Featured Stories

Gimpel the Fool

Gimpel the Fool: Short story by Isaac Bashevis SingerIf you take the story at face value (which is often dangerous with a first person narration), Isaac Singer’s Gimpel is no fool. He understands and rationalizes all that has happened in his life, claiming to have been misjudged due to being too trusting and accommodating towards others. Sadly, although not considering himself a fool, he feels compelled to accept the title. The real fools are shown to be those who took advantage of Gimpel, especially his debauched wife who suffers the consequences in the afterlife. Themes: faith, kindness and integrity, forgiveness, strength and wisdom, acceptance.

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The Spirit of Emulation

The Spirit of Emulation: Short story by Fernando SorrentinoThis story by Fernando Sorrentino is a perfect example of the idiom “Keeping up with the Joneses”. A man living in a multi-story apartment building has an unusual pet… a Lycosa pampeana (Wolf spider). A neighbour who sees it is so impressed that the next day he proudly shows the man his new pet… a scorpion. Competition sets in and soon the building is awash with all sorts of exotic animals. As occupants try to out-do each other with larger and larger “pets”, things get seriously out of hand. Themes include vanity, rivalry, materialism.

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Slowly, Slowly in the Wind

Slowly, Slowly in the Wind: Short story by Patricia HighsmithIn this story by Patricia Highsmith, doctors warn “Skip” Skipperton, a notoriously bad-tempered business executive, to slow down or risk early death. His answer is to buy Coldstream Heights, a small but comfortable farm. Skip’s only problem is that the titular “stream” is a few meters inside a neighbor’s property, which the owner won’t sell or lease at any price. Not used to being refused, Skip is enraged. When his beloved daughter elopes with the neighbor’s son, he kills the old man. Unfortunately for Skip, the murder is exposed by a children’s Halloween prank. Themes: anger, narcissism, pride, revenge, justice.

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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 Living

The Living: Short story by Mary LavinIn this story by Mary Lavin, a boy challenges a younger friend to visit a wake to “know” a corpse for the first time The dead man, who had been intellectually challenged since birth, had never had contact with children. The boys agree when his mother invites them to pray over the body, but flee when she asks them to stroke it. The encounter with death not only brings the younger boy closer to his parents but also highlights the grim significance of his family’s nightly prayer. Themes include bravado, death, family, the precious and capricious nature of life.

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All Summer in a Day

All Summer in a Day: Short story by Ray BradburySet on the planet Venus, the climate in this Ray Bradbury story features almost constant rain. The only break comes every seven years, when there are two hours of sunshine. The children of the Earth space travel families on the planet are all looking forward to playing outside during the short break. Only one of them has ever seen the sun, and she is having great trouble dealing with the constant rain. But when the sun finally does come out, she is nowhere to be seen. Themes include adaptability, envy, reaction to differences, and bullying..

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The Blue Jar

The Blue Jar: Short story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen)In this Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen) story, a shipwreck leads to a quest. A sailor rescues the daughter of an art-collecting nobleman from a burning ship. They spend nine days alone in a lifeboat, during which they become lovers. The nobleman pays the sailor to return to sea, and she spends the rest of her life sailing the world, ostensibly seeking a uniquely colored Chinese porcelain jar. The jar, a symbol of the woman’s lost youth and time in the lifeboat, becomes her final resting place. Themes: enduring love, class, aging, beauty in art vs. the beauty of nature.

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Squeaker’s Mate

Squeaker's Mate: Short story by Barbara BayntonBarbara Baynton’s Squeaker’s Mate is an Australian bush story in which gender stereotypes are reversed and the man is found wanting when disaster strikes. The story raises some interesting issues. Why would a strong, capable woman like Mary choose and put up with a lazy, simple-minded weakling like Squeaker for a “mate”. Could it be that he was her only option? Is Baynton suggesting that other men were intimidated by Mary’s independence and masculinity, or possibly even hinting at sexuality issues that were taboo at the time? Squeaker may not be solely to blame for the outcome.

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