What Short Story Do You Love Above all Others ?

[BAYLOR]

What individual Short story do you love above all others?

 

[Alex The G and T]

Fritz Leiber, Gonna Roll the Bones, for vivid imagery and an epic dance with the devil.

Similarly, That Hell Bound Train, Robert Bloch; which inspired an epic song:

Hey! I was at that show:

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. Best SF story ever.

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Best horror story ever.

 

[BAYLOR]

The City of the Singing Flame by Clark Aston Smith. Magnificent, powerful and unforgettable. Of all the the short stories ive ever read , this one is by far, my favorite.

 

[Elckerlyc]

By His Bootstrings by Robert A Heinlein. The finest time-travel story I ever read, without delving into the tiresome paradox of changing history.

 

[paranoid marvin]

There are so many great MR James' ghost stories. At a pinch (and as I'm a cat lover) I'll say The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral.

 

[dask]

“The Pit And The Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe literally kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last word and no, I am not exaggerating.

 

[Astro Pen]

The Terminal Beach J.G Ballard
The Scythe by Bradbury is a close second

 

[hitmouse]

Soaked in Seaweed by Stephen Leacock.

or else something by Wodehouse, possibly one of the Mr Mulliner stories.

 

[Extollager]

“The Great Return” by Arthur Machen is a short story I love, but I decline to try to say what short story I love above all others.

 

[Rodders]

The one that comes immediately to mind is Diamond Dogs by Alistair Reynolds. It was a dark story and I really enjoyed the ending, which smacked of obsession. I also liked the dark cruelty of the Blood Spire.

I always loved the PKD short story collections. I have 3 of the Gollancz yellow jacket books at home, (Beyond Lies the Wub, The Father Thing and We Can remember it for you wholesale.)

 

[Randy M.]

Argh! The pipe of memory is clogged by two titles:

"Homecoming" by Ray Bradbury, one of the finest fantasy short stories I've ever read.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" by Poe, and by my reckoning the most fully imagined and developed his many fine Gothic stories, and probably the inspiration and source of many later Gothic stories.

Which I love more depends on the day you ask.

 

[CupofJoe]

Troll Bridge by Sir Terry Pratchett. Wry dry humour.
The Ruum by Arthur Porges. Really scared me when I first read it as a child.

 

[Danny McG]

Repent Harlequin, said the tick tock man

 

[BAYLOR]

Repent Harlequin, said the tick tock man

A great story by a great writer, and a classic. It was because of Harlan Ellison that I found Clark Ashton Smith's story The City of the Singing Flame and so many other great writers , books and stories.

 

[johnnyjet]

"A Rose for Ecclesiastes" by Roger Zelazny

And a close second, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

 

[farntfar]

The short story that moved me the most has to be The ones who walk away from Omelas by Ursula Le Guin.

I very much enjoyed the concept of Slow Glass, which I came across in an anthology and I think was in the story Light of other days by Bob Shaw.

 

[LeonStevens]

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut always stands out for me, but I also have to agree with:

"The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. Best horror story ever.

 

[Lew Rockwell Fan]

I'm not sure I'd be willing to claim "above all others" for anything, but Print Crime by Doctorow comes immediately to mind and no other does. At least the best in several years.

 

[Bick]

I wouldn't want to say I love it more than all others, cause you know, too many great stories - but I'll throw one out there...
An Experiment in Gyro-Hats by Ellis Parker Butler. See here.