So!

Thanks for your replies everyone. Some good stories/collections I've not heard of, will definitely be trying to get hold of some of them, especially Arthur C Clarke; always meant to get a hold of his stuff, even if I'm not a huge sci-fi fan. Thanks Essiotrot for the Truman Capote suggestion; I haven't read anything by him, but saw the film with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and am certainly interested. It is a shame though that so many people nowadays (particularly in the UK; less so in North America and Europe) don't like short stories. I can understand why some people want to sink their teeth into something more expansive, but I think short stories are so much fun purely because in their brevity they still manage to conjure up worlds and ideas just as important or enlightening as those in bigger books, but without all the extra padding that comes with novels. Even if they don't last as long, I find them just as memorable and effective. But then, admittedly, I have quite a short attention span, so that probably plays a large part in my enjoyment of them too. Jim

Thank you, Michelle! I have a friend who likes Smokes and Mirrors. I plan to read it some day! Jim

I have a notebook which I always keep beside me when I read. Whenever there are any words I come across that I don't know the meaning of, I write them down and look them up later. I also write down any words that I find beautiful, so that one day I can use them in stories of my own. Jim

So! I looked back several pages in this forum but couldn't find any threads about short stories. Just wondered if anyone here had any favourite short stories or favourite short story collections? Some of my favourites: The Library of Babel - Jorge Luis Borges Tlon, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius - Jorge Luis Borges Axolotl - Julio Cortazar The Tell-Tale Heart - Edgar Allen Poe The Masque of the Red Death - Edgar Allen Poe A Werewolf Problem in Central Russia - Viktor Pelevin Memoirs of a Yellow Dog - O. Henry Voice - Margaret Atwood Jim