# Great Short Stories



## stirdgit (Oct 27, 2005)

Hello all.  If this topic has come up in the past, please excuse me, but I did not see it anywhere.  What is everyone's favorite short story... or stories?
  For me:
Nightfall - Asimov
And He Built a Crooked House - Heinlein
Passage For Piano - Herbert


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## kyektulu (Oct 27, 2005)

*It depends I generally class a book with no sequal a short story. 
 I used to love Enid Blytons short stories when I was little.
The only short story book I have read recently is Search for Power, a mixed book of Dragonlance storys so I will have to say that is my fave as I cant think of anything else!*


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## Leto (Oct 27, 2005)

stirdgit said:
			
		

> Hello all.  If this topic has come up in the past, please excuse me, but I did not see it anywhere.  What is everyone's favorite short story... or stories?
> For me:
> Nightfall - Asimov
> And He Built a Crooked House - Heinlein
> Passage For Piano - Herbert



Sundance - Robert Silverberg
The Egg and the Ashes - Frank Herbert
Every ones written by Fredric Brown.


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## Treikayan (Oct 30, 2005)

I always enjoyed Edgar Allen Poe, like the "Pit and the Pendulum," and "Tales of the Tell-tale Heart."


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## Winters_Sorrow (Oct 30, 2005)

The Sound of Thunder - Ray Bradbury

a few others as well, but the titles escape me for the moment


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## Treikayan (Oct 30, 2005)

Good choice.  I always enjoyed "Fahrenheit 451" by him.


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## chrispenycate (Nov 2, 2005)

The nine billion names of god Arthur C. Clarke
Exercise in Speculation: The Theory and Practice of Teleportation Larry Niven (who could write an amusing, interesting story with a name like that?)
MS fnd in a lbry- I've got no idea who wrote it but I read it some 45 years ago, and still remember all the details.
Tell you what, I'll Google it and edit in the results


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## littlemissattitude (Nov 2, 2005)

chrispenycate said:
			
		

> The nine billion names of god Arthur C. Clarke


 
Just what I was going to say, Chris.

Also:

"The Cask of Amontillado", Edgar Allan Poe
"The Man", Ray Bradbury
"The Veldt", Ray Bradbury


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## McMurphy (Nov 2, 2005)

Jeez, there is so many great science fiction/fantasy short stories to choose from. Some of my personal favorites are as follows:

*"Ill Met in Lankhmar"* tells of how Fafhrd and Grey Mouser's first drinking ruckus together in the theif city of Lankhmar leads to some quite dire consequences. The story, while dark, does a brilliant job of juggling wit, play acting, and fantasy violence. *"Unholy Grail"* relates the tale of how Gray Mouser becomes who he is and what leads him to travel to Lankhmar. Both short stories can be read completely independent of each other (for they were originally written and published that way), and without prior knowledge Fritz Leiber's work. They can be found in the 1995 publication of the short story anthology also labeled as Ill Met in Lankhmar published by White Wolf.
*
"Pearl of Love"* by H.G. Wells. It is a very simple and short piece of fiction (a mere six pages), but it is constructed like a well told fairy tale, which isn't common practice by the ever-dry Wells. The story relates how a prince's love and devotion loses sight of what really was important in the first place. Interested readers may need to track down a short story anthology of his work to find it, however.
*
"Murder Mysteries"* by Neil Gaiman.  It appears late in the short story and poetry collection entitled Smoke and Mirrors:  Short Fictions and Illusions, but it showcases as very Gaiman-like take on Lucifer's fall from Heaven as told from by Raguel one night in Los Angles.
*
"Rocket Summer"* or practically any other short story in the Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.  There is a certain Dandelion Wine sad charm to the way the author relates how humans start blasting off to Mars. 

Another great short story collection showcasing an author at his/her best is Skeleton Crew by Stephen King.  *"The Raft,"* which relates a story of a bunch of drunk teenagers getting stuck on a raft in the ocean with a supernatural touch (later was adapted in a Creepshow episode), and *"Gramma,"* which is quite disturbing and a reader can truly feel the terror the boy has at his grandmother's house are some good examples of what can be expected in this collection. The collection is of King's early style, and they rarely are plagued by the traits of his later unedited work.

There are so many other short stories that are probably far better than the ones I named, but these examples were the first to pop in my head. Before I wrap this up, I would like to highly suggest two Grimm's Fairy Tales in their _original_ form: "*Cinderella*" (I always did want to see the eyes of the step mother and the evil step sisters pecked out by pigeons) and "*The Frog Prince*" (we were all told the beginning and ending of the story, but never the correct middle, which is a shame. It is the best part.)


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## lazygun (Nov 2, 2005)

Some Short SF stories that I have not forgotten. 

There is a Tide/Bordered in Black.-Larry Niven.
Runaround.-Issac Asimov.
Johnny Mnemonic.-William Gibson.
The Long Watch.-R.A.Heinlein.
The Pre-persons/The Father-thing/Second Variety.-P.K.Dick.

The Collection of short stories,_Partners in Wonder_(1971),A 14 Author+Harlan Ellison Collaboration contains a few more of my favourites.

· I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair is Biting his Leg _(with Robert Sheckley)_ 

· Brillo _(with Ben Bova)_ 

· A Toy for Juliette _(by Robert Bloch)_ 

· The Prowler in the City at the Edge of the World 

· Scherzo for Schizoids: Notes on a Collaboration 

· Up Christopher to Madness _(with Avram Davidson)_ 

· Runesmith _(with Theodore Sturgeon)_ 

· Rodney Parish for Hire _(with Joe L. Hensley)_ 

· The Kong Papers _(with William Rotsler)_ 

· The Human Operators _(with A.E. Van Vogt)_ 

· Survivor #1 _(with Henry Slezar)_ 

· The Power of the Nail _(with Samuel R. Delaney)_ 

· Wonderbird _(with Algis Budrys)_ 

· The Song the Zombie Sang _(with Robert Silverberg)_ 

· Street Scene_ (with Keith Laumer)_ 

· Come to Me Not in Winter's White _(with Roger Zelazny)_ 

Sry 'bout the font size....


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## littlemissattitude (Nov 2, 2005)

Speaking of Harlan Ellison:  "When Jefty Was Five".  I would also add "A Boy and His Dog", but that's more a novella than a short story.


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## Dean (Jan 19, 2006)

If I might suggest, Laumer, Keith, Hybrid. 
from "Nine by Laumer" I liked the whole collection but this one stood out.


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## HieroGlyph (Jan 19, 2006)

How short is 'short'? 

Anyone read _'The Ruum'_ by Arthur Purges? (Strong memories of this as a kid!)


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## Cuddles (Jan 22, 2006)

Just about anything by Harlan Ellison, Richard Matheson, Manly Made Welman or Karl Edgar Wagner...


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