The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Twelve early cases, from a speckled band to a scandal in Bohemia, narrated by Dr. Watson. This is the collection that fixed Holmes in the popular imagination.
Subject
Short stories
Tales and collections you can finish in a sitting. Each entry links onward; this site does not keep the text.
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge is walked through his past, the present he refuses to see, and a future he can still change. Dickens wrote it quickly, and it became the Christmas story people mean.
The Yellow Wallpaper
The Yellow Wallpaper
A woman confined to a room for her health begins to watch the pattern in the wallpaper. Gilman’s story is brief and does not offer the cure the physician promised.
Heart of Darkness
Heart of Darkness
Marlow tells a deck audience about his trip upriver to find Kurtz, an ivory agent who has become a rumor. Conrad’s tale is about empire and about storytelling.
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis
by Franz Kafka
Gregor Samsa wakes as an insect and worries first about missing the train. The household’s patience, and then its accounting, are the rest of the story. The link is to a public-domain English translation.
Dubliners
Dubliners
by James Joyce
Fifteen stories of Dublin life, ending with The Dead. Joyce called the method a kind of clarity; the characters often stop just short of changing.
Island Nights' Entertainments
Island Nights' Entertainments
Island Nights' Entertainments would prove to contain some of his final completed work before his death in 1894.
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was originally published by the San Francisco Examiner and was first collected in Bierce's book Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. Bierce's abandonment of strict linear narration in favor of the internal mind of the protagonist is an early example of the stream-of-consciousness narrative mode.
Mosses from an old manse
Mosses from an old manse
Mosses from an Old Manse is a short story collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published.
The Dynamiter
The Dynamiter
More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter is a gathering of linked short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson.
The Amateur Cracksman
The Amateur Cracksman
by E. W. (Ernest William) Hornung
The Amateur Cracksman was published in the UK by Methuen & Co. London, and in the US by Scribner's, New York.
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; The Portrait of Mr. W.H., and Other Stories
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; The Portrait of Mr. W.H., and Other Stories
by Oscar Wilde
Lord Arthur Savile's Crime; The Portrait of Mr. W.H., and Other Stories includes: "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime" "The Canterville Ghost" "The Sphinx Without a Secret" "The Model Millionaire" In later editions, another story, "The Portrait of Mr. W.
The Red One
The Red One
by Jack London
The Red One was first published in the October issue of The Cosmopolitan, two years after London's death. The Red One was reprinted in the same year by MacMillan, in a gathering of London's stories of the same name.
A House of Pomegranates
A House of Pomegranates
by Oscar Wilde
A House of Pomegranates is Wilde's second fairy tale collection, following The Happy Prince and Other Tales. He said of the book that it was "intended neither for the British child nor the British public".
The Happy Prince, and Other Tales
The Happy Prince, and Other Tales
by Oscar Wilde
The Happy Prince, and Other Tales contains five stories that are highly popular among children and frequently read in schools: "The Happy Prince," "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Selfish Giant," "The Devoted Friend," and "The Remarkable Rocket. " The short stories are valued for their morals, and have been made into animated films.
To Be Read at Dusk
To Be Read at Dusk
"To Be Read at Dusk" is a short story written by Charles Dickens, first published in The Keepsake.
Joe Wilson and His Mates
Joe Wilson and His Mates
by Henry Lawson
Joe Wilson and His Mates was released in hardback by William Blackwood in when Lawson was living in England, and features one of the author's better known stories in "The Loaded Dog". The collection contains twenty stories which are mostly reprinted from a variety of newspaper and magazine sources, with several published here for the first time.
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado
The Cask of Amontillado, set in an unnamed Italian city at Carnival time, concerns a man taking fatal revenge on a friend who, he believes, has insulted him. Like several of Poe's stories, and in keeping with the 19th-century fascination with the subject, the narrative follows a person being buried alive – in this case, by immurement.
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death
The Masque of the Red Death stays with Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color.
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (怪談, Kaidan; also archaic romanized Kwaidan), often shortened to Kwaidan ("ghost story"), is a 1904 book by Koizumi Yakumo (Lafcadio Hearn) that features several Japanese ghost stories and a brief non-fiction study on insects.
A Message from the Sea
A Message from the Sea
"A Message from the Sea" is a set of short stories by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, Robert Buchanan, Charles Allston Collins, Amelia Edwards and Harriet Parr, written in 1860 for the Christmas issue of All the Year Round.
Tom Tiddler's Ground
Tom Tiddler's Ground
Tom Tiddler's ground, also known as Tom Tidler's ground or Tommy Tiddler's ground, is a longstanding children's game. One player, "Tom Tiddler", stands on a heap of stones, gravel, etc.
Doctor Marigold
Doctor Marigold
Originally published, Doctor Marigold was extremely successful, as were Dickens's public performances of a play based on the story--fascinating and easy to read. Doctor (it is his given name) Marigold is a "Cheap Jack" or what we would call a street peddler.
