Aug. 7, 2006
 
SELECTED SHORTS: Web Site Lets You Read Dozens of Short Stories Online
 
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
 
Hinton, WV (HNN) – If these hot days and nights make reading a novel seem like too much work, how about a short story? A friend in Texas turned me onto a web site that allows you to read dozens of short stories online.
 
The site is : www.classicshorts.com
 
Here’s a list of the stories, along with a rationale for the site:
 
“Fewer and fewer people these days read short stories. This is unfortunate--so few will ever experience the joy that reading such fine work can give. The goal of this site is to give a nice cross section of short stories in the hope that these short stories will excite these people into rediscovering this excellent source of entertainment.”
 
An Affair of State--Guy de Maupassant
Afterward--Edith Wharton (1862-1937)
The Ambitious Guest--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Araby--James Joyce
 
The Baron of Grogzwig--Charles Dickens
Bellflower--Guy de Maupassant
The Bet--Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904)
Beware of the Dog--Roald Dahl
Beyond the Wall--Ambrose Bierce
The Black Cat--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
A Blackjack Bargainer--O. Henry (1862-1910)
The Boarded Window--Ambrose Bierce
The Burial of the Guns--Thomas Nelson Page (1853-1922)
A Burlesque Biography--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
 
The Cask of Amontillado--Edgar Allan Poe
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County--Mark Twain
A Child's Christmas in Wales--Dylan Thomas
The Christening--Guy de Maupassant
Clay--James Joyce (1883-1941)
Coco--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Coming-Out of Maggie--O. Henry (1862-1910)
Confessing--Guy de Maupassant
The Consul--Richard Harding Davis (1864-1916)
A Coward--Guy de Maupassant
 
The Darling--Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904)
A Dead Woman's Secret--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Death Makes a Comeback--James O'Keefe
Denis--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
A Descent Into the Maelstrom--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
The Devil--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Donkey--Guy de Maupassant
The Door--E. B. White
The Door in the Wall--H. G. Wells
The Dowry--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Drunkard--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
The Elephant's Child--Rudyard Kipling
Ethan Brand--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Eva Is Inside Her Cat--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Eyes of a Blue Dog--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
The Fall of the House of Usher--Edgar Allan Poe
The Falls--George Saunders
A Family--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Farewell--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Father--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Fiddler--Herman Melville
The First Christmas Tree--Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)
Friend Patience--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
The Garden Party--Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)
The Gift of the Magi--O. Henry
The Girls in Their Summer Dresses--Irwin Shaw
The Golden Honeymoon--Ring Lardner (1885-1933)
The Great Carbuncle--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
The Griffin and the Minor Canon--Frank Stockton
 
Haircut--Ring Lardner
The Hairpin--Guy de Maupassant
The Hand--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
A Haunted House--Virginia Woolf
A Horseman in the Sky--Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
How Santa Claus Came to Simpson's Bar--Bret Harte (1836-1902)
How the Leopard Got His Spots--Rudyard Kipling
A Humble Drama--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Humiliation--Guy de Maupassant
Hunters in the Snow--Tobias Wolff
 
The Imp of the Perverse--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
In the Wood--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Indiscretion--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Inn--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Italian with Grammar--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
Italian without a Master--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
 
Julie Romain--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
The Kiss--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
The Lady, or the Tiger?--Frank Stockton
Lamb to the Slaughter--Roald Dahl
The Last Leaf--O. Henry
The Last Spin--Evan Hunter
Leiningen versus the Ants--Carl Stephenson
The Lightning-Rod Man--Herman Melville
A Little Cloud--James Joyce
The Lottery--Shirley Jackson
The Lottery Ticket--Anton Chekhov
Luck--Mark Twain
The Luck of Roaring Camp--Bret Harte (1836-1902)
 
Madame Parisse--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Mademoiselle Fifi--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Mademoiselle Pearl--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
Man From the South--Roald Dahl
Marjorie Daw--Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836-1907)
Markheim--Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
The Masque of the Red Death--Edgar Allan Poe
Mateo Falcone--Prosper Mérimée
The Minister's Black Veil--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Miss Harriet--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Monkey's Paw--W. W. Jacobs
Moonlight--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
The Most Dangerous Game--Richard Connell
The Mouse--Saki (H. H. Munro)
Mrs. Packletide's Tiger--Saki (H. H. Munro)
 
The Necklace--Guy de Maupassant
 
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge--Ambrose Bierce
Old Mongilet--Guy de Maupassant
One of These Days--Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Open Window--Saki (H. H. Munro)
 
A Passion in the Desert--Honoré de Balzac
Paul's Case--Willa Cather (1875-1947)
A Piece of Steak--Jack London
The Piece of String--Guy de Maupassant
The Pit and the Pendulum--Edgar Allan Poe
Politics and the English Language--George Orwell
The Premature Burial--Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
The Princess and the Puma--O. Henry
The Private History of a Campaign That Failed--Mark Twain
The Purloined Letter--Edgar Allan Poe
 
The Ransom of Red Chief--O. Henry
Rappaccini's Daughter--Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
Rip Van Winkle (A Posthumous Writing of Diedrich Knickerbocker)--Washington
Irving (1783-1859)
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi--Rudyard Kipling
Rocking-Horse Winner--D. H. Lawrence
 
Shooting an Elephant--George Orwell
A Slander--Anton Chekhov
The Sniper--Liam O'Flaherty
The Soldiers' Peaches--Stuart Cloete
Souls Belated--Edith Wharton
Split Cherry Tree--Jesse Stuart
Sredni Vashtar--Saki (H. H. Munro)
The Storyteller (Saki)--H. H. Munro (Saki) (1870-1916)
The Street That Got Mislaid--Patrick Waddington
 
A Telephone Call--Dorothy Parker
A Telephonic Conversation--Mark Twain (1835-1910)
The Tell-Tale Heart--Edgar Allan Poe
The Time Machine--H. G. Wells
To Build a Fire--Jack London
Two Little Soldiers--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
The Use of Force--William Carlos Williams
 
The Vendetta--Guy de Maupassant
The Vertical Fields--Fielding Dawson
 
Was it Heaven? Or Hell?--Mark Twain
What Occurred at Franklin--Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)
The Wreck--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
Young Goodman Brown--Nathaniel Hawthorne
Yvette--Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
 
Happy reading!