Great Short Stories: #61-70

61. "The Open Window" (1914) by Saki. This is easily Saki's best-known work. A young woman relates the story of her aunt's open window, the belief her aunt has that one day her lost relatives will return to her. This being Saki, it's all about the cruel tricks people play on each other.

"The Open Window" can be found in Great Tales of Terror and the Supernatural. You can read the text online here.

62. "The Metamorphosis" (1915) by Franz Kafka. Another novella, this is the story of poor Gregor Samska, the man who awakens one morning to find he has become an insect. For him, this is the beginning of a terrible series of challenges. To his family, this is the start of new opportunities.

"The Metamorphosis" can be found in The Metamorphosis and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

63. "The Interlopers" (1919) by Saki. An intense story of two men quarreling over their neighboring lands who find themselves pinned by a tree in the woods; suddenly, they are acutely aware of the futility of their feud, but they also realize that neither of them are the real interlopers; it builds to a final line that changes the whole story with just one word.

"The Interlopers" can be found in The Interlopers. You can read the text online here.

64. "Confession" (1921) by Algernon Blackwood. For my money, this is Blackwood's best tale. A shellshocked veteran wanders the foggy streets of London, trying desperately to overcome his terror, uncertain of whether the people he meets and the things he sees are real. When a woman is murdered, he doesn't know whether he's been framed for a crime or imagined the entire affair!

"Confession" can be found in . You can read the text online here.

65. "The Bamboo Trap" (1923) by Robert S. Lemmon. This obscure tale tells of a hunter sent to find a sample of a rare spider for his employers. After falling into an underground pit, he finds the good news: he's discovered the spiders' home. The bad news: he can't climb out.

66. "The Most Dangerous Game" (1924) by Richard Connell. The original and often-imitated story of the hunter who has tired of all normal game and has decided he needs prey which can think; in other words, he wants to hunt humans!

"The Most Dangerous Game" can be found in The Most Dangerous Game. You can read the text online here.

67. "Action" (1928) by Charles E. Montague. A gripping tale of a man who has lost all hope in living and prepared to die. Rather than suicide, he attempts to scale a sheer ice precipice so that he can go out struggling with nature. However, he's not alone on the wall of ice...

68. "When the World Screamed" (1929) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of Doyle's shorter tales of Professor Challenger, who debuted in the Lost World. Challenger is convinced that the Earth is itself a living organism and constructs a drill to prove his point. His goal? To awaken the Earth and make it acknowledge his existence! What some men will do for validation...

"When the World Screamed" can be found in The Complete Adventures of Professor Challenger. You can read the text online here.

69. "The Lily of St. Pierre" (1930) by Damon Runyon. Like most of Runyon's works, this is both amusing and tragic. After a bootlegger murders another criminal he relates the reasons why, relating a tale of his time in Canada where he befriended a man and his daughter, came to think of them as his own family and the tragedy that took them away.

"The Lily of St. Pierre" can be found in Guys and Dolls and Other Writings. You can read the text online here.

70. "Green Thoughts" (1932) by John Collier. A just plain odd story in which a botany enthusiast finds that his new plant has the ability to digest any living being, including full-grown humans. The botanist becomes his plant's victim, but that's only the beginning of the story!

"Green Thoughts" can be found in Fancies and Goodnights.

Great Short Stories: #51-60

51. "The Voice in the Night" (1907) by William Hope Hodgson. Two men at sea hear a voice in the night, coming from a rowboat. The voice asks for food, but does not want to be seen. The men comply and some time later the rowboat returns and the voice tells them its tragic story. What is it? Well, I can tell you this: this is the story which inspired Matango ("Attack of the Mushroom People")!

"The Voice in the Night" can be found in The Collected Fiction of William Hope Hodgson Volume 3. You can read the text online here.

52. "The Willows" (1907) by Algernon Blackwood. A disturbing tale in the style Lovecraft would later popularize. Two men on a canoeing trip spent a night on a tiny island. With them is an unearthly presence so terrible that their only hope is to not think about it, because the moment they perceive what is with them will be the moment of their destruction!

"The Willows" can be found in The Willows. You can read the text online here.

53. "Ancient Sorceries" (1908) by Algernon Blackwood. Chilling story about a man who gets off at a small village to make a point to another travler. Although he chose the village at random, the lcoale seems strangely familiar. And the people seem to recognize him, watching him, waiting for something to happen.

"Ancient Sorceries" can be found in Ancient Sorceries and Other Weird Stories. You can read the text online here.

54. "To Build a Fire" (1908) by Jack London. A taut tale about a man in the frozen north whose cruelty gets the best of him when he faces the danger of freezing to death; his only prayer is to build a fire in time.

"To Build a Fire" can be found in To Build a Fire and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

55. "Tobermory" (1909) by Saki. An amusing story in which a cat obtains the ability to speak; after an initial burst of enthusiasm, the people who the cat knows become terrified of the feline because it knows all of their secrets and has no compunction about sharing them!

"Tobermory" can be found in Great English Short Stories. You can read the text online here.

56. "August Heat" (1910) by William Harvey. Haunting story about an artist who makes a picture of a murderer. Then he meets the man, who turns out to be a tombstone carver; the carver has just inscribed the artist's name on a display stone. The two men gradually realize that they are war with destiny and must somehow prevent the inevitable.

"August Heat" can be found in Masters Choice. You can read the text online here.

