Featured Stories

Lob’s Girl

Lob's Girl: Short story by Joan AikenThe major themes of this story by Joan Aiken are love, loyalty, family values, death and the supernatural. The moment Lob saw five-year-old Sandy on the beach, it was love at first sight. Lob is a dog: a large, bouncy German Shepherd with “a yard of tongue” that he puts to good use smothering Sandy with affection. As with many girl/boy and dog stories, Lob must overcome several difficulties (in this case by walking the length of England twice!) before joining Sandy’s family. A touching aspect of the story is that Lob’s love is so strong that it transcends death.

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The Blue Bead

The Blue Bead: Short story by Norah BurkeThis story by Norah Burke explores the simple, yet dangerous life of junglis (jungle and wild forest dwellers) in colonial India. A twelve-year-old girl, whose “life from birth to death is marked for work”, dreams about being able to complete a necklace she has started to make. When she saves a villager by fighting off a four-meter crocodile, she is more excited by a blue bead she later finds in the water than the danger she faced. Themes include poverty, life and survival in the forest, gender roles, perseverance, courage, reward/karma, finding happiness in small things.

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The Good Shopkeeper

The Good Shopkeeper: Short story by Samrat UpadhyayA major theme of this story by Samrat Upadhyay is pride. Other themes include progress, family, social status, escapism through infidelity, humility, self-sufficiency. Set in Nepal, an accountant in a struggling international company loses his prestigious job to a younger man with better computer skills. He is married with a seven-month-old baby, and seeks help from his shady but well-connected brother-in-law. When nothing comes up, he finds solace in an affair with a housemaid he meets in a park. Through the housemaid’s simplistic outlook and lifestyle, he learns that self-worth comes from within and not a fancy job or title.

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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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The Dream of a Ridiculous Man

The Dream of a Ridiculous Man: Short story by Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Dostoevsky’s thought-provoking story of a man who thinks he and his life are so ridiculous as to not be worth living packs a powerful message. Having decided to commit suicide, his life is turned around by a chance encounter with a young girl asking for help on the street, and a dreamed journey to a utopian world. He learns that meaning and happiness come through suffering and love (kindness), and that indifference (lack of concern for others) can destroy them. Themes: nihilism, despair, suffering, compassion, meaning in life.

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Mammon and the Archer

Mammon and the Archer: Short story by O. HenryMammon is a biblical term for great wealth. In this story by O. Henry, a self-made millionaire is initially of the belief that money can buy anything. When his son falls in love with a woman from an aristocratic family, he learns there are two things his money can’t buy: love and family recognition among New York High Society. Fortunately for his son, it is able to buy the young man enough time to allow the archer to do his job. Themes include money vs. love, pride, new vs. old money, upper class etiquette, superstition, deception.

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The Signal-man

The Signal-man: Short story by Charles DickensMany Charles Dickens stories feature ghosts. Part of the attraction of The Signal-man is that, although generally considered one of these, there is no hard evidence of a ghost. Dickens masterfully uses setting to create a forbidding, unearthly atmosphere, and then leaves the question of the ghost to the reader. Like all first-person stories, the narrator’s version is open to misinterpretation and bias. The only evidence of the supernatural are the ghostly sightings described by the (now dead) signal-man, and some (potentially coincidental) shared expressions and gestures. Themes: duty & responsibility, fate, isolation, guilt, sanity, the supernatural.

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The Rockpile

The Rockpile: Short story by James BaldwinThis partly autobiographical story from James Baldwin explores aspects of African-American life in Depression-era Harlem. It contrasts religious zeal with violence and division in the community. In addition to the violence taking place in the children’s “gang” skirmishes on the rockpile, a climate of fear and intimidation exists in the protagonist’s household. Religion is presented not as an uplifting faith that gives meaning to life, but rather something to be feared and obeyed, and through which people are automatically classified as either “redeemed” or “wicked”. Themes: religion, fear, obedience/temptation, choices and consequences, alienation, motherly love.

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