Featured Stories

There Will Come Soft Rains

There Will Come Soft Rains: Short story by Ray BradburyThis science-fiction story from Ray Bradbury chronicles the last day in the ‘life’ of an automated house that has survived nuclear war. Although the house’s inhabitants are dead, represented by shadows on the outside walls, it has continued its daily cycle of programmed activity. Major themes are the danger of nuclear war, and the consequences of taking technology too far. In replacing almost all human tasks in their daily life, the householders were dependent on technology. Ironically, that same technology built the bombs that destroyed them. Other themes include death (the dog, house and humankind), nature (the only survivor), dystopia.

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Gloria’s Saturday

Gloria's Saturday: Short story by Mario BenedettiThe message of this tragic love story by Mario Benedetti is to treasure the time you have with your loved ones because life can be cut short at any time. The story is told in the form of a narrative written by a husband sitting in an all-night vigil at the bedside of his critically ill wife. Intending to share it with her when she survives, he expresses regret over how they allowed their busy lifestyles to hinder their ability to spend quality time together. Themes include fear, love, mortality, work-life balance, grief, regret.

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A. V. Laider

A. V. Laider: Short story by Max BeerbohmThis story by Max Beerbohm raises the philosophical themes of faith vs. reason and free will vs. fate in the context of a conversation between the narrator and a stranger about palmistry. The stranger, a self-proclaimed amateur palm reader, relates how he once failed to prevent a train crash predicted in the palms of four fellow passengers. Too weak-willed to intervene, he let fate take its course and now feels guilty of murder. The sympathetic narrator writes him a consoling letter and, when the two meet again a year later, receives a nasty shock. Other themes include insecurity, guilt, fabulism.

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The Jungle

The Jungle: Short story by Elizabeth BowenThe “jungle” in this story by Elizabeth Bowen is a sealed-off area of woods overgrown with tussocks of bramble (blackberry bush) near an English boarding school. It becomes a secret haven for a lonely student, a fifteen-year-old girl who has difficulty maintaining friendships with others in her class. Things change when she breaks tradition and bonds with a girl in another class. The relationship has its ups and downs, largely because of her new friend’s assertiveness, and culminates in an implied sexual awakening in the jungle. Themes include alienation, teenage relationships, social class, escape, sexuality.

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Christmas Every Day

Christmas Every Day: Short story by W. D. HowellsThis children’s story by W. D. Howells is actually a ‘story within a story’. A demanding daughter insists that her busy father tell her a Christmas story. Perhaps with his daughter in mind, he makes up a tale about a little girl who makes a selfish Christmas wish. She wants it to be Christmas every day so she can get presents and eat Christmas treats all year long. The wish comes true but in so doing causes problems for almost everyone in the world. Although told in an amusing way, you could call this a Christmas horror fairy-tale.

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The Luck of Roaring Camp

The Luck of Roaring Camp: Short story by Bret HarteIn this story by Bret Harte, strange things happen when a Californian gold prospecting camp “adopts” an orphaned baby born to its only woman resident, the camp prostitute. The birth brings a streak of good fortune to the camp, resulting in the baby being named Thomas Luck. The Luck’s presence inspires the men to clean up the camp, their habits, and themselves. The camp prospers, and there is even talk of encouraging families to move there for the sake of the child. Unfortunately, the Luck’s luck cannot defeat nature. Themes: isolation, lawlessness, community, change/redemption, the inconstancy of luck.

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The Fiddler

The Fiddler: Short story by Herman MelvilleIn this story from Herman Melville, the major theme (finding the right balance between ambition, fame and happiness in life) is introduced indirectly through a chance meeting. A struggling writer is in a “desperate mood” after negative reviews of his latest work. His life changes when he is introduced to a contented, good-humored man who goes house to house teaching the fiddle. The writer admires the way “commonplace” fiddler, who appears to have no special talents, is able to live life to the fullest. Enlightenment comes when he learns the fiddler’s secret. Other themes: accepting criticism, judging by appearances.

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A Conversation With My Father

A Conversation With My Father: Short story by Grace PaleyThis story from Grace Paley uses a meta-fictional approach (a story about storytelling) to highlight generational differences between a writer and her aged father. The father, who is confined to bed, asks his daughter to write a simple story just once more, the kind Maupassant wrote. Instead, she relates a minimalist, open-ended tale with several possible outcomes. These artistic differences reflect the ailing father’s coming death. He has accepted that the end is near; she is not ready to. Her story challenges the father’s views on themes such as family, parenting, addiction, and the ability to change one’s destiny.

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