Short Stories

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5 stars: Completely enjoyable or compelling
4 stars: Good but flawed
3 stars: Average
2 stars: OK
1 star: Did not finish

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Beat the Backlist 2023

Canadian Book Challenge: 2022-2023

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Book Reviews: Short Stories

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Academic Discourse at Havana by Wallace Stevens
Adaptogenia by Wayne Wightman
Advances in Modern Chemotherapy by Michael Alexander
Against the Current by Robert Silverberg
The Alarming Letters from Scottsdale by Warner Law
All in Fun by Jerry Oltion
Altered Realities by Alfred Bester
Amor Fugit by Alexandra Duncan
Andrea by John O'Hara
Andreanna by S. L. Gilbow
Another Life by Charles Oberndorf
Another Perfect Day by Steven Popkes
Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth (2023)
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief by Maurice Leblanc
The Art of the Dragon by Sean McMullen
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe by Robert Onopa
The Avenger of Love by Jack Skillingstead

Bad Manners by Chris Manby
Bad Matter by Alexandra Duncan
Bait by Robin Aurelian
Balancing Accounts by James L. Cambias
The Bamboo Confessions by Lauren Weisberger
The Bandits of the Trace by Albert E. Cowdrey
Beekeeping for Beginners by Laurie R. King
Bellwether by Connie Willis
The Best Christmas Ever by James Patrick Kelly
Beyond: the Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology edited by Sfé R. Monster
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor
Binti: Home by Nnedi Okorafor
The Bird Shaman's Girl by Judith Moffett
Black Enough edited by Ibi Zoboi
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
The Blacking Factory by Wilfred Sheed
The Blight Family Singers by Kit Reed
Blind Spot by Rick Wilber and Nick DiChario
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami
Blocked by Geoff Ryman
Blood Fruit edited by James E.M. Rasmussen
The Boarder by Alexander Jablokov
The Bone Man by Frederic S. Durbin
The Bones of Giants by Yoon Ha Lee
Border Markers by Jenny Ferguson
Borders of Infinity by Lois McMaster Bujold
Boundless by Jillian Tamaki
Bounty by Rand B. Lee
The Brave Little Toaster by Thomas M. Disch
Bread and Circus by Steven Popkes
"But Wait! There's More!" by Richard Mueller
Buy Jupiter by Isaac Asimov

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck
Catalog by Eugene Mirabelli
Catamount by Marc Laidlaw
Changeling by Dean Whitlock
The Channel: Stories from L. A. by Susan Alcott Jardine
Character Flu by Robert Reed
Chicks Dig Time Lords edited by Lynne M. Thomas
Childrun by Marc Laidlaw
Chili Cauldron Curse by Lynn Cahoon
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
Chronicle of the City of Havana by Eduardo Galeano
Cinder the Fireplace Boy (Rewoven Tales) by Ana Mardoll
Circle by George Tucker
Class Trip by Rand B. Lee
Click: One Novel Ten Authors by edited by Arthur Levine
Collected Ghost Stories by M. R. James
The Color Master: Stories by Aimee Bender
Common Bonds edited by Claudie Arseneault
The Company of Cats by Michael J. Rosen
The Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
Corona Centurion™ by Terry Bisson
Creole Ladies, Marti the Smuggler, Bullfighting by Maturin M. Ballou
The Crocodiles by Steven Popkes
The Cuba Journal by Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
Cuba Revisted by Martha Gellhorn
Cuban Childhood by Frei Betto and Fidel Castro
Cuban Sketches (excerpt) by James Steele
The Curandero and the Swede: A Tale from the 1001 American Nights by Daniel Abraham

Dance of Shadows by Fred Chappell
The Dancers' War (in Like Twin Stars) by N. K. Jemisin
Days of Wonder by Geoff Ryman
Dazzle Joins the Screenwriter's Guild by Scott Bradfield
December 22, 2012 by Sophie M. White
The Diamond Shadow by Fred Chappell
The Dinosaur Train by James L. Cambias
Don't Ask by M. Rickert
(Don't) Call Me Crazy edited by Kelly Jensen
Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier
Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
Dr. Death and the Vampire by Aaron Schutz
Dragon's Teeth by Alex Irvine
Dreaming in Cuban (excerpt) by Cristina Garcia

