Sredni Vashtar

[ishtat]

I think that this short story by 'Saki' (H.H. Munro) written 100 years ago, is as good as a short story can be:

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/saki/clovis/chapter10.html

What is your favourite? - ignoring anything that you have written yourself.

 

[oggbashan]

Rudyard Kipling: The Ship That Found Itself.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't think you can get much better than Saki. I like Flannery O'Connor too, and, of course, Edgar Allan Poe.

 

[Handley_Page]

Does the nature of the story matter?
I'd like to nominate HP Lovecraft.
His stories are very direct and tend to hit you very suddenly in the end.

 

[desertslave]

Ray Bradbury is my favorite short story author. The Veldt is probably my all-time favorite.

 

[Handley_Page]

George McDonald Fraser: McAuslan in the Rough

 

[NaokoSmith]

I love Saki. Especially his story, I think the title is 'An Occasional Garden'. I like the description of the gardens: one with a miniature pagoda in which Japanese sandbadgers disport themselves.

I like Kathryn Mansfield too, there was one about a tea party I often think of cuz I love tea parties too.

In fact I started collecting illustrated copies of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam after reading a throwaway line in a Reginald story where he complained that he was not collecting them; meaning people should give him silverware for Christmas instead. (Probably so he could hock it and disport himself in a miniature pagoda on the proceeds!)

 

[MSTarot]

been reading through the Brothers Grimm for the last week. I can't say which among them would be my favorite but it's probably in there some where.

I'll also second Lovecraft. I love most of his work.

 

[ishtat]

I expected to find the stories of Saki, Kipling and the Grimms on the Internet but the work of more recent writers is there in full. The Veldt is there in full as is another story which caused a sensation when it was first published in the New Yorker in 1948. This is ''The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

This is compulsory reading for civilised Americans! Try it

 

[Bramblethorn]

I think that this short story by 'Saki' (H.H. Munro) written 100 years ago, is as good as a short story can be:

http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/saki/clovis/chapter10.html

What is your favourite? - ignoring anything that you have written yourself.

Not sure which of his I'd pick, but I'm very fond of Somerset Maugham. He has a knack for describing human weakness without descending into misanthropy.

I also like Mardrus' version of the tale of Qamar and Budur from the 1001 Nights. Genderqueer princesses FTW.

 

[TE999]

Keith Laumer is my favorite author. His plots, depictions of aliens and his action scenes are examples of inspired writing. He created the 'Retief' and the 'Bolo' series of novels and short stories which are continued today by other authors since his death in 1993. Several of his stories have been rendered in graphic novel format.