The 10 Best Short Stories of All Time

Sometimes shorter is better. Sometimes you can squeeze a whole book’s worth of feelings into a few pages. The short story is the Holy Grail of literary achievement, and these are the ten best of all time.

The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is both one of the finest works of horror fiction and a brilliant work of early feminist literature. Written in the 19th century, The Yellow Wallpaper tells the story of a woman who is locked away in a room by her husband and doctor in order to treat her “nervous condition.” As the woman continues to remain in solitude, she begins seeing another woman trapped in the yellow wallpaper that covers the room. And thus, a slow descent into madness begins. The best part? By going absolutely feral, the woman begins to experience a sort of freedom of her own.

A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Flannery O’Connor’s A Good Man Is Hard To Find is hailed as a masterpiece of Southern Gothic fiction, and one of the most important works in the genre. The story begins mundane, a simple tale of a mid 20th century family hopping in a car to go on vacation. The story quickly takes a left turn and goes from zero to 95. I won’t spoil anything, but’s a tragedy about coming face to face with evil, and how to remain graceful in spite of it.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart is a Gothic horror classic, the tale of a man who swears that he’s not crazy … he’s only plotting to kill his neighbor because of the old man’s “vulgar eye.” Totally understandable. He then hides the body under the floorboards … but swears that he can still hear the sound of the mans beating “tell tale” heart. It’s a story of abject paranoia, a psychological horror romp to give you all them goosebumps

The Lottery

Like the best short stories, Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery starts innocuous and then slowly descends into madness. In a sleepy little small town without a name, the residents of the town gather in order to attend the yearly lottery. The townspeople casually discuss the event, which is a tradition as old as the town itself, but something is … off. There’s a nervousness that begins to permeate throughout the townsfolk as the event draws closer. Perhaps the winner of this lottery isn’t going to get a prize after all … perhaps they’re going to get something very bad.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Written by Civil War veteran Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge tells the story of a Confederate sympathizer who is to be hanged at Owl Creek Bridge by Union soldiers at the end of the war. But what’s this? The rope breaks! He swims through the water dodging bullets and cannonballs! He might just make it home! Or will he? This hallucinatory work has one of the best twist endings in all of short storydom. This 19th century tale could very well have been directed by Christopher Nolan.

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is a sci-fi joint about a seemingly utopian city where the happiness of the population depends entirely on the perpetual misery of a small child. While most of the city’s citizens have rationalized the travesty, this story centers around the those who are unable to continue living Omelas after finding out the cruel truth. It’s a story about group think, the greater good, and the justification of a society that runs on suffering.

A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings

Gabriel García Márquez’ A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings is about exactly that, a very old man with enormous wings, who one day appears in a small town. The townsfolk initially see the man as an angel, but the evils of human nature quickly override their respect for the seemingly divine. They capture the old man and use him as tourist trap, getting people from far and wide to pay money to see him. It’s a story about faith, depravity, and the tendency of human beings to ruin everything. Even the heavens themselves.

Cat Person

Kristen Roupenian’s “Cat Person” is a recently viral short story that doubles as a dissertation on why women choose the bear. The tale is about a recent college graduate who begins a relationship with a man over a decade older than she. What starts as a seemingly innocuous relationship quickly sours, with the older man quickly turning to emotional manipulation in order to attempt to become the sole target of the young woman’s affections. It’s a tale about how darkness can lurk under the surface of even the most seemingly innocent of people, and a cautionary tale about one of the most contentious issues of modern dating: the age gap.

The Nine Billion Names of God

The Nine Billion Names of God is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clark about a group of Tibetan monks who, after three centuries of work, believe that have created an alphabet that will allow them to write the true name of God. In order to uncover the divine name, they enlist the help of two Western computer programmers to help them sequence out all the possible letter combinations of the name, a process would take 15,000 years if done by hand. The programmers are skeptical at first, but come to the terrifying realization that the monks might just be onto something … and the world may not survive the result.

The Story of Your Life

Remember that movie Arrival about the seven footed squid aliens that show up on Earth and attempt to communicate? Ted Chiang’s The Story of Your Life is the short story that birthed the film. A linguist is hired by the U.S. military in order to translate the alien communication of The Heptapods, whose spaceship is chilling in American airspace. Her mission is to find out what the aliens want. Is it technology? Safe haven? War? Nope. The aliens want to give a gift … a gift more profound than the gift of language. They want to give humans a new way of thinking. Profound.