But...but..." the stammering girl cried.
"No buts," her mother replied. "We simply cannot afford to give you five dollars a month just for doing your chores. You need to help us."
As her mother turned away Sarah stopped her crying and stammering, and in a fit of rage traversed their small house to her room. She hated being poor, her friends got to do fun things, whereas she did not. They received pocket money, whereas she did not. She had sought a job, but was unable to find anyone who would hire an eight year old girl.
As she brushed her teeth in preparation for bed, she realised that one of them was loose. "At least the tooth fairy leaves me a dollar" she half mumbled to herself. Suddenly, it hit her - the tooth fairy must have a lot of money if she could give every child a dollar for every tooth lost.
She lay in bed that night thinking - prehaps she should could convince the tooth fairy to give her more? After all, if she explained how horrible her mother was being, she would understand. But first she had to make sure she could talk to her - after all she knew when you were sleeping and when you were faking it, but would she know if you were going to trap her?
A very industrious week for little Sarah passed. Her father helped her build a fairy trap "for the bottom of the garden". Sarah then snuck it back into the house and using her finger paints made it look pretty.
Her tooth, as they are wont to do in youth, fell out. With glee she placed her tooth in the middle of the trap, and went to sleep.
The next morning she woke up and quickly looked, but in the middle of the trap lay a single dollar coin. The trap had been triggered, but she couldnt work out what the matter was. She decided that maybe the woodworking teacher at school would be the best one to talk to.
As he examined the trap, he asked what it was for. "Rats," she explained. He made some modifications and warned her to be careful, as it was now very strong and could hurt her easily.
She waited and waited for her next tooth to come loose. She couldn't wait to talk to the tooth fairy. Eventually, a tooth came loose, and with glee she used it to bait her trap.
As she settled down to sleep she couldn't wait till morning.
A scream filled the house. Sarah looked over at the trap and standing there screaming, was her mother - with blood pumping out her wrist. In the trap, almost highlighted by moonlight, she saw her mother's detatched hand...
I've only recently been getting into short story stuff. Picked up a good compilation by Nick Hornby with a bunch of newer authors writing specifically for it. Called "Speaking With the Angel". The one Hornby himself wrote in there is damn good.
What's your objection to his stuff? I find it refreshing.
There are plenty of sf writers who can't write believable characters; I can let that slide if they create interesting worlds. If they can't create interesting worlds, I can let that slide if they have interesting ideas. If they don't have interesting ideas, well, then they're just useless. I think Cory Doctorow fails on all three categories.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
Individual stories that rock my world include River of Names by Dorothy Allison, The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, How to Be Another Woman by Lorrie Moore and Bigfoot Stole My Wife by Ron Carlson.
Requiem, by Robert A. Heinlen.
Heartbreaking if you read them together.