Featured Stories

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh

The Drummer Boy of Shiloh: Short story by Ray BradburyThis story by Ray Bradbury packs a lot of raw emotion, even though the “action” is limited to a single conversation that takes place over the course of no more than half an hour. A fourteen-year-old drummer boy who must march into battle with no gun or means of protecting himself is a bundle of nerves on the night before his first encounter with the enemy. An inspirational talk with his commanding general teaches him that his drum may be one of the most effective weapons in the army. Themes include isolation and loneliness, empathy, duty, fear, courage, death, honor.

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A Game of Cards

A Game of Cards: Short story by Witi IhimaeraThis early story by Witi Ihimaera examines the universal themes of love, family, community and mortality from a Maori perspective. A university student visiting his dying grandmother symbolizes the deep family connections among his people. The old woman’s only recreation over the years has been lively card nights with friends and neighbors. These symbolize the strong connection and, despite some good-natured cheating, unity among community members. The spontaneous gathering in her final hours demonstrates her community’s approach to death. Rather than shying away until after the event, they come together to pay respects and ease her passing.

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The Jay

The Jay: Short story by Yasunari KawabataThe Jay is one of Yasunari Kawabata’s famous Palm-of-the-Hand Stories. A small bird is causing a fuss because it can’t find a lost chick that has fallen from its nest. A young woman about to enter into an arranged marriage also feels lost. She has never known her birth mother, who her father divorced when she was very young, and lives with her grandmother. Her father and stepmother are coming to visit with the mother of her fiancé. The major theme, exemplified by the bird, is the intensity of motherly love. Other themes: family, marriage, uncertainty, wisdom of the aged.

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The Pagan Rabbi

The Pagan Rabbi: Short story by Cynthia OzickThis story from Cynthia Ozick is about a highly respected Jewish scholar who is driven to suicide as he tries to reconcile the strict tenets of his religion with the philosophical (pagan) concept of immortal “free souls” existing in Nature. This so affects the rabbi’s mind that his suicide note refers to several encounters with a dryad (wood nymph). Some of these are sexual, which he clumsily tries to rationalize with: Scripture does not forbid sodomy with the plants! Themes: Jewish identity; marriage and family; friendship; philosophy (search for meaning in Nature); death; sanity/suicide; (lack of) understanding and forgiveness.

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And of Clay Are We Created

And of Clay Are We Created: Short story by Isabel AllendeThis confronting story from Isabel Allende is based on the real life plight of Omayra Sánchez, killed in a volcanic eruption in 1985. It highlights the confusion and suffering that often accompanies natural disasters, and the human and psychological tolls on both victims and responders. The irony of the story is that despite the massive resources employed by news agencies to cover the incident, they were unable to locate and bring in a pump to save the girl. Themes include man against nature, compassion, courage, faith/acceptance of fate, the healing effect of facing and sharing past tragedies.

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Passing Wind

Passing Wind: Flash story by Lydia DavisFor me, the most enjoyable aspect of this humorous flash story from Lydia Davis is that it describes an embarrassing situation we have all probably encountered: after going to great lengths to silently pass wind among a group of strangers, the smell gives us away. Do we say nothing, excuse ourselves, or immediately cast a dirty look at the person standing next to us? Here the narrator faces a slightly different dilemma. She tries to think of a polite way to let a guest know that if he didn’t do it, then it wasn’t her but the dog.

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The Learned Adventure of the Dragon’s Head

The Learned Adventure of the Dragon's Head: Novelette by Dorothy SayersLord Peter Wimsey, Dorothy Sayers’s eccentric amateur sleuth, is saddled with his ten-year-old nephew while his parents are away overseas. As the two browse an antiquarian bookshop, the boy is attracted to the maps and pictures in a badly damaged copy of Cosmographia Universalis, an early description of the world. He buys the book, and shortly afterwards a strange man visits and offers Wimsey two hundred times what the boy paid. This leads to a “Boys Own” type adventure involving attempted robbery, Scotland Yard and a riddle leading to buried pirate treasure. Themes include curiosity, greed, mystery, deception, and philanthropy.

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The New Food

The New Food: Short story by Stephen LeacockThe climax of this very short story is the gruesome death of an imaginary baby. If you did not know who wrote it, you might attribute the plot to the playful, postmodernist style of an author like Donald Barthelme. In fact, the story was published way back in 1910. It comes from Canadian humorist Stephen Leacock’s first short story collection, Literary Lapses. A fascinating aspect of the story is its modern relevance. Viewed in the context of today’s world, the story is a wonderful satire of heavily processed convenience foods and the contribution they make towards child obesity.

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