Featured Stories

Slaughter House

Slaughter House: Short story by Richard MathesonRichard Matheson fans may find Slaughter House hard going as he drops his normal crisp, easy to read writing style to experiment with the formality of mid-Victorian writing. The result: some very obscure vocabulary and long, pompously formal sentences that sometimes appear disjointed and confusing. The story itself is captivating. Two brothers, whose described relationship suggests a little more than brotherly love, fall for the lustful ghost of a young woman that enchants, has its way with, and then tries to kill them. Only one of the three survives! Themes include insanity, homoeroticism, seduction, jealousy, the supernatural!

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Burning in the Rain

Burning in the Rain: Short story by Dambudzo MarecheraTo fully appreciate this story and the book it came from, The House of Hunger, one needs to understand the troubled life of its Zimbabwean author, Dambudzo Marechera. A central motif is the “ape in the mirror,” which increasingly dominates the protagonist’s psyche. This could represent Marechera’s personal demons (mental illness, alcohol, drugs and violence) and/or be a thinly disguised metaphor for the devastating “guerrilla war” that brought Robert Mugabe’s ANU government to power. The latter is symbolized in the penultimate paragraph by the rain (that) sounded like the microscopic commotion of six million little people fleeing a national catastrophe.

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The Pearl

The Pearl: Short story by John SteinbeckThis novella from John Steinbeck describes a battle between good and evil and exposes the best and worst in human nature. Sadly, evil wins out. An uneducated Mexican-Indian pearl diver from a poor fishing community outside a Spanish town dreams of a better life for his family after discovering a pearl as large as a sea-gull’s egg on the ocean floor. After multiple instances of townspeople trying to manipulate and cheat him and later, to violently steal the pearl, his dream turns into a tragic nightmare. Themes: family/community, racism, colonialism, oppression, materialism, greed, corruption, fate.

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Rex Ex Machina

Rex Ex Machina: Short story by Frederic MaxThe Latin phrase used as the title of this story by Frederic Max gives away a little about the plot. Rex Ex Machina translates as King from Machine. The story comprises a letter from a dying man to his only son. There is nothing at all sentimental about the letter… the word “love” isn’t even mentioned! Rather, it explains something that the man has been hiding from his son for almost forty years. It tells how he had once trained as a spy and been sent on a top-secret mission to destroy a machine that threatened the free world.

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The Open Window

The Open Window: Short Story by H. H. Munro (aka Saki)This story by Saki satirizes the social obligations imposed upon the middle and upper classes by late-Victorian/Edwardian etiquette. A pompous hypochondriac is holidaying in a peaceful country village as treatment for a nervous condition. He doesn’t like visiting strangers, but does so as a courtesy to his sister who has written letters of introduction to people she knows there. During one such visit, an imaginative fifteen-year-old girl plays an innocent practical joke on the neurotic man, causing him to run from her house in horror. Themes include social conventions, perception (appearance vs. reality), gullibility, escapism, deception.

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The Blue Umbrella

The Blue Umbrella: Short story by Ruskin BondIn this story by Ruskin Bond, a poor girl from the Himalayan foothills trades her tiger’s-claw lucky charm for a magnificent, though impractical silk umbrella. She is the envy of her village, and vainly parades it everywhere she goes. The village teashop owner covets the umbrella, and tries to acquire it by fair means and foul. Ultimately, the girl and shop owner realize their mutual folly. The girl gives him the umbrella, which he shares with the whole village, and she is greatly rewarded for her kindness. Themes include innocence, beauty, vanity, envy, materialism and greed, compassion, kindness and generosity.

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The Bridal March

The Bridal March: Short story by Bjørnstjerne BjørnsonThis story by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson spans four generations descended from a Norwegian cottar said to practice the black arts. He composed a bridal march for his daughter, warning that woe would come to any girl it played to church who was not a happy bride. One descendent wasn’t and paid the price. A major theme is forbidden love, with each descendant marrying someone from a different social class. In the final union, the cottar’s great-great granddaughter brings alienated sides of the family together by marrying his grandson. Other themes include social class and conventions, family duty and conflict, the supernatural.

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Everyday Use

Everyday Use: Short story by Alice WalkerAlice Walker’s study of mother-daughter relationships explores contrasting attitudes towards heritage. A self-centered college graduate (Dee) visits her mother, a poor farming widow. The mother values her African-American heritage; Dee tries to exploit it. Their positions are exemplified in a family heirloom: a hand-stitched quilt that has been promised to Dee’s sister. Dee demands it, claiming that such things are now trendy and valuable. She claims it will be wasted on her sister, who will probably put it to “everyday use”. Themes: heritage, racial identity, connection through tradition, appearance, materialism (the effect of higher education / city life on values).

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