MY FAVORITE
SHORT STORIES
I've reviewed novels and submitted lists of books here,
including my summer reading list a couple of issues ago, but
I've never made a list of some of my favorite short stories,
those stories that have stayed with me, in many cases, years
after I've read them.
That being said, I'm sure I've mentioned some of them
before, but only because I've reviewed a story collection of the
author. And I may
not get all the facts right as I doing this by memory, and not
because I've recently read or reread any of these.
Any mistakes in this article are mine.
In fact, I'm pretty sure I've reviewed Mort Castle's
short story collection Moon On The Water, which contains
one of my all-time favorite stories, "Dani's Story."
The story itself was originally written for the final
issue #25 of the small press magazine AFTER HOURS.
The story starts with a letter from Mr. Castle to the
editor William G. Raley about why it's taking so long to get a
story written for the final issue.
The main plot has Dani being assaulted by a man while
traveling in an elevator.
But the story is a lot more than that.
It's about horror stories and horror writers and why they
write horror.
"Safe" by Gary Braunbeck, originally published Robert
Bloch's Psychos, is about the only survivor of a massacre;
all of his family dead except him.
Years later he's a school teacher in a town where a
similar killing has occurred.
The two scenes of mass murder do connect but not in a way
the reader expects.
This story also has one of my favorite opening
paragraphs. The
author starts his tale by comparing violence to a symphony.
My favorites by Stephen King are "You Know They've Got A
Hell Of A Band," which can be found in Dreamscapes and
Nightmares and "Lunch At The Gotham Café," which can be
found in Everything's Eventual.
"Lunch At The
Gotham Café" is one of the most violent stories I've read.
A divorced couple meet at The Gotham Café and bad goes to
worse as the violence escalates.
"You Know They've Got A Hell Of A Band" is about a couple
who take a wrong turn one the road in end in a town filled with
dead musicians.
As for science fiction horror, I'd have to say it's
Raccoona Sheldon's "The Screwfly Solution."
The ending of this one is quite a shocker.
At least, it was for me when I first read it years ago.
I first read it in one of Terry Carr's "Best of.."
anthologies, but it's been reprinted several places.
And then there's the older stuff.
I've always found Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"
to be very frightening.
As for something not quite as old, I've always found "The
Strange Case Of Charles Dexter Ward" to be H. P. Lovecraft's
best story.
My favorite vampire story is "A Night In The Unlife" by
David J. Schow, first published in A Whisper of Blood,
edited by Ellen Datlow.
In this story of a vampire hunter, it's implied
throughout the story that the protagonist is staking ordinary
humans and not vampires at all.
As for my favorite werewolf story, it's "Skin Trade" by
George R. R. Martin.
Okay, I know it's a novella, and not a short story, but
it's still my favorite werewolf story.
The main character, who travels through mirrors, skinning
werewolves in order to become one.
I'm sure that I could think of several more stories if I
tried a little harder, but I think I'll leave you with this
for now.
"