What is your absolute favorite short story? Mine has to be "Without You" by Del James, because it encompasses so much pain and lost love. Plus, it was the basis of the video for one of my all-time favorite songs by my favorite band, Guns N' Roses (the reason for the GNR part of my name).
"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. It's probably one of my favorites only because it was the most memorable. I remember reading it at 1 in the morning for school, and although I was really tired, I somehow was sucked into it and ended up liking it.
One of my favorite short story is The Outcast of Poker Flats by Francis Bret Harte. I loved how by the time the story has ended, they were perhaps better people then any of the ones found in the town that kicked them out. Also Cyberpunk by Bruce Bethke.
Water From the Sun, Bret Easton Ellis. The most emotionally draining piece of prose I've ever read. Totally vacuous and empty, and yet as you're falling through this hellish abyss of Eighties California, so much suddenly becomes clear about the human condition. An immensely difficult read (at least I found it to be so), not because of the language or style but because of the effort it takes to empathise with his characters and make meaning of their lives. Definitely a must-read, along with the majority of the other short stories in his book The Informers.
Great topic! Several come to mind, but I'd have to go with Flowers for Algernon. Others worth mentioning include Edgar Allen Poe's Telltale Heart and The Black Cat. Two Stephen King short stories, The Jaunt and Survivor Type really blew me away.
Oh, I loved Flowers for Algernon! It was so sad at the ending, though. I also read Telltale Heart and Black Cat, coincidentally we read all 3 in my English class. My teacher has good taste.
My favorite has to be "Bullet in the Brain," by Tobias Wolff. Such a messed up format, but it works. I love it.
The Star - Arthur C Clarke Not with a Whimper Either - Tad Williams Forbidden Brides of the Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dread Desire - Neil Gaiman. I like short stories when they are just that, short. Short, simple, with an impact. I suppose that's why I like these ones.
I love a lot of the ones that have been mentioned here already like "The Tell-Tale Heart," "Hills Like White Elephants," and "The Outcasts of Pokerflats." I also really love "Roman Fever," by Edith Wharton, "The Story of an Hour," by Kate Chopin, "A Rose for Emily," by Faulkner, and "The Cask of Amontillado," by Poe. I could basically go on for days about all of the wonderful short stories there are out there, but my absolute favorite is "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I have read it over and over for school and for fun. I never get tired of it.
Pickman's Model by H.P. Lovecraft. It has nothing to do with the Cthulhu mythos and is just so well written.
Good Old Neon, by David Foster Wallace To date, it is the only short story to have made me cry. In addition, it introduced me to postmodernism and metafiction. The story is about a suicidal person. It sounds cliché from the get-go, but it dives deeper, and it becomes both original and genuine. Great read. I recommend it to anyone.
It's a fairly recent one, but The Clockwork Atom Bomb, by Dominic Green, is one the best short stories I've read