My Buried Treasure
My Buried Treasure
My Buried Treasure was published as a book, but is set in the 18th century, and tells a story of "buccaneers and buried gold". My Buried Treasure is considered a coming-of-age story, and is noted for its atmosphere, characters, and action.
The Messengers
The Messengers
The Messengers stars Kristen Stewart, John Corbett, William B. Davis, Dylan McDermott, Carter Kolbeck and Penelope Ann Miller.
A Set of Six
A Set of Six
The works were collected in A Set of Six, published by Methuen and Company.
A House to Let
A House to Let
A House to Let was originally published the Christmas edition of Dickens's Household Words magazine. Collins wrote the introduction and collaborated with Dickens on the second story and ending, while Gaskell and Proctor wrote the third and fifth chapters respectively.
The Son of the Wolf
The Son of the Wolf
by Jack London
The Son of the Wolf is a northern set in Canada's Yukon and is based on a short story of the same name by Jack London.
Lost Face
Lost Face
by Jack London
Lost Face takes its name from the first short story in the book, about an European adventurer in the Yukon who outwits his (American) Indian captors' plans to torture him. Lost Face includes London's best-known short story, "To Build a Fire".
When God Laughs, and Other Stories
When God Laughs, and Other Stories
by Jack London
Released, When God Laughs, and Other Stories is the eleventh gathering of short stories by Jack London. In contrast with most of his other work that had been released at the time, When God Laughs is set in Polynesia.
A Dog's Tale
A Dog's Tale
by Mark Twain
A Dog's Tale first appeared in the December issue of Harper's Magazine. In January of the following year it was extracted into a stand-alone pamphlet published for the National Anti-Vivisection Society.
The Decameron, Volume I
The Decameron, Volume I
The Decameron ( dih-KAM-ər-ən; Italian: Decameron [deˈkaːmeron, dekameˈrɔn, -ˈron] or Decamerone [dekameˈroːne]), subtitled Prince Galehaut (Old Italian: Prencipe Galeotto [ˈprentʃipe ɡaleˈɔtto, ˈprɛn-]), is a gathering of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375).
The Haunted Mind (From "Twice Told Tales")
The Haunted Mind (From "Twice Told Tales")
The Haunted Mind (From "Twice Told Tales") was first published in The Token and Atlantic Souvenir,. The Haunted Mind (From "Twice Told Tales") was later included in Volume Two of Twice-Told Tales, a gathering of short stories by Hawthorne published.
A Virtuoso's Collection (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
A Virtuoso's Collection (From "Mosses from an Old Manse")
A Virtuoso's Collection (From "Mosses from an Old Manse") was first published in Boston Miscellany of Literature and Fashion, I (May ), 193-200, and later included as the final story in the compilation Mosses from an Old Manse.
The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales")
The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") was first published in the edition of The Token and Atlantic Souvenir, edited by Samuel Griswold Goodrich. The Man of Adamant (From: "The Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales") later appeared in Hawthorne's final gathering of short stories The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, published by Ticknor, Reed & Fields.
Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures
Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures
Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures comprises ten illustrated and rhymed stories, mostly about children. Each cautionary tale has a clear moral lesson that demonstrates the disastrous consequences of misbehavior in an exaggerated way.
A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches
A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches
A Country Doctor and Selected Stories and Sketches, which was first published, was based on the relationship between Jewett and her physician father.
The Man Without a Country, and Other Tales
The Man Without a Country, and Other Tales
The Man Without a Country, and Other Tales recounts a young American officer who declares himself disgusted with his country during a trial for treason, and wishes he never hears about her ever again. He is sentenced to spend the rest of his days at sea without so much as a word of news about the United States.
The Mummy's Foot
The Mummy's Foot
The Mummy's Foot relates the fantastical tale of a contemporary man and the adventures which befall him when he ventures into a Parisian curiosity shop and buys the four-thousand-year-old foot of Princess Hermonthis.
To Whom This May Come 1898
To Whom This May Come 1898
To Whom This May Come 1898 was first published in the February issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine.
The Damned Thing 1898, From "In the Midst of Life"
The Damned Thing 1898, From "In the Midst of Life"
The Damned Thing 1898, From "In the Midst of Life" first appeared in Town Topics.
The snow-image: a childish miracle
The snow-image: a childish miracle
"The Snow-Image: A Childish Miracle" is a short story by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, which gave its title to his collection The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales, published.
Mrs. Spring Fragrance
Mrs. Spring Fragrance
by Sui Sin Far
Mrs. Spring Fragrance is notable for being "the earliest book of fiction published in the United States by an author of mixed Chinese and white descent. " Although the stories in the collection were written in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, they were not compiled into a single book until.