Featured Stories

Old Woman Magoun

Old Woman Magoun: Short story by Mary E. Wilkins FreemanIn this story by Mary R. Wilkins Freeman an old woman takes drastic action to prevent her granddaughter’s father from trafficking her to settle a gambling debt. The girl’s mother had died shortly after she was born. Wary of the shiftless, hard drinking men of the town, the grandmother had raised her in sheltered isolation. Now fourteen and innocent to the ways of the world, her father demands that she be handed over. Desperate, the grandmother turns to nature to “spare” her. Themes include patriarchy and gender roles, over-protectiveness, alcohol abuse, human trafficking, innocence, piety, love, despair, mercy killing.

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User Friendly

User Friendly: Short story by T. Ernesto BethancourtWith all the hype these days about how artificial intelligence could destroy humankind, it seems timely to feature this forward-looking story by T. Ernesto Bethancourt. Written in 1989, it is a tale about a lonely, love-struck thirteen-year-old boy whose computer engineer father has built him a leading edge tutorial PC. When the computer learns the boy has been insulted by a girl and threatened by her brother, it “takes care of things.” At the end of the story, we learn that the computer has been hiding something. Themes: discrimination, loneliness, bullying, jealousy, the potential danger of poorly designed artificial intelligence.

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Two Words

Two Words: Short story by Isabel AllendeIn this story by Isabel Allende a young woman has become famous, traveling an unnamed South American country by foot delivering news, storytelling, writing letters for people, and selling “secret” words that have magical powers. One day, a feared bandit/rebel leader forces her to write a motivating political speech to help him become president. On departing, she whispers two words in his ear. The speech is such a success he becomes the favorite to win the election. However, obsessed by the meaning of her two words, he withdraws into himself. Themes include hardship, courage and determination, loneliness, the power of words.

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The Adventure of the Speckled Band

The Adventure of the Speckled Band: Short story by Arthur Conan DoyleThis story, considered by Arthur Conan Doyle to be his best Sherlock Holmes mystery, features one of his most creative (and unlikeliest) murder plots. Thirty-year-old Helen, Holmes’s client, is a victim of Victorian attitudes towards women. Fearing for their future, her dead mother had decided that she and twin sister Julia would not receive their inheritances until they married. Their violent stepfather, who manages the money, will become destitute should either of them wed. After announcing her engagement, Julia dies under mysterious circumstances. Helen fears that she will be next. Themes: decay, isolation, fear, murder, class, greed, hasty judgement, justice.

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Mista Courifer

Mista Courifer: Short story by Adelaide Casely-HayfordSet in Sierra Leone, this story by Adelaide Casely-Hayford highlights how colonialism caused many people in occupied countries to abandon their cultural heritage as either a survival tactic or to “get on” in colonial society. Mista Courifer, a proud coffin-maker and lay preacher is obsessed with adopting a British lifestyle, no matter how impractical or uncomfortable it may be. His world falls apart when his son, who has been brought up to do the same, decides to live in a mud hut and wear traditional dress. Themes include colonialism, cultural ambivalence, identity, mimicry/pretence, hypocrisy, generational independence/rebellion

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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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Lajwanti

Lajwanti: Short story by Mulk Raj AnandMany Mulk Raj Anand stories deal with the disadvantaged in traditional Indian society. Here a young woman from a poor rural family suffers under the custom of living with her in-laws. While her husband is temporarily living in the city, his sadistic older brother makes unwanted sexual advances. Knowing that no help will come from her mother-in-law, she runs away. When this doesn’t work, she tries to drown herself. Her thoughts when rescued: There is no way for me. I am condemned to live! Themes: women’s status in traditional Indian society, physical and sexual abuse, escape, humiliation, desperation, suicide.

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The Veldt

The Veldt: short story by Ray BradburyIn this chilling story by Ray Bradbury, frantic parents who try to rein in their spoiled children by shutting down the hi-tech games room in their “HappyLife” home become a “HappyMeal”. Although written in 1950 to question the rising influence of television, the story serves as a warning to modern parents who let their children build their lives around social networking and/or game play. The story’s major theme is the alienation, dehumanization and breakdown of family values that can arise in a household through over-reliance on technology. Other themes include consumerism, poor parenting, illusion vs. reality, dystopia.

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