April 2024 favorites

April 2024

The April stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Basement Room’ by Graham Greene
  2. ‘Barn Burning’ by Haruki Murakami
  3. ‘Boys And Girls Like You And Me’ by Aryn Kyle
  4. ‘The Sea Latch’ by Cara Blue Adams
  5. ‘Hole’ by Andrew Porter
  6. ‘Face Time’ by Lorrie Moore
  7. ‘The Reverse Bug’ by Lore Segal
  8. ‘The Eclipse’ by Elizabeth Spencer
  9. ‘A Wet Day’ by Mary Lavin
  10. ‘Paradise’ by Edna O’Brien
  11. ‘The Swan’ by Roald Dahl
  12. ‘Which Is More Than I Can Say About Some People’ by Lorrie Moore
  13. ‘The Disappeared’ by Andrew Porter
  14. ‘B.F. And Me’ by Lucia Berlin
  15. ‘By The Waters Of Babylon’ by Stephen Vincent Benét
  16. ‘A Thing At Work’ by George Saunders
  17. ‘I, Buffalo’ by Vauhini Vara
  18. ‘The Mom Of Bold Action’ by George Saunders
  19. ‘The Man Who Loved Islands’ by D.H. Lawrence
  20. ‘Draft Day’ by Rattawut Lapcharoensap
  21. ‘Texas’ by David Gates
  22. ‘Wish You Were Here’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  23. ‘A Sheltered Woman’ by Yiyun Li
  24. ‘The Greatest Gift’ by Philip Van Doren Stern
  25. ‘Unknown Unknowns’ by Vauhini Vara
  26. ‘Chance The Cat’ by David Means
  27. ‘The Island’ by Tove Jansson
  28. ‘Island’ by Gretel Ehrlich
  29. ‘The Wisdom Of Eve’ by Mary Orr
  30. ‘Life Without Children’ by Roddy Doyle

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.

August 2023 favorites

August 2023

The August stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘All Will Be Well’ by Yiyun Li
  2. ‘Virginia City’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  3. ‘A Consent’ by Wendell Berry
  4. ‘The Hurt Man’ by Wendell Berry
  5. ‘A Sandstone Farmhouse’ by John Updike
  6. ‘Wednesday’s Child’ by Yiyun Li
  7. ‘After The Theatre’ by Anton Chekhov
  8. ‘Don’t Send A Boy To Do A Man’s Work’ by Wendell Berry
  9. ‘The Devastating Boys’ by Elizabeth Taylor
  10. ‘The Bride’ by Maeve Brennan
  11. ‘The First Kiss’ by Clarice Lispector
  12. ‘Exit Zero’ by Marie-Helene Bertino
  13. ‘The Lost Bet’ by Wendell Berry
  14. ‘Home Sickness’ by George Moore
  15. ‘Bettering Myself’ by Ottessa Moshfegh
  16. ‘The Management Of Grief’ by Bharati Mukherjee
  17. ‘Brawler’ by Lauren Groff
  18. ‘Plan Of The Peak Cavern’ by Emily Temple
  19. ‘Three Days’ by Samantha Hunt
  20. ‘Gryphon’ by Charles Baxter
  21. ‘Cords’ by Edna O’Brien
  22. ‘The Archivist’ by Claire Vaye Watkins
  23. ‘Moon Rocket’ by Elizabeth Spencer
  24. ‘Separation’ by Clare Sestanovich
  25. ‘Thicker Than Liquor’ by Wendell Berry
  26. ‘The Cult Of Mary’ by Laura Van Den Berg
  27. ‘You Are Now Entering The Human Heart’ by Janet Frame
  28. ‘Wide Spot’ by Thomas McGuane
  29. ‘A Prize For Every Player’ by A.M. Homes
  30. ‘Lord Emsworth And The Girlfriend’ by P.G. Wodehouse
  31. ‘Resistance’ by Stephan Enter

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.

