Your Absolute Favorite 3 Short Stories or Collections...What Are They?

[twg144]

Ooo!  Good call on the O. Henry!  Sometimes I think I'm the only one who has ever heard of him...  You said I can nominate collections right?  In that case, The Collected Works of O. Henry!  I was rather fond of his "The Ransom of Red Chief".  I LOVED "I Am Legend", and didn't know it was a short story, so was a little confused when I started the next chapter and was like, "What is going on....OOOOOH!"  And I'm also going to have to go with "The Illustrated Man" by Ray Bradbury, too.  Totally wonderful!  There's my short list!

Another O'Henry Lover! Finally... I was beginning to think he was gone and forgotten. and your Ray Bradbury is an awesome story as well.

[flipside]

It's kind of hard to miss out on O. Henry when he's known for his endings.

[Paul Reid]

I'm really enjoying the short story collections of William Trevor right now. He's been widely acknowledged to be the world's greatest living short story writer, which is purely a matter of personal taste of course, but I highly recommend him. He commonly writes about the more vulnerable and marginalised members of society, and some of his stories can be quite heart-rending, but he is very, very addictive.

[Sean Patrick Reardon]

Cool, and tough question.

1. Nightmares and Dreamscapes- Stephen King

2. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

3.The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories

[chrisanthropic]

I'd have to say, in no particular order:

 - Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
 - I am Legend by Richard Matheson
 - The Dreams in the Witch House by H.P. Lovecraft

[SylviaLucas]

It's kind of hard to miss out on O. Henry when he's known for his endings.

You just reminded me of an O. Henry collection I found at a thrift store and have been meaning to read - thank you!

[grahampowell]

My own choices for collections / anthologies would be:

The Deathbird Stories by Harlan Ellison.
Trouble Is My Business by Raymond Chandler
The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories editor by Bill Pronzini

That last one pretty much sums up 20th century PI writing from the 20s up through at least the 60s.


Graham