As with the other pages of lists, this is not the definitive list of the best short stories ever. What you find here are 100 great short stories. They come from different ages, genders, genres, and cultures. Trust me, you can find something you will like within this list. The stories are listed alphabetically by author's last name.
Most of these stories can be found through a quick search on the Internet. Sorry, I have not included links because they seem to change on too frequent of a basis.
Most of these stories can be found through a quick search on the Internet. Sorry, I have not included links because they seem to change on too frequent of a basis.
100 Great Short Stories
Achebe, Chinua--The Voter
Alcott, Louisa May--Scarlet Stockings
Alexie, Sherman--This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
Andersen, Hand Christian--The Little Match Girl
Archer, Jeffrey--Clean Sweep Ignatius
Asimov, Isaac--The Bicentennial Man
Asimov, Isaac--Robbie
Asimov, Isaac--Nightfall
Atwood, Margaret--Bread
Baldwin, James--Sonny's Blues
Benford, Gregory--Valhalla
Bethke, Bruce--Cyberpunk
Bierce, Ambrose--An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Bradbury, Ray--A Sound of Thunder
Bradbury, Ray--The Gift
Calvino, Italo--The Light Years
Carver, Raymond--Why, Honey?
Carver, Raymond--Cathedral
Chekhov, Anton--The Black Monk
Chekhov, Anton--The Bet
Chopin, Kate--The Story of an Hour
Christie, Agatha--The Theft of the Royal Ruby (AKA The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding) (begins on page 6)
Cisneros, Sandra--Salvador Late or Early
Connell, Richard--The Most Dangerous Game
Conrad, Joseph--Heart of Darkness
Crane, Stephen--The Open Boat
Dahl, Roald--Beware of the Dog
Danticat, Edwidge--Nineteen Thirty-Seven
Dick, Philip K.--Paycheck
Dick, Philip K.--We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
Dickens, Charles--The Cricket on the Hearth
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan--The Five Orange Pips
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan--A Study in Scarlet
Erdrich, Louise--The Red Convertible
Faulkner, William--A Rose for Emily
Faulkner, William--The Bear
Fitzgerald, F. Scott--Berneice Bobs Her Hair
Fitzgerald, F. Scott--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gaiman, Neil--The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
Gibson, William--Johnny Mnemonic
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins--The Yellow Wallpaper
Greene, Graham--A Shocking Accident
Hawthorne, Nathaniel--The Minister's Black Veil
Hawthorne, Nathaniel--Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Heinlein, Robert--On the Slopes of Vesuvius
Hemingway, Ernest--In Another Country
Hemingway, Ernest--The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Henry, O.--The Gift of the Magi
Henry, O.--The Last Leaf
Henry, O.--Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking
Irving, Washington--The Devil and Tom Walker
Irving, Washington--The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Irving, Washington--Rip Van Winkle
Jackson, Shirley--The Lottery
Jacobs, W.W.--The Monkey's Paw
Jones, Stephen Graham--Father, Son, Holy Rabbit
Joyce, James--Araby
Joyce, James--The Dead
Kafka, Franz--The Metamorphosis
Kesey, Ken--The First Sunday of September
King, Stephen--The Body
Kipling, Rudyard--Rikki Tikki Tavi
Kipling, Rudyard--The Man Who Would Be King
Lawrence, D.H.--The Rocking Horse Winner
LeGuin, Ursula K.--The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Lessing, Doris--No Witchcraft for Sale
London, Jack--To Build A Fire
Mansfield, Katherine--The Doll's House
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia--A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia--Light is Like Water
Matheson, Richard--Person to Person
Maupassant, Guy de--The Necklace
McCaffrey, Anne--Lady in the Tower
Melville, Herman--Bartleby, the Scrivener
Nabokov, Vladimir--Spring in Fialta
O'Brien, Tim--The Things They Carried
O'Connor, Flannery--Good Country People
O'Connor, Flannery--A Good Man Is Hard to Find
O'Connor, Frank--The Duke's Children
Orwell, George--Shooting an Elephant
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Pit and the Pendulum
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Tell-Tale Heart
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Masque of the Red Death
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Purloined Letter
Salinger, J.D.--For Esme--with Love and Squalor
Saunders, George--Puppy
Singer, Isaac Bashevis--Gimpel the Fool
Stevens, James--The Old Warhorse
Stockton, Frank R.--The Lady of the Tiger?