August 2021 favorites

August 2021

The August stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Mad Lomasneys’ by Frank O’Connor
  2. ‘Bluebell Meadow’ by Benedict Kiely
  3. ‘Bravado’ by William Trevor
  4. ‘Upturned’ by Frank O’Connor
  5. ‘The Trout’ by Sean O’Faolain
  6. ‘News For The Church’ by Frank O’Connor
  7. ‘The Mouth Of The Cave’ by Edna O’Brien
  8. ‘The Day We Got Our Own Back’ by Maeve Brennan
  9. ‘Unread Messages’ by Sally Rooney
  10. ‘The Majesty Of The Law’ by Frank O’Connor
  11. ‘Lord Emsworth Acts For The Best’ by P.G. Wodehouse
  12. ‘The Sugawn Chair’ by Sean O’Faolain
  13. ‘Unholy Living And Half Dying’ by Sean O’Faolain
  14. ‘Color And Light’ by Sally Rooney
  15. ‘The Wine Breath’ by John McGahern
  16. ‘Everything In This Country Must’ by Colum McCann
  17. ‘A Dead Cert’ by Sean O’Faolain
  18. ‘The Poteen Maker’ by Michael McLaverty
  19. ‘Up The Bare Stairs’ by Sean O’Faolain
  20. ‘Who’s-Dead McCarthy’ by Kevin Barry
  21. ‘The Curfew’ by Roddy Doyle
  22. ‘Judas’ by Frank O’Connor
  23. ‘Legend For A Painting’ by Julia O’Faolain
  24. ‘On The Empty Shore’ by Seosamh Mac Grianna
  25. ‘(She Owns) Every Thing’ by Anne Enright

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.

January 2021 favorites

January 2021

The January stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Love Object’ by Edna O’Brien
  2. ‘Dandelion’ by Lore Segal
  3. ‘The Headstrong Historian’ by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  4. ‘The Black Monk’ by Anton Chekhov
  5. ‘Her Table Spread’ by Elizabeth Bowen
  6. ‘Cloud, Castle, Lake’ by Vladimir Nabokov
  7. ‘Modern Girls’ by Teju Cole
  8. ‘The Bound Man’ by Ilse Aichinger
  9. ‘The Married Couple’ by Franz Kafka
  10. ‘Everything’ by Ingeborg Bachmann
  11. ‘The Sacrificial Egg’ by Chinua Achebe
  12. ‘Phantoms’ by Ivan Turgenev
  13. ‘In The Shadow Of War’ by Ben Okri
  14. ‘The Hawk’ by Liam O’Flaherty
  15. ‘Work, Death, And Sickness’ by Leo Tolstoy
  16. ‘The Hotel’ by Anne Enright
  17. ‘Aspic’ by Tatyana Tolstaya

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.

July 2020 favorites

July 2020

The July stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

    1. ‘Wenlock Edge’ by Alice Munro
    2. ‘The Green Banana’ by J.F. Powers
    3. ‘Corrie’ by Alice Munro
    4. ‘Family Furnishings’ by Alice Munro
    5. ‘A Bird In The House’ by Margaret Laurence
    6. ‘The Mask Of The Bear’ by Margaret Laurence
    7. ‘To Set Our House In Order’ by Margaret Laurence
    8. ‘Mademoiselle Pearl’ by Guy de Maupassant
    9. ‘Gravel’ by Alice Munro
    10. ‘Father Abe’ by James McBride
    11. ‘The Loons’ by Margaret Laurence
    12. ‘A Priest In The Family’ by Colm Tóibín
    13. ‘Robert E. Lee Is Dead’ by Danielle Evans
    14. ‘Brownies’ by ZZ Packer
    15. ‘Some Get Back’ by Robert J. Williams
    16. ‘The Sound Of The Singing’ by Margaret Laurence
    17. ‘Cattle Haul’ by Jesmyn Ward
    18. ‘Visitor’ by Bryan Washington
    19. ‘The Creature’ by Edna O’Brien
    20. ‘Funny Little Snake’ by Tessa Hadley
    21. ‘Connection’ by Mary Gaitskill
    22. ‘Trying To Be’ by Mary Gaitskill
    23. ‘At The Seminary’ by Joyce Carol Oates
    24. ‘An Affair, Edited’ by Mary Gaitskill
    25. ‘The Rise Of Capitalism’ by Donald Barthelme
    26. ‘Exteriors’ by Kathleen Collins
    27. ‘Prue’ by Alice Munro

As always, join the conversation in the comments section below, on SSMT Facebook or on Twitter @ShortStoryMT.

Subscribe to the Short Story Magic Tricks Monthly Newsletter to get the latest short story news, contests and fun.