“THE LOTTERY” BY SHIRLEY JACKSON

This used to be my favorite short story, and I might only think that
because I read it when I was a freshman in high school and I remember
being shocked by the ending. It’s always stayed with me.

“A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND” BY FLANNERY O’CONNOR

Another story with an ending that you won’t forget anytime soon.
O’Connor was a master. If you’ve never read any of her work I would
start here.

“IN THE PENAL COLONY” BY FRANZ KAFKA

It’s a chilling story. A man known as the Traveller is visiting a foreign
penal colony where he is shown a special machine used to execute
prisoners. The machine inscribes the prisoner’s crime onto their body
until they die (kind of sounds familiar if you’ve read the fifth Harry
Potter book). It takes twelve hours of torture before the prisoner dies. I
told you it was chilling!

“THE DEVIL IN AMERICA” BY KAI ASHANTE WILSON (TOR)

Kai Ashante Wilson has quite a talent. This ties present day police
brutality towards African Americans to post-emancipation America and
a family of freed slaves that are living with the Devil that followed them
from Africa.

“THE CITY BORN GREAT” BY N.K. JEMISIN (TOR)

Cities, once they are old enough, must be born. New York City is ready to
be born, and must be led into the world by a reluctant midwife.

“SPIDER THE ARTIST” BY NNEDI OKORAFOR (LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE)

Okorafor is a wonderful storyteller, and if you’ve never read her books,
this would be a great place to start. And if you like this short story, Binti:
The Complete Trilogy was released in February!
“EXHALATION” BY TED CHIANG (LIGHTSPEED MAGAZINE)
Oh, you’ve never read Ted Chiang? Well, you must go out now and read
this story and then read Stories of Your Life and Others and his new
collection Exhalation: Stories, which comes out in May. I was shocked
by how good and complex his writing was. I had no idea that the
movie The Arrival was based on one of his short stories.

“THE DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON” BY ITALO CALVINO (THE NEW YORKER)

I don’t know. It’s either Zadie Smith’s “The Embassy of Cambodia” or
this story that is my favorite on the list… I can’t decide. I think it’s this
story. A story about the people of Earth deciding to throw away the
Moon. It’s a story of consumerism. Luckily, I own “The Complete
Cosmicomics“, so I can continue reading Calvino’s magnificent short
story collection.
“THE EMBASSY OF CAMBODIA” BY ZADIE SMITH (THE NEW YORKER)
After you read “The Devil in America” read this story and see if you can
find the parallels. This was my first time reading Zadie Smith because I’d
always heard mixed reviews, but if her longer fiction is anything like this
short story, I’m in love. If you need help figuring out where to start with
Zadie Smith’s books, check out our Reading Pathway guide to Zadie
Smith.
“SWEETNESS” BY TONI MORRISON (THE NEW YORKER)
A prelude to Morrison’s book God Help the Child, this is the story of
Bride’s mother, and her rationale for raising her daughter in a loveless
home.
“GIRLS, AT PLAY” BY CELESTE NG (BELLEVUE LITERARY REVIEW)
“This is how we play the game: pink means kissing; red means tongue.
Green means up your shirt; blue means down his pants. Purple means in
your mouth. Black means all the way.”

The first four sentences of this short story sent chills down my spine. A
superbly told story of the extremes of girlhood and adolescence; the
pressures girls face as they get older.

“ON SEEING THE 100% PERFECT GIRL ONE BEAUTIFUL APRIL MORNING” BY HARUKI
MURAKAMI (GENIUS)
Love at first sight, if you believe love is predestined rather than a choice.
Fated love, to me, no matter how hard my heart becomes, still seems
ridiculously romantic. I haven’t read Murakami in a long time but now
I’m itching to pick up one of his books (I really want to read 1Q84, but
it’s soooo long!).
“CHECHNYA” BY ANTHONY MARRA (NARRATIVE MAGAZINE)
This was Anthony Marra’s first published short story, and works as an
outline for his novel A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon. It’s the kind
of story you read while holding your breath.
“THE FRUIT OF MY WOMAN” BY HAN KANG (GRANTA)
This story was written in 1997 before the publication of The Vegetarian.
The two stories share many of the same themes, and it’s evident that this
story served as a blueprint for the later book. In “The Fruit of My
Woman” the wife is slowly turning into a tree (something that also comes
up in The Vegetarian). The allusions to Daphne turning herself into a
laurel tree to escape the advances of Apollo are hard to miss, but there’s
no clear indication that Daphne was an actual influence on either story.
Han Kang can do no wrong in my eyes.
“A LADY’S MAID” BY SARAH GAILEY (BARNES & NOBLE)
I love Sarah Gailey. This is a great introduction if you’re unfamiliar with
her work. It’s Victorian London with androids—so much to love!

“A BRUISE THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF A DOOR HANDLE” BY DAISY JOHNSON (AMERICAN
SHORT FICTION)
A hot and bothered story about a house falling in love with the girl who
lives in the attic. I loved everything about this story. This is included in
Johnson’s short story collection, Fen, and I can’t wait to get my hands on
it. Also, the writing style reminded me of Samantha Hunt.
“HOLLOW” BY BREECE D’J PANCAKE (THE ATLANTIC)
Breece D’J Pancake died when he was 26. He was from West Virginia,
and I would label his writing “grit-lit”. This story was almost too gritty
for me. He’s the kind of writer that other writers love. His short story
collection has a blurb from Joyce Carol Oates.

Want more short stories? Check out our post on the 100 best
short story collections!
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