Short Stories

“Short stories can act like little tuning forks, helping us to clarify our own values,” writes guest editor Celeste Ng. “In a time when our values are being tested daily, it’s hard to think of anything more important.” The Best American Short Stories 2025 resonates precisely at this...

We are being watched. That this statement no longer shocks is itself shocking. Post-Snowden, we know that the government - everywhere - has been reading our emails, listening to our phone calls, and watching whatever we do on the Internet. The only thing concealed is the nature of our watchers. In Watchlist, some of today's most prominent and promising fiction writers from around the globe respond to, reflect on, and mine for inspiration the surveillance culture in which we live.

In a post-apocalyptic America, Deaver Teague makes a living salvaging things left behind from before the war. When he hears some truck drivers talking about a hidden cache of gold in a Mormon temple in flooded Salt Lake City, he enlists some friends to look for it.

This story is included in Orson Scott Card's collection The Folk of the Fringe.

I've written almost 30 novels, and about the same number of short stories over my career, and to give new listeners a glimpse of the gamut of my work in an inexpensive way, this book was brought into existence. Contained here are two short stories: All In and The Vampire of Menlo Park. Both are well placed in the horror genre, about devils, demons, inventors, and the undead.

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Other Stories" by Washington Irving is a collection of classic American tales that delve into the supernatural, folklore, and early American life. The most famous story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, follows the character of Ichabod Crane, a schoolteacher who encounters the ghostly figure of the Headless Horseman. The collection also features other notable stories such as Rip Van Winkle, which explores themes of time, change, and identity.

With her husband stranded in a war-torn country halfway around the world, a university professor – on whom the burden of managing their small family has suddenly fallen – tries to maintain order at home. Her young daughter seems not to mind, or even really notice, the father’s absence. But as the weeks go on, mounting pressure on the narrator to balance family and work begins to take a toll.

Eloise hasn't quite figured out how to move on after the death of her son, Eddie. She makes good money, buys a new apartment, learns the piano, engages in an office flirtation, but nothing seems to brighten her days quite like the occasional letter from one of her accounting clients, Ed B. When, after months of correspondence, Ed invites Eloise to his country home for a visit, she finds herself overwhelmed by the "Eddies" of her life - the one she lost, the one she writes to, and the one she's eternally searching for.

Maya Alexander is the organized-and-in-charge office manager of the Bond Agency, Los Angeles's premier PI firm, specializing in catching cheating husbands. But when Maya is thrust into the field to catch her first mark in the act, she realizes this case is personal. Her mark just happens to be her ex-fiancé... and things did not end well between them. Can Maya prove that he's repeating his past mistakes with his current wife? Or is something more sinister happening in this Beverly Hills couple's life?

One Good Story, That One is a collection steeped in native oral tradition and shot through with Thomas King's special brand of wit and comic imagination. These highly acclaimed stories conjure up Native and Judeo-Christian myths, present-day pop culture, and literature while mixing in just the right amount of perception and experience.

Beast, with Jane Yellowrock in the background of her mind, observes the lumber camp of white men who are destroying her hunting grounds. She decides to take revenge on the leader of the lumberjacks.

Thirteen tales of Darlene Bobich! The prequel to the successful Dying Days zombie novella. Includes a free preview of Dying Days.

Cuentos para Dormir de Las Mil y Una Noches ¿Quieres sumergirte en un mundo de magia, aventuras y sabiduría antes de dormir? Cuentos para dormir de Las mil y una noches te llevará a tierras exóticas donde los deseos se cumplen, los genios habitan lámparas encantadas y los valientes héroes desafían el destino. Inspirado en la legendaria colección de relatos narrados por Sherezade, este libro reúne algunas de las historias más entrañables jamás contadas.

This drive through the dark streets of the Motor City “is one of the best in Akashic Books’ noir series. You cannot go wrong with this anthology.”—Reviewing the Evidence From cri….

Lars Horn's Voice of the Fish, the latest Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize winner, is an interwoven essay collection that explores the trans experience through themes of water, fish, and mythology, set against the backdrop of travels in Russia and a back injury that left Horn temporarily unable to speak. In Horn's adept hands, the collection takes shape as a unified book: short vignettes about fish, reliquaries, and antiquities serve as interludes between longer essays, knitting together a sinuous, wave-like form that flows across the book.

THE NEW SHORT STORY FROM KARIN SLAUGHTER AND LEE CHILD! Jack Reacher and Will Trent Twice the action. Twice the drama. Double the trouble. Will Trent is undercover at Fort Knox. His assignment: to investigate a twenty-two-year-old murder. His suspect's name: Jack Reacher. Jack Reacher is in Fort...

Short Stories in German for Beginners has been written especially for students from beginner to intermediate level, designed to give a sense of achievement, a feeling of progress and, most importantly, enjoyment! Mapped to A2-B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference, these eight captivating stories are designed to give you a sense of achievement and a feeling of progress as you listen. From science fiction to fantasy, to crime and thrillers, Short Stories in German for Beginners will make learning German easy and enjoyable.

Over 15 Tales of Terror told in a true story style that will send chills down your spine.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life's pace, longing for simpler, quieter moments? Have you searched for stories that resonate deeply without being difficult to read? Do you wish there were heartwarming tales explicitly designed to uplift and inspire seniors? If so, Heartwarming Short Stories for Seniors by Irene Wollery was thoughtfully crafted for you.

When five college friends cross America in a minivan to find themselves, they chance upon a road that isn’t on any map. They can’t resist exploring it. The van breaks down. They find a town, a massive trailer park steeped in squalor. The town isn’t on any map either. They find people in town. They’ll wish they hadn’t. The only sanctuary is the Big House - a giant mansion at the center of town that appears to be abandoned, only all the lights come on at night. Inside the Big House is the secret of the town. Inside, they’ll finally find themselves. They won’t like what they find.

Welcome to Travers Corners, a dusty Montana town, where nothing much has happened since Herbert Hoover stopped for gas. Travers Corners, like most small towns, has no newspaper, no radio station; but here, large trout - no better than large trout, fictitious trout - await the angler. And apart from spreading gossip outside the McCraken’s General Store, the residents of Travers Corners love nothing more than fly fishing. Scott Waldie’s delightful cast of characters breathes life into this tiny, out-of-the-way town.