Featured Stories

The Bloody Chamber

The Bloody Chamber: Short story by Angela CarterIn Angela Carter’s titillating re-telling of Charles Perrault’s Bluebeard a wealthy, three-times widowed French nobleman marries a seventeen-year-old virtuoso pianist and rushes her away to his secluded castle for a “honeymoon”. When browsing the library, she is shocked to discover his penchant for sadistic pornography. After a passionless consummation that satisfies his desire to have married a virgin, he lays a deadly trap designed to end the marriage. While he is away on business, the woman’s dark newborn curiosity springs the trap, which leads her into his bloody chamber. Themes: manipulation, sexual awakening, depravity, loneliness, curiosity, violence, death.

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A Municipal Report

A Municipal Report: Short story by O. HenryO. Henry wrote over 600 short stories, of which some critics consider this to be one of the best. The plot involves what happens between the unnamed narrator, three main characters, and a torn dollar bill that keeps coming back to its original owner. The characters: Azalea Adair, a self-educated, gentle lady of the old South; Major Caswell, a cruel husband who treats her badly; and Uncle Caesar, a kind African-American man with a royal bearing who tries to help Azalea. Themes include: pretense, pride, change, domestic violence, loyalty, self-learning and the power of imagination.

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The Machine That Won the War

The Machine That Won the War: Short story by Isaac AsimovThis story by Isaac Asimov remains relevant today as technology plays an increasing role in controlling everything from military applications to crucial infrastructure. An inter-planetary war has been won, Earth is safe, and three men bask in the glory. Ironically, it wasn’t won by a machine or any of the three ‘experts’. It was won either by chance or because of problems experienced by the enemy. Pointedly, no thought is given to the rights and wrongs of the war, or the suffering on both sides. Themes include war, hubris, the fallibility of machine and human decision-making, chance.

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Transactions in a Foreign Currency

Transactions in a Foreign Currency: Short story by Deborah EisenbergIn this story by Deborah Eisenberg, a twenty-eight-year-old woman decides to end her relationship with a lover she has been seeing on and off for almost ten years. The man, who hasn’t contacted her for six months, calls and asks her to drop everything and spend a few weeks over Christmas with him in Montreal. Like many times before, she readily agrees. Some experiences while he is away for a few days help her realize that it is time to let him go. Themes include love, passivity, commitment, selfishness, letting go.

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The Shawl / Rosa

The Shawl / Rosa: Short stories by Cynthia OzickToday we are featuring two award-winning stories from Cynthia Ozick. The first, The Shawl, is set in Second World War Poland and deals with the horrors of the holocaust as experienced a young mother (Rosa), her infant child (Magda), and fourteen-year-old-niece (Stella). The second story, Rosa, is a sequel to the first. Set in the USA over thirty years later, it demonstrates the devastating long-term effects of the women’s war-time experiences.

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The Legend of Nai Raeng

The Legend of Nai Raeng: Thai folktaleThis folktale from Southern Thailand is about a man who was so big when he was born that his parents named him Nai Raeng (in Thai ‘raeng’ means strength, energy or power). The boy eats so much that his poor parents cannot feed him. They get him a job as a sailor, but the captain also cannot feed him. As Nai Raeng grows, he proves to be so wise that he gets a high government job. He is also very honourable, and one day must order that his own head be cut off and placed above a buried treasure.

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A Home near the Sea

A Home near the Sea: Short story by Kamala DasIn this story by Kamala Das, an Indian woman angrily scolds her husband, a lazy drunkard, as she tells a fellow beggar how a year earlier he lost a secure job and caused them to be evicted from their hut. As the aging woman complains about her lot, the listener brings her to tears. He poetically extols the benefits of living in the open beside the sea, provides encouragement that things will improve, speaks to her of music and artistry, and likens her to the Hindu goddess Lakshmi. Themes include marriage (loyalty, jealousy, control and complacency), poverty, negativity, dreams, generosity.

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The Three Hermits

The Three Hermits: Short story by Leo TolstoyIn this story by Leo Tolstoy, a bishop of the Roman Orthodox Church schools three devout hermits seeking salvation by living alone on a deserted island in reciting the Lord’s Prayer. He claims that although that their own prayer ‘Three are ye, three are we, have mercy upon us.’ encompasses the essence of Christianity, it is insufficient to please God. The bishop is humbled and admits his mistake when they miraculously follow him by gliding across the sea, having forgotten the words. Themes include humility and devotion, religious dogma vs. faith, the nature of prayer.

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