Sunday, March 6, 2011

Post for March 9

Hello All,

Some of you have inquired as to websites that feature short stories.

Here are some sites of literary journals that have current writing you might want to peruse:

Prairie Schooner
The Paris Review
Virginia Quarterly Review
Tin House

Here are some sites that have more of the "classic" short stories:

Short Story Archive
Classic Short Stories
Short Stories at Classic Reader
Short Stories of American Literature

Instead of class on Wednesday, find one short story you will include in your anthology, and post a brief explanation as to why you will include it.

25 comments:

  1. The Price, Neil Gaiman

    “And there was indeed something coming down the driveway toward the house. I could see it through the binoculars, clear as day. It was the Devil.” Those words sent chills down my spine the first time I read them. They do that every time I read them. Neil Gaiman is a master storyteller, which is why he continues to be one of my favorite authors.

    In “The Price”, Gaiman tells of the Black Cat, a stray that has set up residence on his front porch. “He looked like a small panther, and he moved like a patch of night”. The poor stray receives new injuries, almost nightly. Gaiman soon discovers what, or rather who is causing the cat harm. Everything, from his description of the night as “the nightmarish soup, swimming with life”, to his use of the grotesque as he describes the “thick yellow pus oozing from the cut” in the cat’s lip, draws the reader into this frightening short story. It has been one of my favorites from the first read. I still feel the need to look over my shoulder and hug my own cat every time I finish “The Price”.

    ** Please forgive the lack of page citing. I used my e-book version. Final anthology will include proper MLA citations.

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  2. The Cross-Roads by Amy Lowell

    I liked how Lowell used imagery in this short story, you could almost see the story taking place because it was so detailed about every aspect. For example,"Overhead, branches writhing, winding, interlacing, unwinding, scattering; tortured twinings, tossings, creakings. Wind flinging branches apart, drawing them together, whispering and whining among them. A waning, lobsided moon cutting through black clouds. A stream of pebbles and earth and the empty spade gleams clear in the moonlight, then is rammed again into the black earth. Tramping of feet. Men and horses. Squeaking of wheels" (pg.1).

    I liked how the author used personification in her short story; for example, "A wind that goes howling round the house, and weeping as in shame. Cold November dawn peeping through the windows, cold dawn creeping over the floor, creeping up his cold legs, creeping over his cold body, creeping across his cold face" (pg.1).

    Jaime Nelson

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  3. Leningen versus the ants by Carl Stephenson

    This short story tells of the fortitude, strength, and whit a man obtains. After being warned of the arrival of a galore of killer ants, the planter, Leningen, decides to take them on. He and his four hundred slaves confront the swarm of ants that stretched two miles in width and ten miles in length. In the end they win the battle.

    I will use this in my Anthology because this story directly related to the theme of my work; perseverance. The story describes how the planter and his men confront death itself and in the end, although very wounded, persevere and demolish the ants.

    -Edgar Moreno

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  4. The short story I choose is "A HAPPY ENDING"
    by: Anton Chekhov.
    I choose this short story because I am writing my anthology about love, and how society is willing to go to extreme lengths just to find and feel it. Then in the end there is always a match for everyone. I feel that this short story relates to my anthology because it is about a matchmaker who is trying to find a match for a guard and the guard ends up falling for her. I believe this shows how society is always despereatly looking for love, they even go to matchmakers. Then in the end both the matchmaker and the guard end up falling in love.

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  5. The story I chose is “After Twenty Years” by O. Henry. This story is about two best friends that are inseparable in their teen years, however, decide to part for their distinctive career paths. Jimmy remains in New York while Bob heads out West to seek fortune. On their last night together they have dinner at a restaurant and agree to meet up exactly twenty years later at the same place. Bob shows up on time and is waiting for Jimmy. A man approaches Bob about twenty minutes later than the time they were supposed to meet up. It appears to be Jimmy, however it is not. It turns out Bob is wanted for a crime in Chicago and Jimmy is a police officer. However, Jimmy cannot arrest Bob himself so he sends another man to do the job and sends a note to Bob telling him he had him arrested and why he couldn’t do it himself.
    I don’t necessarily have a theme for my anthology; however, I will be using this story because it was very interesting. It grabbed my attention quickly which the great imagery and suspense. This story displays how difficult it may be to do the right thing when the action in turn will hurt a friend or loved one. It just displays the tough decisions one faces on a daily basis when Jimmy could not personally arrest his old friend so instead he sent another officer to do the job.

