Featured Stories

Sleeping

Sleeping: Short story by Katharine WeberIn this story by Katharine Weber, a young girl is hired by a couple she has never met before to baby-sit while they go to the movies. They tell her the baby is a very sound sleeper and won’t need to be fed or changed. In addition, that she mustn’t open the door because it squeaks and will wake the baby. As the evening wears on, she becomes curious. She listens at the door and hears nothing. She gently tries the door but it seems locked. When the father drives her home, he asks a question that explains the mystery.

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The Toll-House

The Toll-House: Short story by W. W. JacobsToday we have another classic horror story from W. W. Jacobs. Four young travelers are drinking (tea of all things!) at an Inn. They are discussing the supernatural, and it soon becomes clear that three are believers to varying degrees and one is a total skeptic. One of them tells a story about a nearby haunted house that takes a “toll” of at least one life from every family or group that lives there—however short the time. Foolishly, they decide to put the story to the test. Themes: bravado, fear, the supernatural.

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Soldier’s Home

Soldier's Home: Short story by Ernest HemingwayThis story by Ernest Hemingway about an American soldier’s difficulty “fitting in” after returning from World War 1 is a wonderful example of the author’s Iceberg Theory, with much of the protagonist’s background hidden from readers. Upon return, the soldier finds himself alienated from his culture, community, friends, and family. He falls into depression and lethargy, obsessed with watching local girls go by, but avoiding contact with them. This may be due to an earlier failed relationship, or his distaste for his pious, controlling mother. Themes include PTSD, alienation, cultural and social change, fear of involvement and commitment.

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A Good Man is Hard to Find

A Good Man is Hard to Find: Short story by Flannery O'ConnorFlannery O’Connor is a master at coming up with stories in which almost every main character has some kind of flaw. It is hard to like any of this dysfunctional family of six (except maybe the baby) as they cruise down Highway 441. When their car overturns beside a deserted road, they attract the attention of a crazed killer who calls himself “The Misfit”. As the rest of the family are murdered around her, the grandmother tries to convince the Misfit that deep inside he is one of those hard to find men. Themes: prejudice, deception, violence, religion, “goodness”, redemption

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Off

Off: Short story by Aimee BenderIn this story by Aimee Bender a conceited, deliberately overdressed woman attends a party with the stated objective of kissing three men of different hair color. Her character is defined in an anecdote about how she once named her Great Dane “Off” to play with the minds of other women at a dog park. The independently wealthy woman is highly insecure, struggling to fit in and form meaningful relationships. This results in bitterness and vindictiveness towards other women, and a demeaning climax as she tries to win kiss number three. Themes include self-admiration, loneliness, insecurity, jealousy and bitterness, hope.

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Chrysanthemums

Chrysanthemums: Short story by Feng JicaiThis story by Feng Jicai is set in the aftermath of the Chinese cultural revolution. A famous painter struggling emotionally with being banned from practicing his art finds solace, firstly in the beauty of phoenix-tail chrysanthemums growing in a greenhouse, and later in clandestinely carving ornate pipes. The story contrasts the shallow, selfish nature of the painter’s admirers and peers with the humble generosity of the old greenhouse-keeper, who may be the only character who truly appreciates his artistry. Themes include the beauty of nature, artistic passion and the psychological impact of suppressing it, intellectual snobbery, misjudgement, regret.

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Hominids

Hominids: Short story by Jill McCorkleIn this story by Jill McCorkle, a woman hosting a dinner party for a group of her husband’s old friends is disgusted by the way the men joke about the bodies of women they had encountered at a strip club earlier in the day. She muses about modern man’s obsession with breasts, and the contrast between the privileged life of the wives present and the circumstances that might lead other women to take up such work. She confronts the men, along the way cynically threatening to open her own club called “Peckers”. Themes include machismo, sexualization, misogyny, beauty and womanhood.

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The English Pupil

The English Pupil: Short story by Andrea BarrettIn addition to being a celebration of the life and work of renowned biologist Carl Linnaeus, major themes of this touching story by Andrea Barrett are aging, memory and approaching death. The dying scientist has his coachman take him to his empty country estate where, amid a fog of fading memories, he reminisces about his life and the fate of some of the “apostles” he sent around the world to collect biological specimens. Later, he is joined by a concerned daughter and an unknown man he imagines to be his only surviving pupil. Other themes include family, pride and regret.

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