May 2022 favorites

May 2022

The May stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Children On Their Birthdays’ by Truman Capote
  2. ‘A View Of The Woods’ by Flannery O’Connor
  3. ‘Complicities’ by Alice Adams
  4. ‘This Is Paradise’ by Kristiana Kahakauwila
  5. ‘Birdland’ by Michael Knight
  6. ‘Consolation’ by Richard Bausch
  7. ‘Strange Moonlight’ by Conrad Aiken
  8. ‘The Quest For “Blank Claveringi”’ by Patricia Highsmith
  9. ‘Sucker’ by Carson McCullers
  10. ‘Buck Boy’ by James McBride
  11. ‘Friends From Philadelphia’ by John Updike
  12. ‘To Hell With Dying’ by Alice Walker
  13. ‘The Devil And Daniel Webster’ by Stephen Vincent Benét
  14. ‘The Local Production Of Cinderella’ by Allegra Goodman
  15. ‘Young Francis Whitehead’ by William Maxwell
  16. ‘Playing Before Royalty’ by Ian MacMillan
  17. ‘The Child Screams And Looks Back At You’ by Russell Banks
  18. ‘The Intermediate Class’ by Sam Allingham

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.

Advertisement

February 2022 favorites

February 2022

The February stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Are You All Right?’ by Wendell Berry
  2. ‘Three-Ten To Yuma’ by Elmore Leonard
  3. ‘Talkin Bout Sonny’ by Toni Cade Bambara
  4. ‘Detroit Skyline 1949’ by Bobbie Ann Mason
  5. ‘Dalyrimple Goes Wrong’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  6. ‘The Terrapin’ by Patricia Highsmith
  7. ‘Something Nice’ by Mary Gaitskill
  8. ‘A Visit’ by Steven Millhauser
  9. ‘Sun City’ by Caitlin Horrocks
  10. ‘The Tin Butterfly’ by Mary McCarthy
  11. ‘Do With Me What You Will’ by Joyce Carol Oates
  12. ‘A Figure Of Speech’ by Tess Gallagher
  13. ‘Death Of A Favorite’ by J.F. Powers
  14. ‘Haircut’ by Ring Lardner
  15. ‘Ghost Patrol’ by Sinclair Lewis
  16. ‘I Walk Between The Raindrops’ by T. Coraghessan Boyle

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.

December 2020 favorites

December 2020

The December stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Mirrorball’ by Mary Gaitskill
  2. ‘Accident Brief’ by Karen Russell
  3. ‘The Unknown Masterpiece’ by Honoré de Balzac
  4. ‘Drinking Coffee Elsewhere’ by ZZ Packer
  5. ‘The Half-Husky’ by Margaret Laurence
  6. ‘Home For Christmas’ by Carson McCullers
  7. ‘Seven’ by Edwidge Danticat
  8. ‘A Room Forever’ by Breece D’J Pancake
  9. ‘The Weirdos’ by Ottessa Moshfegh
  10. ‘Irina’ by Mavis Gallant
  11. ‘The Lily-White Boys’ by William Maxwell
  12. ‘The Pocketbook Game’ by Alice Childress
  13. ‘The Dancer’ by Patricia Highsmith
  14. ‘The Yo-Yo’ by P.D. James
  15. ‘Temptation’ by Clarice Lispector
  16. ‘Ordinary Nudes’ by Stuart Dybek
  17. ‘Neighbors’ by Anthony Tognazzini
  18. ‘The Canebrake’ by Mohammed Mrabet
  19. ‘Odd Behavior’ by Lydia Davis
  20. ‘The Warmth Of Things’ by Nélida Piñón
  21. ‘Times’ by Ann Beattie

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.

October 2020 favorites

October 2020

The October stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Sphinx’ by Edgar Allan Poe
  2. ‘The Pram’ by Roddy Doyle
  3. ‘The Invalid, Or The Bedridden’ by Patricia Highsmith
  4. ‘The Female Novelist’ by Patricia Highsmith
  5. ‘Stone Mattress’ by Margaret Atwood
  6. ‘The Coquette’ by Patricia Highsmith
  7. ‘Mark Of Satan’ by Joyce Carol Oates
  8. ‘The Adventure Of The German Student’ by Washington Irving
  9. ‘You Can’t Be Any Poorer Than Dead’ by Flannery O’Connor
  10. ‘Paranoia’ by Shirley Jackson
  11. ‘The Hand’ by Patricia Highsmith
  12. ‘The Fully Licensed Whore, Or, The Wife’ by Patricia Highsmith
  13. ‘The Mirror’ by Haruki Murakami
  14. ‘Asleep In Armageddon’ by Ray Bradbury
  15. ‘The Middle-Class Housewife’ by Patricia Highsmith
  16. ‘The Breeder’ by Patricia Highsmith
  17. ‘The Flowering Of The Strange Orchid’ by H.G. Wells
  18. ‘The Bold Dragoon, Or The Adventure Of My Grandfather’ by Washington Irving
  19. ‘The Annex’ by Amy Hempel
  20. ‘The Afterlife’ by Jonathan Lethem

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.