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  6. “The Child’s Story” Charles Dickens
    Short Story
    “Yet, once more, while he broke his way among the branches, the traveller lost his friend. He called and called, but there was no reply, and when he passed out of the wood, and saw the peaceful sun going down upon a wide purple prospect, he came to an old man sitting on a fallen tree. So, he said to the old man, "What do you do here?" And the old man said with a calm smile, "I am always remembering. Come and remember with me!"
    So the traveller sat down by the side of that old man, face to face with the serene sunset; and all his friends came softly back and stood around him. The beautiful child, the handsome boy, the young man in love, the father, mother, and children: every one of them was there, and he had lost nothing. So, he loved them all, and was kind and forbearing with them all, and was always pleased to watch them all, and they all honoured and loved him. And I think the traveller must be yourself, dear Grandfather, because this is what you do to us, and what we do to you.”

    This short story is about one person who lives out his whole life through the seasons of life. First the child experiences the new world he was born into. Next he learns what the world is all about. Then he gets to experience what love is and a life with love put to the side. He slowly starts to lose sight of the person he used to be. At the end, he meets himself and has the chance to see the life he lived; a life full of love and lost, but most importantly, the life that meant so much to him.
    - Joni Lagerstrom

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  7. AFTER TWENTY YEARS

    by: O. Henry (1862-1910)

    The following story is reprinted from The Four Million. O. Henry. New York: Doubleday, Page and Co., 1912.

    I plan to use this story in my anthology because its great use of imagery. Its a story that one has to read til very end because then the mystery is solved.

    Leo Contreras

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  8. The Devoted Friend
    By: Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
    I would choose this story for my anthology because I really enjoyed reading it. One thing that I liked was that it had a moral; which is a lesson being taught throughout the story. The introduction is really an attention grabber because as soon as you begin reading it makes you want to keep going. The moral for this story was that one always suffers for being generous.

    -Yareli Lopez

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  9. I chose this story for the irony that occurs in the conclusion-if men take ten wives than women will take ten husbands. The Gretchen Plan by William Johnston is of my liking because the male author seems to be neutral on the matter as he narrated the tale from a neutral persona of a woman’s perspective. On a personal level, I do find it unjust that men can have more than wife and not be scolded but if women have more than one husband all fingers point at her. Nowadays that men and women are on the same plane why is it that women and men are not treated the same in this matter? I find this story interesting because it revives the theme of inequality between men and women that is too often ignored. c. medrano

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  10. I will be including the short story "the little mermaid" by Hans Christian Anderson because it has always been one of my favorite stories. I grew up with the Disney version of it and it just always seemed to hold my attention. Mermaids are surreal and are part of the magical made-up world that we all can have from time to time. A childs imagination is grand and this always takes me back to when i was a child.

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  11. "Gold Mine" by Claire Vaye Watkins

    I really enjoyed this short story even though it was about whore house somewhere outside of Las Vegas. The concept was really interesting, and the overall message was also intriguing. I really enjoyed how the author stated that when boys go to the whore house when they turn 18, they suddenly become men, then go straight back to being little boys again because of the intimidating and beautiful women. I feel that this is a great short story to add to my anthology.

    -Renelle Gisyer

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  12. "Ward No. 6" Anton Chekhov

    I chose to use this story for my anthology because I was intrigued by the character: Dr. Andrei Yefimich Rabin. In an ironic turn of evens this doctor of an assylum ward becomes a patient after going into a depression. Prior to these events, Rabin began to neglect his post and finds himself dwelling on philisophical issues. I was amused by his thoughts after being admitted into the ward and how life is "trivial and inconsequential."

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  13. "She?" The papa freed himself, and made his preparation to escape. "Why she--oh, she ate goose. Goose is tenderer than turkey, anyway, and more digestible; and there isn't so much of it, and you can't overeat yourself, and have bad--"

    "Dreams!" cried the little girl.

    Turkeys Turning the Tables by William D. Howells

    "Trances," said the papa, and she began to chase him all round the room.

    the little girl is listening to a stroy that is being told she believes for a while it was the turkey ghost that they had ate. It turns out at the end that its all a bad dream.

