The #1 Best Short Story of All Time/Favorite Short Story

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euclid

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Wow! Things are moving along here. I have to add something by Guy de Maupassant. And Frank O'Connor - watch this space.
 

Chris P

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Hee hee. I wanted to say mine as well, but what I have published so far pales in comparison to some of what I have on sub right now (IMHO, of course!)
 

euclid

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I know, its my own. But its reasonably good :p

As OP I appoint myself moderator of this thread. I'm dressed in a black and white striped shirt, waving my arms about, throwing towels and blowing my whistle. Nominating your own work is off side.

10 yard penalty.
 

pdr

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Two Classics...

Daphne du Maurier's 'The Old Man'

which beats any other short story with a twist ending. And the writing's fantastic.

Conan Doyle's 'The Speckled Band' for pure invented evil.

Plus almost any short story by P.G. Wodehouse for sheer wit and way with words.
 

euclid

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I love Wodehouse. How could I have forgotten about him? Haven't read du Maurier (yet)
 

dgaughran

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A lot of oldies but goldies on this thread.

I'm going to give a shout-out to something a little more wet behind the ears.

Kevin Barry is an Irish short story writer who plugged away for years and years and years writing in tiny literary magazines in Ireland, before getting his big breakthrough by getting published in The New Yorker (it can be done!!!) in February 2010. His first novel came out a couple of weeks ago.

If you like satirical foul-mouthed whimsy, he's your man. Favourite line:

“Nice woman,” John Murphy agreed. “As long as you don’t put your hand in the cage.”

You can read the whole story here, for free: The New Yorker

Enjoy,

Dave
 

Phaeal

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Very difficult question. Some of the stories I'd put on my short list:

"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut," Stephen King
"The Reach," Stephen King
"Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," M. R. James
"Number Thirteen," M. R. James
"Carmilla," J. Sheridan Lefanu
"How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery," E. F. Benson
"The Shadow over Innsmouth," H. P. Lovecraft
"At the Mountains of Madness," H. P. Lovecraft
"The Million Year Picnic," Ray Bradbury
"The Next in Line," Ray Bradbury
"Nunc Dimittis," Tanith Lee
"Franny," J. D. Salinger (even without its perfect companion, "and Zooey")

My list would include a ton of other stories by the above authors, but I picked some personal favorites.
 

quicklime

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I skipped the second page, surprised to see nobody mentioned these from Ray Bradbury:

The Lake (my absolute favorite)
The October Game

my first "real" story, and special to me for it, was The Bogeyman by Stephen King

Others:
Altenmoor, where the dogs dance, by Mort Castle
The Nearly Departed by Richard Matheson
 

feeblepizza

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Final decision: "Riding the Bullet" by Stephen King. If it's too long, than any of his other stories will do.
 
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RobJ

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Oh, that reminds me, another one to add to the list: Bullet In The Brain by Tobias Wolff.
 

ElisabethF

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Wodehouse short stories? I really must find some - the only short fiction of his I've read is a Jeeves collection. What other short stories did he write?
 

euclid

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I have a book of Golf stories by Wodehouse that my father left me (somewhere).
 

TheMindKiller

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His first published book was Dark Carnival, a collection of short stories. It was reprinted later, with some of the stories left out as The October Country.

A writer of immense talent, and every story in that book is a gem. Reps to anyone who can identify the story whose last line is "But when the jellyfish calls you by name. . ." (Or something close -- it's been a while.)

I know this was posted over a month ago, but Ray Bradbury used to paint his own cover art even though it usually got rejected. I have a rejected painting he did for Dark Carnival and at San Diego's Comic-Con got his autograph on it.

Very proud of that.

Anyway, I would nominate Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. The original short story was probably one of the most important pieces of science fiction literature. And it's a fantastic story.
 

Ria13

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I can't see us coming to a consensus on this. My answer will no doubt change six times before bedtime tonight, but some of the stories that are consistently among my favorites: Thomas Ligotti's Gas Station Carnivals, HP Lovecraft's The Colour Out of Space, Leonid Andreyev's The Seven Who Were Hanged, Joe Hill's Pop Art, George RR Martin's With Morning Comes Mistfall, and Jeff VanderMeer's The Transformation of Martin Lake. No doubt forgetting at least a dozen tales on that superb level.

I have only read the first two of these. both good stories, though, 'specially "The Colour out of Space".
 

euclid

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Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. The original short story was probably one of the most important pieces of science fiction literature. And it's a fantastic story.

Yes, a fantastic story. If we did the different genres, this might well be #1 in SF.

Or maybe one of Arthur C Clarke's stories?
 
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benbradley

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I know this was posted over a month ago, but Ray Bradbury used to paint his own cover art even though it usually got rejected. I have a rejected painting he did for Dark Carnival and at San Diego's Comic-Con got his autograph on it.

Very proud of that.

Anyway, I would nominate Nightfall by Isaac Asimov. The original short story was probably one of the most important pieces of science fiction literature. And it's a fantastic story.
Oh yeah. That one.

Earlier in the thread I was thinking "genre" stories wouldn't be considered acceptable or good enough - I recalled "The Monkey's Paw" from 9th grade English class, and rediscovered it online a few years ago (and thought a lot better of it then than in high school), but yeah, wherever a story comes from...
Yes, a fantasic story. If we did the different genres, this might well be #1 in SF.

Or maybe one of Arthur C Clarkes' stories?
I'm reminded of perhaps his most infamous, "The Nine Billion Names of God." :) Not sure if that would even be called SF.
 

Manuel Royal

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I won't pretend to be able to select the "best" short story. But we can all name our favorites.

I think "Sredni Vashtar" became my favorite story about 40 years ago. Still in my top five for sure.

There should be a Roald Dahl story in here. Maybe "The Man From the South".

And of course Fredric Brown. Maybe "Reconciliation", which for decades I misremembered as a Bradbury story.

And John Collier, damnit. Maybe "De Mortuis".

Okay, one more. L. Sprague de Camp's "Judgement Day".
 
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