Echoes from the Macabre by Daphne du Maurier
Economancer by Carolyn Ives Gilman
The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas
An Elvish Sword of Great Antiquity by Jim Aikin
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
Enfant Terrible by Scott Dalrymple
Epidapheles and the Inadequately Enraged Demon by Ramsey Shehadeh
Epidapheles and the Insufficiently Affectionate Ocelot by Ramsey Shehadeh
Esoteric City by Bruce Sterling
Everything Inside by Edwidge Danticat
Evidence of Love in a Case of Abandonment by M. Rickert
Exit Strategy by K D Wentworth
Explorer: The Hidden Doors by Kazu Kibuishi
The Exterminator's Want Ad by Bruce Sterling

Fables from the Mud by Erik Quisling
The Fairy Princess by Dennis Danvers
Falling Angel by Eugene Mirabelli
The Far Shore by Elizabeth Hand
Farewell Atlantis by Terry Bisson
Fergus by Mary Patterson Thornburg
Finisterra by David Moles
Firehorn by Robert Reed
Firooz and His Brother by Alex Jeffers
The First Editions by James Stoddard
Five by Julianna Baggott
Five Thrillers by Robert Reed
A Foreign Country by Wayne Wightman
Forever by Rachel Pollack
Fort Clay, Louisiana: A Tragical History by Albert E. Cowdrey
Forty Days by Jill Smolinski
The Fountain of Neptune by Kate Wilhelm
The 400-Million-Year Itch by Steven Utley
Fragrant Goddess by Paul Park
Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger
The Frog Comrade by Benjamin Rosenbaum
Fullbrim's Finding by Matthew Hughes
The Future is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente

The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey
Geektastic edited by Holly Black
Get off the Unicorn by Anne McCaffrey
Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance by Paul Park
The Girl in the Flammable Skirt by Aimee Bender
The Girl Who Ruled Fairyland - For a Little While by Catherynne M. Valente
The Goddamned Tooth Fairy by Tina Kuzminski
~~Going Back~~ in ~~Time~~ by Laurel Winter
The Golden Mean by Nick Bantock
Good Bones and Simple Murders by Margaret Atwood
Grimm's Grimmest by Tracy Arah Dockray (with the Brothers Grimm)
Guys and Dolls by Damon Runyon
The Gypsy's Boy by Lokiko Hall

Halloween Town by Lucius Shepard
Havana Letter by William Cullen Bryant
Hell of a Fix by Matthew Hughes
A History of Cadmium by Elizabeth Bourne
The Homecoming by Ray Bradbury
How the Day Runs Down by John Langan
How Seosiris Lost the Favor of the King by James L. Cambias
Hunchster by Matthew Hughes

I Know a Woman by Quinn Dalton
I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said by Richard Bowes
Icarus Saved from the Sky by Georges-Olivier Châteaureynaud
Idaho Snapshots by Rick Just
Idiot Girls' Action-Adventure Club by Laurie Notaro
If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes
The Illusions of Tranquility by Brendan DuBois
Immortal Snake by Rachel Pollack
The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (audio) edited by John Joseph Abrams
In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente
Inside Job by Connie Willis
Inside Story by Albert E. Cowdrey
Inside Time by Tim Sullivan
Introduction to Joyous Cooking 200th Anniversary Edition by Heather Lindsey
Iris by Nancy Springer
"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby
It's a Wonderful Life by Michaela Roessen

Japanese Fairy Tales by J. Robert Magee
Just Visiting by Nancy Sparling

The Langoliers by Stephen King
Leave by Robert Reed
Leaving a Light On by Claire LaZebnik
The Lesson of the Master by Henry James
The Library Policeman by Stephen King
Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain
The Light, The Dark and Ember Between by J.W. Nicklaus
Litany by Rand B. Lee
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto
Logicist by Carol Emshwiller
Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds
Looking for Jake by China Miéville
The Long Retreat by Robert Reed
The Long Valley by John Steinbeck
The Lost Elephants of Kenyisha by Ken Altabef
The Lost Pilgrim by Gene Wolfe
Lost Places by Sarah Pinsker