Stoker, Bram--Dracula's Guest
Tan, Amy--Two Kinds
Thurber, James--The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Twain, Mark--The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Twain, Mark--Eve's Diary
Vonnegut, Kurt--Harrison Bergeron
Wells, H.G.--The Country of the Blind
Wells, H.G.--The Crystal Egg
Wilde, Oscar--The Nightingale and the Rose
Wilde, Oscar--The Selfish Giant
Woolf, Virginia--A Society
Achebe, Chinua--The Voter
Alcott, Louisa May--Scarlet Stockings
Alexie, Sherman--This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona
Andersen, Hand Christian--The Little Match Girl
Archer, Jeffrey--Clean Sweep Ignatius
Asimov, Isaac--The Bicentennial Man
Asimov, Isaac--Robbie
Asimov, Isaac--Nightfall
Atwood, Margaret--Bread
Baldwin, James--Sonny's Blues
Benford, Gregory--Valhalla
Bethke, Bruce--Cyberpunk
Bierce, Ambrose--An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
Bradbury, Ray--A Sound of Thunder
Bradbury, Ray--The Gift
Calvino, Italo--The Light Years
Carver, Raymond--Why, Honey?
Carver, Raymond--Cathedral
Chekhov, Anton--The Black Monk
Chekhov, Anton--The Bet
Chopin, Kate--The Story of an Hour
Christie, Agatha--The Theft of the Royal Ruby (AKA The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding) (begins on page 6)
Cisneros, Sandra--Salvador Late or Early
Connell, Richard--The Most Dangerous Game
Conrad, Joseph--Heart of Darkness
Crane, Stephen--The Open Boat
Dahl, Roald--Beware of the Dog
Danticat, Edwidge--Nineteen Thirty-Seven
Dick, Philip K.--Paycheck
Dick, Philip K.--We Can Remember It For You Wholesale
Dickens, Charles--The Cricket on the Hearth
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan--The Five Orange Pips
Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan--A Study in Scarlet
Erdrich, Louise--The Red Convertible
Faulkner, William--A Rose for Emily
Faulkner, William--The Bear
Fitzgerald, F. Scott--Berneice Bobs Her Hair
Fitzgerald, F. Scott--The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gaiman, Neil--The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains
Gibson, William--Johnny Mnemonic
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins--The Yellow Wallpaper
Greene, Graham--A Shocking Accident
Hawthorne, Nathaniel--The Minister's Black Veil
Hawthorne, Nathaniel--Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
Heinlein, Robert--On the Slopes of Vesuvius
Hemingway, Ernest--In Another Country
Hemingway, Ernest--The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Henry, O.--The Gift of the Magi
Henry, O.--The Last Leaf
Henry, O.--Whistling Dick's Christmas Stocking
Irving, Washington--The Devil and Tom Walker
Irving, Washington--The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Irving, Washington--Rip Van Winkle
Jackson, Shirley--The Lottery
Jacobs, W.W.--The Monkey's Paw
Jones, Stephen Graham--Father, Son, Holy Rabbit
Joyce, James--Araby
Joyce, James--The Dead
Kafka, Franz--The Metamorphosis
Kesey, Ken--The First Sunday of September
King, Stephen--The Body
Kipling, Rudyard--Rikki Tikki Tavi
Kipling, Rudyard--The Man Who Would Be King
Lawrence, D.H.--The Rocking Horse Winner
LeGuin, Ursula K.--The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Lessing, Doris--No Witchcraft for Sale
London, Jack--To Build A Fire
Mansfield, Katherine--The Doll's House
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia--A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings: A Tale for Children
Marquez, Gabriel Garcia--Light is Like Water
Matheson, Richard--Person to Person
Maupassant, Guy de--The Necklace
McCaffrey, Anne--Lady in the Tower
Melville, Herman--Bartleby, the Scrivener
Nabokov, Vladimir--Spring in Fialta
O'Brien, Tim--The Things They Carried
O'Connor, Flannery--Good Country People
O'Connor, Flannery--A Good Man Is Hard to Find
O'Connor, Frank--The Duke's Children
Orwell, George--Shooting an Elephant
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Pit and the Pendulum
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Tell-Tale Heart
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Masque of the Red Death
Poe, Edgar Allen--The Purloined Letter
Salinger, J.D.--For Esme--with Love and Squalor
Saunders, George--Puppy
Singer, Isaac Bashevis--Gimpel the Fool
Stevens, James--The Old Warhorse
Stockton, Frank R.--The Lady of the Tiger?
Stoker, Bram--Dracula's Guest
Tan, Amy--Two Kinds
Thurber, James--The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Twain, Mark--The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
Twain, Mark--Eve's Diary
Vonnegut, Kurt--Harrison Bergeron
Wells, H.G.--The Country of the Blind
Wells, H.G.--The Crystal Egg
Wilde, Oscar--The Nightingale and the Rose
Wilde, Oscar--The Selfish Giant
Woolf, Virginia--A Society