This Web site is dedicated to the short story and to those interested in reading light prose.
If you have a "classic" short story you would like added here, please, don't be shy about e-mailing me in this regard as I would be happy to give your favorite story consideration. I have a fairly large collection of short stories; however, if you want to send a story to me, I would appreciate it (this would save me scanning time).
Please note three things about this site. One, some of the biographies are not available (the focus of this site is the story, not the biographies). If they are not in the book from which I am scanning the story, I will not go through my collection looking for a bio. Two, I will be focusing on shorter short stories. No Tolstoi or F. Scott Fitzgerald here (unless you are willing to send me the story ready to go online)! Maybe some day I will want to spend an entire day or two on one story, but not at this juncture. Three, I have no summaries or analyses so you needn't ask. I read short stories often, but only for the enjoyment of doing so. I have very little desire to analyze what I am reading for that deep, hidden meaning.
Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This is unfortunate--so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work can give. The goal of this site is to give a nice cross section of short stories in the hope that these short stories will excite these people into rediscovering this excellent source of entertainment.
Happy reading! Oh yes, visit the bannered sites on this page. This is how we survive and thus keep this free site on line. If you are familiar with the costs involved with bandwidth, you will understand that a site such as this one, requires a lot of bandwidth (as it is visited heavily), which can be quite expensive. So, if you appreciate this compilation, go buy something. Thank you!
An Affair of State--Guy de Maupassant (September 1996)
The Ambitious Guest--Nathaniel Hawthorne (October 1997)
Araby--James Joyce (June 1997)
The Baron of Grogzwig--Charles Dickens (July 1999)
Bellflower--Guy de Maupassant (October 1997)
Beware of the Dog--Roald Dahl (January 1997)
Beyond the Wall--Ambrose Bierce (May 1999)
The Boarded Window--Ambrose Bierce (September 1996)
The Cask of Amontillado--Edgar Allan Poe (June 1996)
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County--Mark Twain (March 1999)
A Child's Christmas in Wales--Dylan Thomas (December 1996)
The Christening--Guy de Maupassant (October 2004)
Confessing--Guy de Maupassant (April 1997)
A Coward--Guy de Maupassant (June 1996)
Death Makes a Comeback--James O'Keefe (April 1997)
The Donkey--Guy de Maupassant (October 2004)
The Door--E. B. White (April 1997)
The Door in the Wall--H. G. Wells (August 1999)
The Elephant's Child--Rudyard Kipling (July 1999)
Ethan Brand--Nathaniel Hawthorne (February 1998)
Eva Is Inside Her Cat--Gabriel Garcia Marquez (January 1997)
Eyes of a Blue Dog--Gabriel Garcia Marquez (February 1997)
The Fall of the House of Usher--Edgar Allan Poe (October 1997)
The Falls--George Saunders (October 1997)
The Fiddler--Herman Melville (April 1999)
The Gift of the Magi--O. Henry (September 1996)
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses--Irwin Shaw (June 1996)
The Griffin and the Minor Canon--Frank Stockton (June 1996)
Haircut--Ring Lardner (January 1997)
The Hairpin--Guy de Maupassant (April 1997)
A Haunted House--Virginia Woolf (August 1996)
How the Leopard Got His Spots--Rudyard Kipling (June 1999)
Humiliation--Guy de Maupassant (April 1997)
Hunters in the Snow--Tobias Wolff (February 1997)
The Lady, or the Tiger?--Frank Stockton (April 1997)
Lamb to the Slaughter--Roald Dahl (November 1998)
The Last Leaf--O.Henry (January 1999)
The Last Spin--Evan Hunter (April 1998)
Leiningen versus the Ants--Carl Stephenson (October 1997)
The Lightning-Rod Man--Herman Melville (April 1999)
A Little Cloud--James Joyce (June 1997)
The Lottery--Shirley Jackson (February 1998)
The Lottery Ticket--Anton Chekhov (January 1997)
Luck--Mark Twain (March 6 1999)
Man From the South--Roald Dahl (November 1998)
The Masque of the Red Death--Edgar Allan Poe (October 1997)
Mateo Falcone--Prosper Mérimée (June 1999)
The Minister's Black Veil--Nathaniel Hawthorne (June 1996)
The Monkey's Paw--W. W. Jacobs (January 1997)
The Most Dangerous Game--Richard Connell (June 1996)
The Mouse--Saki (H. H. Munro) (October 1997)
Mrs. Packletide's Tiger--Saki (H. H. Munro) (October 1997)
The Necklace--Guy de Maupassant (November 1997)
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge--Ambrose Bierce (September 1996)
Old Mongilet--Guy de Maupassant (April 1997)
One of These Days--Gabriel Garcia Marquez (April 1998)
The Open Window--Saki (H. H. Munro) (September 1996)
A Passion in the Desert--Honoré de Balzac (June 1996)
A Piece of Steak--Jack London (October 2004)
The Piece of String--Guy de Maupassant (October 1996)
The Pit and the Pendulum--Edgar Allan Poe (August 1997)
Politics and the English Language--George Orwell (October 1996)
The Princess and the Puma--O. Henry (May 1999)
The Private History of a Campaign That Failed--Mark Twain (December 1996)
The Purloined Letter--Edgar Allan Poe (October 2004)
The Ransom of Red Chief--O. Henry (September 1996)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi--Rudyard Kipling (April 1998)
Rocking-Horse Winner--D. H. Lawrence (June 1997)
Shooting an Elephant--George Orwell (June 1996)
A Slander--Anton Chekhov (January 1997)
The Sniper--Liam O'Flaherty (August 1997)
The Soldiers' Peaches--Stuart Cloete (August 1996)
Souls Belated--Edith Wharton (June 1999)
Split Cherry Tree--Jesse Stuart (October 1996)
Sredni Vashtar--Saki (H. H. Munro) (April 1998)
The Street That Got Mislaid--Patrick Waddington (June 1996)
A Telephone Call--Dorothy Parker (June 1997)
The Tell-Tale Heart--Edgar Allan Poe (June 1996)
The Time Machine--H. G. Wells (February 1997)
To Build a Fire--Jack London (June 1996)
The Use of Force--William Carlos Williams (November 1996)
The Vendetta--Guy de Maupassant (April 1997)
The Vertical Fields--Fielding Dawson (February 1997)
Was it Heaven? Or Hell?--Mark Twain (August 1999)
Young Goodman Brown--Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 1996)