57. "The Blue Cross" (1910) by G.K. Chesterton. This might be the best of Chesterton's Father Brown stories. In this one, a man sets about perform seemingly random acts, not unlike the character from Doyle's "Adventure of the Six Napoleons." As in that story, there's more going on than appears on the surface and it takes Father Brown to discern the "madman's" intentions by behaving "mad" just like the criminal!

"The Blue Cross" can be found in Favorite Father Brown Stories. You can read the text online here.

58. "The Grove of Ashtaroth" (1910) by John Buchan. Buchan wrote very few tales of the supernatural and when he did delve into such matters, he often evoked strange compulsions which cling to environments, rather than conventional ghosts and spirits. In this tale set in South Africa, the narrator recounts the tale of his friend who became suddenly invested in a piece of South African land containing a certain grove circled by doves. On evenings he heads into the grove and performs certain acts - acts of worship to the goddess Ashtorah!

"The Grove of Ashtaroth" can be found in The Moon Endureth: Tales and Fancies. You can read the text online here.

59. "Casting the Runes" (1911) by M.R. James. An unforgettable tale of a man who derides the forces of darkness, then finds himself beset by them. Everywhere he goes, something follows upon his footsteps. The haunting is fated to end eventually, but that brings little relief: it can only end in death.

"Casting the Runes" can be found in Complete Ghost Stories. You can read the text online here.

60. "The Adventure of the Dying Detective" (1913) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This was the story which first interested me in Sherlock Holmes. Holmes lies dying in his bed and refuses to let Watson treat him. Watson speeds off to find a specialist, but it seems the specialist is all too aware of Holmes' precarious condition.

"The Adventure of the Dying Detective" can be found in The Complete Sherlock Holmes. You can read the text online here.

Great Short Stories: #31-40

31. "A Scandal in Bohemia" (1891) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. One of the best Sherlock Holmes stories, this is the famous tale of Irene Adler, the woman who outsmarted Holmes. It's a great story that shows Holmes at his best, even though he meets his match. Much has been made of Moriarty as Holmes' ultimate nemesis, but Adler is the only one of his adversaries who proved a genuine intellectual equal.

"A Scandal in Bohemia" can be found in The Complete Sherlock Holmes. You can read the text online here.

32. "Lot No. 249" (1892) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This is a mummy story, although it follows some of the traditional zombie story maneuvers as well. A young man has found a way to command a mummy to do his bidding and he sees it as his opportunity to eliminate all of his rivals.

"Lot No. 249" can be found in Return From the Dead. You can read the text online here.

33. "Lost Hearts" (1893) by M.R. James. This is one of James' earliest tales and it's rather unlike the main body of his work (I'll be listing a lot of them over the next two days). A poor child is taken in by a doctor who provides for his every need. But it seems that children have a way of disappearing around his home...

"Lost Hearts" can be found in Complete Ghost Stories. You can read the text online here.

34. "How the Brigadier Won His Medal" (1894) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Of all the great Brigadier Gerard stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, this is certainly one of them. If you know Doyle for Holmes or the Lost World you should try a Brigadier Gerard story, they're quite different and very funny. In this tale, Gerard is sent on what could only be an impossible task - impossible for any man but Gerard! The only problem is his superiors meant for him to be captured. Poor Gerard, ever bringing competance to the job of an incompetant.

"How the Brigadier Won His Medal" can be found in Exploits and Adventures of Brigadier Gerard. You can read the text online here.

35. "Canon Alberic's Scrap Book" (1895) by M.R. James. Now then, this is another M.R. James story, but it follows a formula he used time and again thereon. A researcher visiting an old church befriends the parson, who shows him an incredible text full of rare illustrations from chuch history. He's quite eager to be rid of it...and before the day is over, the researcher learns why...

"Canon Alberic's Scrap Book" can be found in Complete Ghost Stories. You can read the text online here.

36. "The Open Boat" (1897) by Stephen Crane. Based on an incident which occurred to Crane, this is the story of four men cast adrift in a lifeboat trying desperately to save themselves as the situation grows increasingly bleak.

"The Open Boat" can be found in The Open Boat and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

37. "The Damned Thing" (1898) by Ambrose Bierce. A fine combination of wit and horror, this quick tale recounts the circumstances surrounding the unusual death of a hunter who believes there are things existing slightly outside man's ken, but not necessarily beyond that of nature.

"The Damned Thing" can be found in The Spook House. You can read the text online here.

38. "Drums of the Fore and Aft" (1898) by Rudyard Kipling. An excellent story about two young men who play in a regiment band and find themselves stranded on the battlefield when the rest of their party retreats. The duo see only one course open to them: they march, trying to inspire their forces to come back and continue the fight.

"Drums of the Fore and Aft" can be found in War Stories and Poems. You can read the text online here.

39. "Captain Rogers" (1901) by W.W. Jacobs. A familiar tale with a twist; a good man raising his daughter alone is confronted by a figure from his past who knows him as "Captain Rogers," a wanted man. He uses this information as blackmail to get whatever he wants from the man, gradually forcing him out of his own home and property and threatening to take his daughter as well. It all leads up to a well-earned twist...

"Captain Rogers" can be found in The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.

40. "An Adulteration Act" (1902) by W.W. Jacobs. A humourous story of a doctor and a lawyer who are shanghaied and forced to serve aboard a ship at sea. The two men are ill-prepared for lives of drudgery and to regain their old lives they use the only strengths they have - those of their normal vocations.

"An Adulteration Act" can be found in The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories. You can read the text online here.