January 2024 favorites

January 2024

The January stories ordered solely by my personal tastes.

  1. ‘City Of Churches’ by Donald Barthelme
  2. ‘In The Cart’ by Anton Chekhov
  3. ‘Parker’s Back’ by Flannery O’Connor
  4. ‘Death’ by Sherwood Anderson
  5. ‘Sophistication’ by Sherwood Anderson
  6. ‘Harrison Bergeron’ by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
  7. ‘The Continuity Of Parks’ by Julio Cortázar
  8. ‘The Night’s For Cryin’’ by Chester Himes
  9. ‘Love Is Not A Pie’ by Amy Bloom
  10. ‘The House Behind’ by Lydia Davis
  11. ‘Queer’ by Sherwood Anderson
  12. ‘The Untold Lie’ by Sherwood Anderson
  13. ‘Fjord Of Killary’ by Kevin Barry
  14. ‘Drink’ by Sherwood Anderson
  15. ‘U.F.O. In Kushiro’ by Haruki Murakami
  16. ‘Ruthy And Edie’ by Grace Paley
  17. ‘What It Takes To Keep A Young Girl Alive’ by Jayne Anne Phillips
  18. ‘In A Different Light’ by Elizabeth Taylor
  19. ‘Departure’ by Sherwood Anderson
  20. ‘An Awakening’ by Sherwood Anderson
  21. ‘Under The Boardwalk’ by Jayne Anne Phillips
  22. ‘One Night In New Jersey’ by Chester Himes
  23. ‘It’s Not You’ by Elizabeth McCracken
  24. ‘Three Popes Walk Into A Bar’ by Amy Hempel
  25. ‘My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lie, And Other True Stories’ by Russell Banks
  26. ‘Pool Night’ by Amy Hempel
  27. ‘Thunderbirds: Who, Why, and How’ by Rebecca Scherm
  28. ‘University Days’ by James Thurber
  29. ‘An Enigmatic Nature’ by Anton Chekhov
  30. ‘The New Lodger’ by Amy Hempel
  31. ‘Detour’ by Évelyne Trouillot

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

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February 2023 favorites

February 2023

The February stories ordered solely on my personal tastes.

  1. ‘Dead Men’s Path’ by Chinua Achebe
  2. ‘At The Clinic’ by Sally Rooney
  3. ‘Secret Weapons’ by Julio Cortázar
  4. ‘Bliss’ by Katherine Mansfield
  5. ‘Every Tongue Shall Confess’ by ZZ Packer
  6. ‘In The Name Of Bobby’ by Julio Cortázar
  7. ‘The Cold Boy’ by Benjamin Percy
  8. ‘Ain’t That Good News’ by Brit Bennett
  9. ‘The Pace Of Youth’ by Stephen Crane
  10. ‘I Am Twenty-One’ by Mary Robison
  11. ‘The Daughters’ by Maeve Brennan
  12. ‘Ray-Ray’s Picture Box’ by James McBride
  13. ‘Smart’ by Mary Robison
  14. ‘My Apology’ by Sam Lipsyte
  15. ‘Billboard’ by Richard Bausch
  16. ‘Ozème’s Holiday’ by Kate Chopin
  17. ‘The Waltz’ by Dorothy Parker
  18. ‘The Green Door’ by O. Henry
  19. ‘In The Woods’ by Mary Robison
  20. ‘Sugar Baby’ by Chinua Achebe
  21. ‘Some Like Them Cold’ by Ring Lardner
  22. ‘My Last Story’ by Janet Frame
  23. ‘Haunted’ by Walter Mosley
  24. ‘Yancey’ by Ann Beattie
  25. ‘The Neighbor’ by Russell Banks
  26. ‘A Deserted Street’ by Tawfiq Al-Hakim
  27. ‘Top Of The Food Chain’ by T. Coraghessan Boyle
  28. ‘Miracles’ by Lucy Corin

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

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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.