Story and Its Writer
An Introduction to Short Fiction
Dead men's path/Achebe Oasis/Adams Kugelmass episode/Allen Death in the woods ; Hands/Anderson Happy endings/Atwood My first goose/Babel Sonny's blues/Baldwin Hammer man/Bambara Lost in the funhouse/Barth School/Barthelme Burning house/Beattie [An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL14863196W/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge)/Bierce Like a bad dream/Böll Garden of forking paths/Borges This way for the gas, ladies and gentlemen/Borowski Distant episode/Bowles Overcoat II/Boyle Distance of the moon/Calvino Werewolf/Carter What we talk about when we talk about love/Carver Paul's case/Cather Swimmer/Cheever Darling ; Lady with the pet dog/Chekhov Regret ; [Story of an hour](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20078864W)/Chopin Hollow nut/Colette Heart of darkness/Conrad Gingerbread house/Coover Blow-up/Cortázar Open boat/Crane Blue jar ; Blue stones/Dinesen Curse/Dubus Battle royal/Ellison Red convertible/Erdrich [Rose for Emily](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL82884W) ; Spotted horses/Faulkner Babylon revisited/Fitzgerald Simple heart/Flaubert Revolt of "Mother"/Freeman Doll Queen/Fuentes Very old man with enormous wings/García Márquez Yellow wallpaper/Gilman Overcoat/Gogol Town and country lovers/Gordimer My Kinsman, Major Molineux ; [Young goodman Brown](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL455569W)/Hawthorne Life/Head Hills like white elephants/Hemingway Daylight come/Hempel Spunk/Hurston Conversation in June about mothers/Sun-won House of flesh/Idriss Lottery/Jackson Beast in the jungle/James White heron/Jewett [Araby](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20570121W) ; [The dead](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15073437W)/Joyce Hunger artist ; Metamorphosis/Kafka Girl/Kincaid Hitchhiking game/Kundera Odour of Chrysanthemums ; The rocking-horse winner/Lawrence Territory/Leavitt Ones who walk away from Omelas/Le Guin To room/Lessing Chicken/Lispector Jewbird/Malamud Disorder and early sorrow/Mann Bliss ; The fly/Mansfield Shiloh/Mason Necklace ; The string/Maupassant [Bartleby, the scrivener](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL102732W)/Melville Lust/Minot Three million yen/Mishima Jasmine/Mukherjee Walker brothers cowboy/Munro B. Wordsworth/Naipaul House opposite/Narayan Lucielia Louise Turner/Naylor Where are you going, where have you been?/Oates Things they carried/O'Brien Everything that rises must converge ; A good man is hard to find/O'Connor Guests of the nation/O'Connor I stand here ironing/Olsen Shawl/Ozick Conversation with my father/Paley [Cask of Amontillado](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41016W) ; [Tell-tale Heart](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL41059W)/Poe Theft/Porter Yellow woman/Silko Gimpel the fool/Singer Way we live now/Sontag Chrysanthemums/Steinbeck Two kinds/Tan Secret life of Walter Mitty/Thurber Death of Ivan Ilych/Tolstoy Palm-wine drinkard's first journey/Tutuola A & P ; Flight/Updike I'm your horse in the night/Valenzuela Roselily/Walker Weekend/Weldon Why I live at the P.O. ; A worn path/Welty Roman Fever/Wharton Hunters in the snow/Wolff Gardens/Woolf Man who was almost a man/Wright
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction, Fiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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What the reading experience may hold
A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.
Nonfiction · Fiction
Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.
Catalog signals suggest warfare and conflict, violence, death, or criminal harm. These notes may not be complete; consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.
These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.
Dark tone · Steady pace
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
A good fit if…
Readers looking for a substantial, immersive commitment with room for a world or argument to unfold.
This book's DNA
A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.
This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.
Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc
A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.
This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.
A quick reading snapshot
Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-3120-3469-6
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL10384676M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
Best when you want to settle into a longer reading experience.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
- Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.
More Nonfiction books
These matches combine shared categories with author, publication-era, and reading-length signals.
A Journey from This World to the Next
by Henry Fielding
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Nonfiction.
Instruments of Death (Dk Graphic Readers)
by Stewart Ross
Why it fits: shares Fiction and Nonfiction.