Hi, i would like to read short stories with a short page count(about 5-10 pages, something i can read fully in a single sitting).
Any genre is welcome, because i read broadly. Though i prefer horror, fantasy anf sci fi.
Im happy for any help, and would love to listen to you.
by Simplistitty
1 Comment
It’s not genre fiction, but I would recommend the short stories of Raymond Carver from the 70’s and 80’s.
He wrote only short fiction and poetry. His first collection of short stories, *Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?*, was nominated for the National Book Award, and this third collection, *Cathedral* (which I think is his best), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.
Carver died too young, at age 50, from lung cancer. All of his short stories are collected in a compilation from Library of America called *[Raymond Carver: Collected Stories](https://www.amazon.com/Raymond-Carver-Collected-Stories-Cathedral/dp/1598530461/)*.
Relevant to your requirements, Carver is known as one of the key figures of the 20th century literary movement of “minimalism” so most of his stories are only a few pages long. Minimalist fiction is hyper-realistic and short on figurative/metaphorical language so it does put more … “responsibility” in the hands of the reader for interpreting the story — you’re not going to get hit over the head with the author’s intent or messages in minimalist fiction, *especially* Carver’s. But the writing is spare, poignant, and sometimes heartbreaking.
Personally, Carver ranks in my Top 10 writers of all time because few writers have had the mastered the form of the short story like Carver.
In fact, if we were to limit rankings to *just* short fiction, he’d be Top 3, along with Flannery O’Connor and … oh heck, the #3 position changes pretty frequently. These days I’d say Andre Dubus, but if you caught me on a different day I might round out the Top 3 with Sherwood Anderson or Breece D’J Pancake or Tim O’Brien or George Saunders or Bobbie Ann Mason.
If you absolutely *must* have horror, fantasy, or scifi, though, then I’d go with:
* Science Fiction:
* *Stories of Your Life and Others* and *Exhalation*, both by Ted Chiang (SF);
* *I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream* by Harlan Ellison; and
* *Bloodchild and Other Stories* by Octavia Butler
* Fantasy:
* *Swords and Deviltry* by Fritz Lieber (and if you like that, there are *six* more volumes of short stories in that series about Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser);
* *The Real and the Unreal* by Ursula K. LeGuin; and
* *Fragile Things* by Neil Gaiman
* I don’t read a lot of horror, so my suggestions there are the classics:
* *The King In Yellow* by Robert W. Chambers;
* *The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft* by (duh!) H.P. Lovecraft; and, of course,
* *Night Shift* by Stephen King.
* Bonus: both Chambers and Lovecraft are in the public domain so you can find free versions of those collections.
I can’t guarantee those all those genre stories hit your 5-10 page requirement though — but some will.