Featured Stories

The Boogeyman

The Boogeyman: Short story by Stephen KingThis story by Stephen King explores one of the greatest fears of many young children as they go to bed: the fact that some sort of evil creature may be hiding under their bed, behind the curtains, or in their closet. In the story, a man with serious mental problems blames himself for the death of his three children. He thinks a monster from his childhood killed them, and that it is now coming after him. Readers are left to wonder who or what this boogeyman really is. Themes include fear, imagination, paranoia, mental illness, filicide, guilt.

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Suspicion

Suspicion: Short story by Dorothy SayersAlthough Dorothy Sayers is best known for her mystery stories featuring amateur sleuths Lord Peter Wimsey and Montague Egg, this story features neither. Real estate agent Harold Mummery fears for his ailing wife. Police are hunting for a cook suspected to have poisoned several of her employers. His wife has recently hired a new cook, someone has been tampering with the arsenic-based weed killer in his garden shed, and he is beginning to feel ill. When a chemist identifies arsenic in some hot chocolate the new cook prepared, he rushes home. Themes: fear, suspicion, deception and betrayal, appearance vs. reality.

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I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream: Short story by Harlan EllisonThis story from Harlan Ellison is an example of New Wave Science Fiction, a literary movement that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s. Distinguishing features are storylines that are intellectually implausible, and disturbing themes that would not normally be included in traditional science fiction. A sentient supercomputer has destroyed the human race other than five ‘specimens’. With no creative outlet for its powers, it has kept these alive and subjected them to torturous challenges for over one hundred years as revenge against humanity for creating it. Themes: humanity vs. technology, godhood, individualism, revenge, cruelty, violence, misogyny, self-sacrifice

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My Milk Goes Dry

My Milk Goes Dry: Novelette by Minh QuanMajor themes of this humorous story by Minh Quan include alienation, indoctrination, insecurity, obsession and motherhood. An orphaned Vietnamese girl grows up constantly being told that, because she was brought up on an animal (cow milk) based baby formula, she will grow into a barbarous woman devoid of human sentiment. This and many other evils, her uncle says, is all the fault of the French. The comments not only reinforce her lowest in the household childhood inferiority complex, but also lead to an unhealthy obsession with her breasts and breast-feeding when she has her own children.

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The Soft Touch of Grass

The Soft Touch of Grass: Short story by Luigi PirandelloIn this story by Luigi Pirandello, a “not old and yet no longer young” man is full of emptiness and despair following the death of his wife. In accordance with Italian tradition, his married son becomes “man of the house” and consigns him to a remodeled servant’s room in the courtyard. Alienated, he spends his days watching children play in a nearby park. A misunderstanding by a young girl when he bends to take off his shoes so he can feel the grass under his feet sends him home in misery. Themes include loss, grief, despair, aging, alienation/isolation, loneliness, relativism.

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The Last Unicorns

The Last Unicorns: Flash story by Edward HochThis flash story by Edward Hoch begins with the startling news that thousands of years ago unicorns once roamed Africa. A clever trader manages to buy a pair and transport them to the Middle East. As unicorns are much stronger than horses, he plans to make his fortune by breeding them and selling the young. Before he can do this, a stranger arrives and offers to buy his unicorns. When he says “No”, the stranger tries to steal them. The angry trader drives the stranger away, little knowing that his unicorns will soon become the last two in the world.

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Arabesque: The Mouse

Arabesque: The Mouse: Short story by A. E. CoppardIn this psychological horror story by A. E. Coppard, an idealistic man who has withdrawn from society due to constant rebuff sits alone in a mouse-infested garret. As he watches the antics of a mouse in front of his fireplace, his mind wanders to the death of his mother and loss of the only woman he ever loved. When he comes back to reality, the mouse is sitting before a trap with its forepaws torn off. Association of this with his mother’s grisly death sends him to the brink of madness. Themes include mother-child relationships, loss, depression, despair, shame, insanity.

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Earthmen Bearing Gifts

Earthmen Bearing Gifts: Short story by Fredric BrownIn this sardonic science-fiction story by Fredrick Brown, the people of Mars are looking forward to their first visit from Earth. The planets have planned an exchange of gifts. Each civilization is more advanced in an important area of science. Martians have mastered the para-psychological sciences and can teach Earthmen how to avoid crime and war. The Earth is ahead in technology and the physical sciences. This could help the Martians restore their dying planet. Earth’s first “gift”, delivered in an unmanned spacecraft, is not what the Martians expected. Themes include scientific progress, communication and cooperation, trust, betrayal.

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