May 2023 favorites

May 2023

The May stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘A Strange And Sometimes Sadness’ by Kazuo Ishiguro
  2. ‘Some Of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby’ by Donald Barthelme
  3. ‘My Father’s Friends’ by William Maxwell
  4. ‘The Young Painters’ by Nicole Krauss
  5. ‘The First Day’ by Edward P. Jones
  6. ‘The Things They Carried’ by Tim O’Brien
  7. ‘Panther Eyes’ by Luisa Valenzuela
  8. ‘The Baby Party’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  9. ‘The War Of The Alligators’ by Horacio Quiroga
  10. ‘New York Girl’ by John Updike
  11. ‘Baster’ by Jeffrey Eugenides
  12. ‘Circus At Dawn’ by Thomas Wolfe
  13. ‘Future Cat’ by Xuan Juliana Wang
  14. ‘A Nursery Tale’ by Vladimir Nabokov
  15. ‘The Sorrows Of Gin’ by John Cheever
  16. ‘Tomorrow’ by Lu Xun
  17. ‘Apple Cake’ by Allegra Goodman
  18. ‘When We Were Happy We Had Other Names’ by Yiyun Li
  19. ‘Everything Is Far From Here’ by Cristina Henríquez
  20. ‘The Flood’ by Emile Zola
  21. ‘Now More Than Ever’ by Zadie Smith
  22. ‘Talpa’ by Juan Rulfo
  23. ‘Gideon’ by ZZ Packer
  24. ‘Alms’ by Stuart Dybek
  25. ‘They Tell Me… Now I Know’ by Shay Youngblood
  26. ‘In The West Country’ by Leslie Norris
  27. ‘The Starlet Apartments’ by Jonathan Lethem
  28. ‘The Voter’ by Chinua Achebe
  29. ‘The $30,000 Bequest’ by Mark Twain
  30. ‘The Huntress’ by Sofia Samatar
  31. ‘Two Ruminations On A Homeless Brother’ by David Means

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September 2022 favorites

September 2022

The September stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Willing’ by Lorrie Moore
  2. ‘The Man Who Knew Belle Starr’ by Richard Bausch
  3. ‘A Father-To-Be’ by Saul Bellow
  4. ‘A Vermont Tale’ by Mark Helprin
  5. ‘The Five Wounds’ by Kirstin Valdez Quade
  6. ‘Nemecia’ by Kirstin Valdez Quade
  7. ‘Where The Mountains Are’ by Bill Barich
  8. ‘Seeing Clear’ by Cara Blue Adams
  9. ‘Sugar Babies’ by Kali Fajardo-Anstine
  10. ‘The Beautiful Mountains’ by John Cheever
  11. ‘Afternoon In Linen’ by Shirley Jackson
  12. ‘Sauerkraut Soup’ by Stuart Dybek
  13. ‘Our Lady Of Peace’ by ZZ Packer
  14. ‘Sunday Lunch’ by Nancy Hale
  15. ‘Benediction’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  16. ‘With Reference To An Incident At A Bridge’ by William Maxwell
  17. ‘Along The Frontage Road’ by Michael Chabon

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April 2019 favorites

April 2019

The April stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Springs Of Affection’ by Maeve Brennan
  2. ‘In The Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried’ by Amy Hempel
  3. ‘When It’s Human Instead Of When It’s Dog’ by Amy Hempel
  4. ‘My Man Bovanne’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  5. ‘The Carpet With The Big Pink Roses On It’ by Maeve Brennan
  6. ‘Stories Of Africa’ by Maeve Brennan
  7. ‘The Lesson’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  8. ‘The Sofa’ by Maeve Brennan
  9. ‘Blues Ain’t No Mockin Bird’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  10. ‘Happy Birthday’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  11. ‘Sweet Town’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  12. ‘The Eldest Child’ by Maeve Brennan
  13. ‘The Children’s Party’ by Amy Hempel
  14. ‘The Twelfth Wedding Anniversary’ by Maeve Brennan
  15. ‘A Matter Of Time’ by Frank London Brown
  16. ‘The Shadow Of Kindness’ by Maeve Brennan
  17. ‘Love, Death, And The Ladies’ Drill Team’ by Jessamyn West
  18. ‘Tonight Is A Favor To Holly’ by Amy Hempel
  19. ‘The Worm In The Apple’ by John Cheever
  20. ‘The Mysteries Of Life In An Orderly Manner’ by Jessamyn West
  21. ‘Weekend’ by Amy Hempel
  22. ‘Popular Mechanics’ by Raymond Carver

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January 2019 favorites

January 2019

The January stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Beginning Of A Long Story’ by Maeve Brennan
  2. ‘The Point’ by Charles D’Ambrosio
  3. ‘Guests Of The Nation’ by Frank O’Connor
  4. ‘Voices’ by Alice Munro
  5. ‘Dear Life’ by Alice Munro
  6. ‘The Enduring Chill’ by Flannery O’Connor
  7. ‘The Eye’ by Alice Munro
  8. ‘Armistice’ by Bernard Malamud
  9. ‘O Youth And Beauty’ by John Cheever
  10. ‘Real Estate’ by Lorrie Moore
  11. ‘Night’ by Alice Munro
  12. ‘The Trouble With Mrs. Blynn, The Trouble With The World’ by Patricia Highsmith
  13. ‘The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen’ by Graham Greene
  14. ‘The Slaves In New York’ by Tama Janowitz
  15. ‘Batman And Robin Have An Altercation’ by Stephen King
  16. ‘Tied In A Bow’ by Langston Hughes
  17. ‘The Stranger’ by Rainer Maria Rilke

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October 2018 favorites

October 2018

The October stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Adventure Of The Speckled Band’ by Arthur Conan Doyle
  2. ‘St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves’ by Karen Russell
  3. ‘The Landlady’ by Roald Dahl
  4. ‘Jesse’ by Rosemarie Robotham
  5. ‘Haunting Olivia’ by Karen Russell
  6. ‘ZZ’s Sleep-Away Camp For Disordered Dreamers’ by Karen Russell
  7. ‘Lady Yeti And The Palace Of Artificial Snows’ by Karen Russell
  8. ‘Sense Of Humor’ by Damon Runyon
  9. ‘The Music Teacher’ by John Cheever
  10. ‘Nausea 1979’ by Haruki Murakami
  11. ‘The Undertaker’ by Alexander Pushkin
  12. ‘The Colour Out Of Space’ by H.P. Lovecraft
  13. ‘The Rosary’ by Robert Kelly
  14. ‘A Haunted House’ by Charles Dickens
  15. ‘The Man Of Adamant’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne
  16. ‘Signal’ by John Lanchester
  17. ‘The Bog Girl’ by Karen Russell

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

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