Search by title or author: View: All Poems Stories Women Men All short stories, sorted from oldest to newest Sort by: Title Author Date ↑ Length The tell-tale heart Edgar Allan Poe “True!—nervous—very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?…” Year published: 1843 The sphinx without a secret Oscar Wilde “One afternoon I was sitting outside the Café de la Paix, watching the splendour and shabbiness of Parisian life…” Year published: 1887 An occurrence at Owl Creek bridge Ambrose Bierce “A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below…” Year published: 1890 The story of an hour Kate Chopin “Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husband’s death…” Year published: 1894 A dog’s tale Mark Twain “My father was a St. Bernard, my mother was a collie, but I am a Presbyterian. This is what my mother told me, I do not know these nice distinctions myself…” Year published: 1903 A fable Mark Twain “Once upon a time an artist who had painted a small and very beautiful picture placed it so that he could see it in the mirror…” Year published: 1909 The sisters James Joyce “There was no hope for him this time: it was the third stroke. Night after night I had passed the house (it was vacation time) and studied the lighted square of window…” Year published: 1914 The astronomer Kahlil Gibran “In the shadow of the temple my friend and I saw a blind man sitting alone. And my friend said, “Behold the wisest man of our land…” Year published: 1917 The other language Kahlil Gibran “Three days after I was born, as I lay in my silken cradle, gazing with astonished dismay on the new world round about me, my mother spoke to the wet-nurse, saying, How does my child?…” Year published: 1918 Dagon H. P. Lovecraft “I am writing this under an appreciable mental strain, since by tonight I shall be no more…” Year published: 1919 The cats of Ulthar H. P. Lovecraft “It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire…” Year published: 1920 Ex oblivione H. P. Lovecraft “When the last days were upon me, and the ugly trifles of existence began to drive me to madness like the small drops of water that torturers let fall ceaselessly upon one spot of their victim’s body…” Year published: 1921 Hills like white elephants Ernest Hemingway “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees and the station was between two lines of rails in the sun…” Year published: 1927 The eyes have it Philip K. Dick “It was quite by accident I discovered this incredible invasion of Earth by lifeforms from another planet. As yet, I haven’t done anything about it…” Year published: 1953 2 B R 0 2 B Kurt Vonnegut “Everything was perfectly swell. There were no prisons, no slums, no insane asylums, no cripples, no poverty, no wars. All diseases were conquered. So was old age…” Year published: 1962