Make-Believe by Michael Reaves
The Man Who Did Something About It by Harvey Jacobs
Marlin off the Morro by Ernest Hemingway
Mars: A Traveler's Guide by Ruth Nestvold
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Memoirs of the Witch Queen by Ron Goulart
Mermaid by Robert Reed
Monkey See... by P. E. Cunningham
The Monopoly Man by Barry B. Longyear
The Motorman's Coat by John Kessel
Mr. Sweetpants and the Living Dead by Albert E. Cowdry
The Museum of Purgatory by Nick Bantock
My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather
Muse and Reverie by Charles de Lint
The Mystery of the Haunted Cottage by Derek Landy
Mystery Hill by Alex Irvine

Nanosferatu by Dean Whitlock
Never Blood Enough by Joe Haldeman
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates by Stephen King
The Night Train by Kate Wilhelm
The Night We Buried Road Dog by Jack Cady
Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger
Nine Whispered Opinions Regarding the Alaskan Secession by George Guthridge
No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll
The Nocturnal Adventure of Dr. O and Mr. D by Tim Sullivan
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nothing O'Clock by Neil Gaiman

The Old Maid by Edith Wharton
Old Man by William Faulkner
On the Way Home by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Rose Wilder Lane
Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali
One Bright Star to Guide Them by Mark C. Wright
The Only Known Jump Across Time by Eugene Mirabelli
An Open Letter to Earth by Scott Dalrymple
An Ornithologist's Guide to Life by Ann Hood
Orsinian Tales by Ursula K. Le Guin
Osama Phone Home by David Marusek
The Others by Lawrence C. Connolly
Our Man in Havana (excerpt) by Graham Greene
The Overseer by Albert E. Cowdrey

Paradiso Lost by Albert E. Cowdrey
Past Perfect Present Tense by Richard Peck
The Perfect Infestation by Carol Emshwiller
Persistence of Memory by J. M. Snyder
Petri Parousia by Matthew Hughes
Philologos, Or a Murder in Bistrita by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
Picnic at Pentecost by Rand B. Lee
Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon
Pining to Be Human by Richard Bowes
Planetesimal Dawn by Tim Sullivan
Poirot Investigates by Agatha Christie and David Suchet (Narrator)
Poison Victory by Albert E. Cowdrey
The Political Prisoner by Charles Coleman Finlay
Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened edited by Jason Rodriguez
The Precedent by Sean McMullan
The Price of Silence by Deborah Ross
Pride and Promethius by John Kessel
Private Eye by Terry Bisson
Private Eye by Albert E. Cowdrey
Pudd'n'head Wilson by Mark Twain
Puerto Rico Strong edited by Hazel Newlevant
Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi
Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi

Queen for a Day by Albert E. Cowdrey
The Quest for Creeping Charlie by James Powell
Quickstone by Marc Laidlaw

Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman by E.W. Hornung
Reader's Guide by Lisa Goldstein
The Real Martian Chronicles by John Sladek
Rebecca's Locket by S L Gilbow
Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space edited by Zoraida Córdova
The Recreation Room by Albert E. Cowdrey
Recrossing the Styx by Ian R. McLeod
Red as Blood by Tanith Lee
The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente
The Regent's Knight by J. M. Snyder
Remotest Mansions of the Blood by Alex Irvine
Render Unto Caesar by Kevin N. Haw
Retrograde Summer by John Varley
Retrospect by Ann Miller
Reunion by Robert Reed
The Roberts by Michael Blumlein
The Ripple Effect by Malorie Blackman
Rising Waters by Patricia Ferrara
Rumple What? by Nancy Springer
Run! Run! by Jim Aikin

