Featured Stories

Examination Day

Examination Day : Short story by Henry SlesarSet in a late 20th century dystopian society, this story by Henry Slesar questions the acceptable limits of government control. A couple appears tense at the breakfast table on what should be a happy day, their only son’s twelfth birthday. The following week, the boy must take a government intelligence test. Although the father appears poorly educated, struggling to answer basic science questions, his son does well at school and is confident of passing. To their horror, he does even better and aces the exam. Themes include government control, fear, oppression, conditioning and acceptance, eugenics.

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Prey

Prey: Short story by Richard MathesonIn this story by Richard Matheson, a woman buys her new boyfriend a Zuni fetish doll for his birthday. A scroll inside the box reads THIS IS HE WHO KILLS…. HE IS A DEADLY HUNTER. As she prepares to shower, the doll turns out to be the real deal. It escapes the gold chain designed to keep the hunter’s spirit locked inside and sets off in search of prey. Although the girl and the spirit appear temporarily happy with the outcome, the girl’s mother may not be! Themes include control, isolation, violence, fear, determination, the supernatural.

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The Lady With the Dog

The Lady With the Dog: Short story by Anton ChekhovAnton Chekhov’s Lady With the Dog is about a philandering misogynist who meets a much younger woman while on vacation. Both have unhappy marriages; both are open to holiday romance. They enjoy a brief affair, then go their separate ways. After parting, each becomes obsessed with the memory of the other. He tracks her down, and soon they are planning a future together. The story has an open ending, but one suspects that each now looks at relationships and the world in a new way. Themes: love, infidelity, guilt, morality, chauvinism, sexual objectification, commitment.

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Babette’s Feast

Babette's Feast: Short story by Isak DinesenThe major theme of this story by Isak Dinesen (aka Karen Blixen) is the transformative power of food. The lives of two aging Danish sisters, eight members of a dying religious sect, and a disillusioned French army general change when the sister’s maid, a refugee French revolutionary, wins the lottery and uses her winnings to prepare them a special meal. The meal brings the diners grace, forgiveness and the understanding that it is not sinful to enjoy life’s pleasures. The maid experiences a reinvigoration of her creative genius. Other themes include religious devotion, love, art and artistry, frugality, sacrifice, redemption.

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What I Have Been Doing Lately

What I Have Been Doing Lately: Short story by Jamaica KincaidThis circular narrative by Jamaica Kincaid takes the form of a dream in which the narrator, woken by her doorbell and finding no one there, embarks upon a surreal journey. An interesting aspect of the story is that although delivered in the first person, the narrator’s identity is neither given nor defined. When asked the titular question by an unknown woman, she gives a slightly different version of the journey so far, suggesting either personal growth (greater awareness), or that she has experienced multiple iterations of the journey. Themes include reality vs. fantasy, loss and longing, motherhood, personal growth, identity.

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Shhhh

Shhhh: Short story by NoViolet BulawayoIn this story by NoViolet Bulawayo, a Zimbabwean girl is full of hatred when her father returns home terminally ill after years of no contact or family support. He is totally helpless and, because of his condition (AIDS), her mother forbids her to tell anyone he is back. There are few secrets in an African slum and, when her friends insist on seeing him, she fears they will treat him cruelly. To her surprise, they are respectful, gentle and caring, which begins to turn her feelings around. Themes include abandonment, hatred, fatal illness (AIDS), shame, secrecy, compassion, religion, church greed/corruption.

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Titanic Survivors Found in Bermuda Triangle

Titanic Survivors Found in Bermuda Triangle: Short story by Robert ButlerRobert Olen Butler’s Titanic survivor is an early 1900s women’s suffrage campaigner. After “waking up” in a lifeboat off the Miami coast in the 1990s, she realizes there is no place for her in the modern world. Women have been emancipated, and her family and friends are all dead. The only man she has ever had strong feelings for (other than her father) went down with the ship. Having lacked the courage to express her feelings at the time, she decides to find him again. Themes: change, father-daughter relationships, women’s rights, finding purpose and meaning in life, sexuality, misandry, love.

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The Holiday

The Holiday: Short story by Lily BrettThis chapter from Lily Brett’s book Things Could Be Worse describes how several Jewish migrant couples meet at an inexpensive Australian holiday resort in 1950 and form a close-knit group that holidays together over the next thirty-two years. Despite their growing prosperity, they are still haunted by memories of the past. The group breaks up when a meddling member has a photograph taken that suggests the husband of one couple is having an affair with the wife of another. As couples take sides, relationships are destroyed for both members and their children. Themes include assimilation, friendship, memories, “Jewishness”, gossip-mongering, aging.

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