What's Your Favorite Short Story of All Time?

[whometense]

Fun (in Boston, anyway) cold, windy, rainy Saturday thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=208x5757

[TayTay]

1. I do love 'The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson

That's a classic. (I think it even got butchered with a TV movie not too long ago.)

Wow, that list on the other board has a lot of SF (Speculative Fiction) Asimov, Harlan Ellison, even a Lovecraft. Geez, I feel so at home.

I have so many. I love this one that Stephen King did about quitting smoking, but I don't remember the name of it. It involved hiring an organization that employs vicious, mob-like tactics to get a person to quit. Very dark humor and funny.

I love all of Lovecraft, but that's because I twisted and that universe is so without hope and promise that it is really funny. (What can I say? It's an acquired taste.)

I have actually been reading Romance Shorts. They are well-written and cross-genre stuff. (Romance detectives. An excuse to jump into bed with smart men. LOL! The gorgeous, brainy, assertive women find the diamond-in-the-rough men and ahm, bring out their deeper attributes. LOL! I love that role reversal stuff.)

[whometense]

3. I love "The Lottery" too.

Went through a period of reading all the Shirley Jackson I could find.

I love that thread because it reminds me that under all the judgmental lefty hotheadedness, there are a bunch of really smart people with interesting minds, here on DU.

[paulk]

2. "In the Country of the Blind"

HG Wells



Turns the saying "in the country of the blind, the one eyed man is king" on it's head...

In the country of the blind the one eyed man is not believed.... a more accurate discription of human behavior, imho.

I read that story when I was around nine years old, and it became a cornerstone of my belief system.

[BlueIris]

4. I went with "The Devil and Daniel Webster"; Stephen Vincent Benét

You have to be in a sentimental mood when you read it, I guess, but I was at the time I first discovered it, so it made a hefty impression on me and it's still my unshakeable favorite. I've read it ten times and I could probably go read it right now and enjoy it.

[paulk]

5. I just realized I could link this!

http://www.litrix.com/cblind/cblin001.htm