Sabine's Notebook by Nick Bantock
A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett
Salad for Two by Robert Reed
The Salting and Canning of Benevolence D. by Al Michaud
The Scarecrow's Boy by Michael Swanwick
Science Fiction and Alternate History by David Scholes
Sea Wrack by Edward Jesby
Seafarer's Blood by Albert E. Cowdrey
Search Continues for Elderly Man by Laura Kasischke
The Second Descent by Richard Paul Russo
The Secret Lives of Fairy Tales by Steven Popkes
Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King
The Secrets of a Fire King by Kim Edwards
Seven Sins for Seven Dwarves by Hilary Goldstein
The Sevenfold Spell by Tia Nevitt
Shadow of the Valley by Fred Chappell
Shadows on the Walls of the Cave by Kate Wilhelm
Shadow-Below by Robert Reed
She's Fleeing a Byronic Hero by Lady Alana Smithee
"Shed that Guilt! Double Your Productivity Overnight!" by Michael Swanwick and Eileen Gunn
Silence by Dale Bailey
Singing to Cuba by Margarita Engle
Sister Margaret by Rhonda Parrish
Sleepless Years by Steven Utley
Small Worlds by Gretchen Laskas
Snowfall by Jessie Thompson
Something Borrowed by Richelle Mead
Songwood by Marc Laidlaw
Sooner or Later or Never Never by Gary Jennings
Spaceman by Mike O'Driscoll
Speculative Los Angeles edited by Denise Hamilton
The Spiral Briar by Sean McMullen
Spore by Alex Scarrow
The Star to Every Wandering Barque by James Stoddard
Star-Crossed by Tim Sullivan
Steadfast Castle by Michael Swanwick
Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson
Stratosphere by Henry Garfield
Stray by Benjamin Rosenbaum and David Ackert
A Study in Sherlock edited by Laurie R. King
Sun Dog by Stephen King

Tales from Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett
The Tale of the Namelss Chameleon by Brenda Carre
A Ten-Pound Sack of Rice by Richard Mueller
Texas Bake Sale by Charles Coleman Finlay
That Hell-Bound Train by Robert Bloch
Thief of Shadows by Fred Chappell
This Spell Can't Last by Isabel Sterling
Three Leaves of Aloe by Rand B. Lee
Thrilling Wonder Stories by Robert E. Cowdrey
A Token of a Better Age by Melinda M. Snodgrass
Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck
A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris
The Travesties by Giselle Renarde
The Tribes of Bela by Albert E. Cowdrey
Trickster: Native American Tales by Matt Dembicki
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Two-Month Itch by Sarah Mlynowski
Two Weeks After by M. Ramsey Chapman

The Uncertainty Principle by Lynda Curnyn
Unpossible by Daryl Gregory
Unstrung Zither by Yoon Ha Lee
Urdumheim by Michael Swanwick

Venues by Richard Bowes
The View from on High by Steven R. Boyett
The Visionaries by Robert Reed
The Voluntary State by Christopher Rowe
Voodoo, C-Cups and Enimem by Melissa Senate

Waiting for the Phone to Ring by Richard Bowes
The War with Spain (excerpt) by Henry Cabot Lodge
Ward No. 6 by Anton Chekov
The Way They Wove the Spells in Sippulgar by Robert Silverberg
Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Welcome to Your Authentic Indian Experience™ by Rebecca Roanhorse
What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
What to Wear by Consuelo Hermer and Marjorie May
Why that Crazy Old Lady Goes up the Mountain by Michael Libling
"A Wild and Wicked Youth" by Ellen Kushner
Winding Broomcorn by Mario Milosevic
The Window of Time by Richard Matheson
Whoever by Carol Emshwiller
Wild Crimes by Dana Stabenow
The Willowdale Handcar by Edward Gorey
Who Brought Tulips to the Moon? by S. L. Gilbow
Writers of the Future by Charles Oberndorf

X Marks The Spot edited by Theo Hendrie

Yoga Babe by Lauren Henderson
You Are Such a One by Nancy Springer
Youth by Joseph Conrad

1997-2023 Sarah Sammis