Featured Stories

The Man Who Was Almost a Man

The Man Who Was Almost a Man: Short story by Richard WrightAt seventeen, Richard Wright’s naïve protagonist (Dave) is old enough and strong enough to do a man’s work. Unfortunately, his family and co-workers treat him like a boy. Dave buys a gun, believing that having one will win him the respect he deserves. Instead, a wayward shot when he first uses it brings humiliation. Despite the accident, the gun gives Dave a sense of power. Faced with losing it and resuming his former life, he leaves town to look for somewhere a seventeen-year-old with a gun can be a man. Themes: class/racism, coming of age, respect, rebellion, the gun debate.

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The Flying Machine

The Flying Machine: Short story by Ray BradburyIn this story by Ray Bradbury, a Chinese Emperor learns that one of his subjects has invented a “flying machine”. Thinking that the invention could be used against him if the “technology” fell into the wrong hands, he has the man executed, the kite destroyed, and the whole episode hushed up. Written shortly after the end of World War II, by which time the Soviets had already replicated America’s atomic bomb, the story could be considered a parable warning of the risk of developing weapons of mass destruction. Themes include the potential danger of technology, fear of progress, shortsightedness, selfishness/control.

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Poison

Poison: Short story by Roald DahlRoald Dahl is best known for short stories that make their point using dark humor and have a surprise ending. This story exhibits neither of these features. The central theme is the racism that existed under British colonial rule. Dahl gets the message across through this allegory about the way a British businessman acted badly towards an Indian doctor who answered his call for help in the middle of the night and may well have saved his life. In the story we learn that there are several kinds of poison. Unlike the deadly krait, some of them kill quite slowly.

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The Sand Castle

The Sand Castle: Short story by Alma Luz VillanuevaThe major theme of this story by Alma Luz Villanueva is climate change. Set over fifty years into the future, Earth has warmed so much that all birds and marine life are extinct and direct exposure to sunlight or seawater can be deadly. Although protective clothing must be worn when venturing outside during the day, an aging woman takes her grandchildren on monthly excursions to the beach. This time she has prepared a special treat. Spurred on by her own childhood memories, they are going to build their first sand castle. Other themes: memories, family, childhood wonder and imagination, hope.

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A Choice of Butchers

A Choice of Butchers: Short story by William TrevorIn this confronting story from William Trevor, a seven-year-old boy is faced with several issues he is far too young to understand: a hard-drinking, overbearing father he catches passionately embracing their maid; a monetary gift and unexpected good-night kiss from their soft-spoken, empathetic lodger; and a perpetually tired, unaffectionate mother who appears to passively accept her lot. Add to this that he is an “afterthought child” with both parents in their fifties and the question of why a butcher’s family would need a maid, and the story becomes an amateur psychological sleuth’s dream with some serious unstated themes.

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Guests of the Nation

Guests of the Nation: Short story by Frank O'ConnorThis story by Frank O’Connor takes place during, or possibly shortly after, the Irish War of Independence of 1919-1921. Two young Irishmen become friends with two English ‘prisoners’ they are guarding. That is until a cold-hearted officer orders them to take part in the execution of the two men. As one notes at the end of the story: And anything that happened to me afterwards, I never felt the same about again. Themes: friendship, religion vs. atheism, choices and consequences, aspects of war (duty vs. morality, brutality, the humanity of enemy combatants, possible long-term psychological effects).

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How Sweet It Is to Die in the Sea

How Sweet It Is to Die in the Sea: Short story by José Eduardo AgualusaIn this entertaining story by José Eduardo Agualusa, a successful novelist’s marriage falls apart when he takes to drink after his latest book is panned by a literary critic. He makes ends meet by becoming a critic himself, and takes delight in panning a novel by the critic who panned his. He starts a new life and, when a “friend” kills the critic, his second wife, and her two lovers, secures a rich inheritance and is provided with a good plot for a new book. Themes include writing and literary criticism, alcohol abuse, despair, betrayal, renewal.

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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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