shortsonline | featuring the world's best short stories

The Minority Report

Post author:shortsonline
Post published:January 5, 2008
Post category:Novelettes
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Novelette by Philip Dick. In a future dystopian society, authorities can identify a crime and imprison the would-be perpetrator before they even think of committing it. A Police Chief suspects that he is being "set-up" when he finds his name is on a list of people about to commit murder.

Karma

Post author:shortsonline
Post published:January 3, 2008
Post category:Short Stories
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Short Story by Khushwant Singh. A high-ranking Indian official has rejected his heritage and aspires to identify with the British ruling class. Humiliating treatment on a train (being unceremoniously thrown out of his first class carriage by two drunken soldiers) highlights the dark side of the world he aspires to.

A Sound of Thunder

Post author:shortsonline
Post published:January 1, 2008
Post category:Short Stories
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Short Story by Ray Bradbury. Five men travel back in time on a safari to hunt a T-Rex. One of them panics when he sees the monster and steps off a specially prepared path. The last thing the clumsy man hears is a sound of thunder.

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Approximate Reading Times

Quick Read: under 5 minutes
Short Story: 5 to 30 minutes
Novelette: 30 to 90 minutes
Novella: 1.5 to 2.5 hours

Tobermory
Short Story by Saki. A scientist attending an upper-class house-party amazes fellow guests by teaching Tobermory, the family house-cat, to speak perfect English. However, their wonder soon turns to anger at some household secrets Tobermory begins to share. This seals Tobermory’s fate. He knows too much and must be silenced!
Vision out of the Corner of One Eye
Quick Read by Luisa Valenzuela. A woman traveling on a crowded bus feels herself being groped. When she tries to move away, more people get on the bus and the groping develops into “fondling” and “jiggling”. Rather than make a scene, she gives the pervert some of his own medicine.
The Return
Short Story by Fernando Sorrentino. A man witnesses a neighbour accidentally cause the death of a beggar. Later, he thinks he sees the dead beggar “return” in the form of a baby boy. When the boy is older, he accidentally causes the death of the man who killed the beggar.
The Storm / At the ‘Cadian Ball
Short Stories by Kate Chopin. As a wild storm rages outside, a farmer’s wife and wealthy plantation-owner who had stopped for shelter engage in wild, stormy sex inside. Although both are married, neither feels guilty about the tryst. Afterwards, the woman continues family life as normal, though seemingly more contented.
Ruthless
Quick Read by William C. de Mille. A narcissistic businessman is so obsessed with his possessions, including small items such as a bottle of Bourbon, that he would kill to prevent other people from having them. In the end, he receives a taste of his own medicine.
The Monkey’s Paw
Short Story by W. W. Jacobs. A classic horror story about fate, and what can happen if you try to change it using black magic. A man makes a wish upon an enchanted monkey’s paw with disastrous results. Things get worse when his family try to reverse the spell.
In Search of Epifano
Short Story by Rudolfo Anaya. An eighty-year-old woman leaves her loveless marriage and unfulfilling life in California to follow her passion (painting) and search for her familial, ethnic and spiritual roots in Mexico. As she finds them, she experiences a moan of love as a blinding flash fills her body.
The Love Potion
Short Story by Herman Bosman. A Boer farmer relates a tongue-in-cheek tale about how he once helped a shy policeman use a mythical love potion to make a woman fall in love with him. The ambiguous ending leaves it open as to whether the potion really worked.
A Letter to God
Quick Read by Gregorio López Fuentes. A farmer whose crops are destroyed in a hailstorm writes to the only one he knows of that is sure to help his family: God. He posts the letter, and is not at all surprised when he gets a letter in reply containing money.
A Handful of Dates
Short Story by Tayeb Salih. A young boy and his grandfather were once very close. In a “coming of age” event, the boy realizes that his grandfather has become rich and powerful by taking advantage of the misfortune of others, especially a neighbor whose land he is determined to own.
The Bunyip
Australian Folktale. An aboriginal myth about a foolish hunter who tries to kidnap the cub of a dreaded water-dwelling Bunyip. He was sure that he could out-run its clumsy mother on land, learning too late that the mother has magic powers that will change his people forever.
Think of England
Short Story by Peter Ho Davies. A sixteen-year-old Welsh barmaid will always remember D-day. The bar was full of celebrating English soldiers. First she had to put up with offensive jokes and later, her secret “sweetheart” (an English soldier she had known for only a week) tried to rape her.
Grandpa’s Magic Hat
Grade 3-4 Story by Marilyn Helmer. Two brothers try to prove their grandfather was joking when he said his straw hat has the ability to bring things to life. They put it on a scarecrow, and are shocked when a stranger dressed exactly like the scarecrow joins a neighbourhood dance.
The Man from Mars
Novelette by Margaret Atwood. A "big-boned", athletic Canadian university student becomes anxious but gains self-esteem when a creepy-looking “Oriental” student begins to stalk her. Other men who have previously shown little interest in her take notice. Wondering what he sees in her, they begin to ask her out.