2025 4th Quarter favorites

4th Quarter 2025

The 4th Quarter (Oct-Dec) stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘The Best Of Everything’ by Richard Yates
  2. ‘A Manual For Cleaning Women’ by Lucia Berlin
  3. ‘The Canal’ by Richard Yates
  4. ‘A Wrestler Of Sharks’ by Richard Yates
  5. ‘The Deposition’ by Tobias Wolff
  6. ‘A Really Good Jazz Piano’ by Richard Yates
  7. ‘Intruders Of Sleepless Nights’ by Pamela Painter
  8. ‘The Little Statue’ by Maeve Murphy
  9. ‘Minotaur’ by Jim Shepard
  10. ‘A Glutton For Punishment’ by Richard Yates
  11. ‘Liquid Papers’ by Nicolette Polek
  12. ‘American Beauty’ by Ethan Canin
  13. ‘The B.A.R. Man’ by Richard Yates
  14. ‘Xmas, Jamaica Plain’ by Melanie Rae Thon
  15. ‘The Romance Of Certain Old Clothes’ by Henry James
  16. ‘Delivery’ by Bruce Barrow
  17. ‘Dirt’ by Maud Casey
  18. ‘The Rider Was Lost’ by Nancy Hale
  19. ‘The Fir Tree’ by Hans Christian Andersen
  20. ‘Live Wires’ by Thomas Beller
  21. ‘Let’s Play Dead’ by Senaa Ahmad
  22. ‘Doggerland’ by Kaliane Bradley
  23. ‘Crouch End’ by Stephen King
  24. ‘Happy’ by Richard Ford
  25. ‘Dagon’ by H.P. Lovecraft

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

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January 2023 favorites

January 2023

The January stories ordered solely on my personal tastes. Continue reading

July 2014 favorites

July 2014

The July stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

1.       ‘Hot Ice’ by Stuart Dybek
2.       ‘The Babysitter’ by Robert Coover
3.       ‘Jeeves And The Impending Doom’ by P.G. Wodehouse
4.       ‘A Solo Song: For Doc’ by James Alan McPherson
5.       ‘City Boy’ by Leonard Michaels
6.       ‘You’re Ugly, Too’ by Lorrie Moore
7.       ‘The Flats Road’ by Alice Munro
8.       ‘Greasy Lake’ by T. Coraghessan Boyle
9.       ‘Train’ by Joy Williams
10.     ‘Testimony Of Pilot’ by Barry Hannah
11.     ‘The Joy Luck Club’ by Amy Tan
12.    ‘Liars In Love’ by Richard Yates
13.     ‘How To Date A Brown Girl (Black Girl, White Girl, Or Halfie)’ by Junot Diaz
14.    ‘A Poetics For Bullies’ by Stanley Elkin
15.     ‘Greenwich Time’ by Ann Beattie
16.     ‘Pretty Ice’ by Mary Robison
17.     ‘Lechery’ by Jayne Anne Phillips
18.     ‘Here Come The Maples’ by John Updike
19.     ‘Territory’ by David Leavitt
20.     ‘Bridging’ by Max Apple
21.     ‘The Circling Hand’ by Jamaica Kincaid
22.     ‘Are These Actual Miles?’ by Raymond Carver
23.     ‘The Other Wife’ by Colette
24.     ‘A.V. Laider’ by Max Beerbohm
25.     ‘White Rat’ by Gayl Jones
26.     ‘Search Through The Streets Of The City’ by Irwin Shaw
27.     ‘The Dead Man’ by Horacio Quiroga
28.     ‘A Life In The Day Of A Writer’ by Tess Slesinger
29.     ‘In The Heart Of The Heart Of The Country’ by William Gass
30.     ‘The Indian Uprising’ by Donald Barthelme
31.     ‘The Facts Of Life’ by Somerset Maugham