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  14. W. W. Jacobs
    The Monkey's Paw
    I choose this short story because as a child, my teacher had use analyze this in middle school and i remembered the story being disturbing. not only was the story strange, i thought it was very unique and has a meaningful message behind it.
    manuel gutierrez

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  15. "The Princess and the Puma" by O. Henry

    I decided to include this story in my anthology because it made me laugh. This story is not about a typical princess in distress that needs rescuing but it's about a smart independent girl who rescues the man yet is still secure enough to not rub it in his face. Even when Givens lies about the Mexican lion being his pet, she goes along with it, making the ending to the story priceless! I absolutely loved it.

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  16. "The Princess and the Puma" by O. Henry was my post, oops...
    Elizabeth Fernandez

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  17. The Kiss by Kate Chopin

    i chose this short story because it relates to the theme of my Anthology which is love.

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  18. Chametla by Luis Alberto Urrea

    I chose to use this short story in my anthology because of the story and because of the imagery. The imagery of the war had shown that it was a gorrible war that they were in . But after Guerrero was shot all the dreams came spilling out of his head. This imagery reflects of all the things and events that Guerrero had gone through before the war and his death.

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  19. Quarantine Island by Sir Walter Besant
    I decided to use Quarantine Island because of the imagery used to describe the old man in the beginning and to describe Quarantine Island. In the beginning the story seams like it will be just another love story. The story is deeper, going into forgiveness and how someone escapes reality only to have his feelings come back to him. This story shows us that even in death there can be life and that is why it is a story I would like to use in my anthology.

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  20. "The Most beautiful woman in town" by Charles Bukowski. I enjoy the twisted relationships and the excessive drinking in order to not be in a sane, and dull state of mind. To drink to deal with life. Using all of this as an escape of daily life.

    -Bryan Lainez

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  21. "A Dog's Tale" by Mark Twain
    I chose this short story because my chosen theme of loss runs throughout it. Seperation is the first form of loss the dog experiences. At the very end of the story, the dog loses her puppy whether she realizes it or not.

    Dakota Warren

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  22. Was it a Dream?
    "I had loved her madly!
    "Why does one love? Why does one love? How queer it is to see only one being in the world, to have only one thought in one's mind, only one desire in the heart, and only one name on the lips--a name which comes up continually, rising, like the water in a spring, from the depths of the soul to the lips, a name which one repeats over and over again, which one whispers ceaselessly, everywhere, like a prayer.
    "I am going to tell you our story, for love only has one, which is always the same. I met her and loved her; that is all. And for a whole year I have lived on her tenderness, on her caresses, in her arms, in her dresses, on her words, so completely wrapped up, bound, and absorbed in everything which came from her, that I no longer cared whether it was day or night, or whether I was dead or alive, on this old earth of ours.

    I chose this short story for my anthology because it goes with the theme of love.

    -V. Zamago

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  23. I will be including the short story "The Real Princess" by Hans Christian Anderson. I really like this short story because it is funny to me how a prince was looking for a real princess and what determined that she was a real princess was her delicate skin. She was to sleep on top of twelve mattresses and a pea underneath the mattresses. The princess was so delicate that she felt the pea. Maria Zuniga

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  24. First Confession

    Frank O’Connor captures sibling rivalry, misrepresented intentions and quite a bit of humor in this cute short story. It is about a young boy that plans to kill his grandmother and he believes he has every right to with the way she treats him and praises his wicked sister who treats him badly. After being caught with intentions of killing his grandmother he is forced to go to confession by his older sister, his first confession. After much madness at the church he is finally able to confess his sins and the priest actually understands him and allows him to be free of his sins. The moral of the story was his sister understood him to be pure evil and yet it was his sister that was the hostile and jealous one. I guess we all need to take a closer look at ourselves before we are so quick to judge.

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  25. Harlan Ellison "I Have no mouth, and I Must Scream"
    This is a chilling vision of the future in which humanity is all but exterminated. There are 5 remaining humans and one sentient supercomputer AM who keeps thhem alive so that he can torture them for eternity. It is one of the creepiest pieces of literature I have ever read.

    Stephen Bowen

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