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'The Altar of the Dead' by Henry James
Introduction by Toby Litt Perhaps Henry James’ moment is gone – because it is a long moment. If you’re going to enter a story like ‘The...
Oct 28, 202255 min read
‘The Rocking-Horse Winner' by D.H. Lawrence
Introduction by Giselle Leeb I discovered this story in ‘Black Water: The Anthology of Fantastic Literature (Ed. Alberto Manguel)’, which...
Oct 21, 202221 min read
‘The Withered Arm' by Thomas Hardy
Introduction by Zoe Gilbert This tale of regretted revenge has it all: a woman scorned, jealousy, a curse, body horror, an incubus, a...
Oct 14, 202240 min read
‘Prelude' by Katherine Mansfield
Introduction by Farhana Khalique As if moving house wasn’t stressful enough, it’s 1890s Wellington, New Zealand, and your mum’s just told...
Oct 7, 202261 min read
‘The Third Night' by Natsume Soseki
Introduction by Venetia Welby Natsume Sōseki is known as the father of Japanese modernist literature, and he’s arguably the big daddy of...
Sep 30, 20225 min read
‘Eveline' by James Joyce
Introduction by Gurnaik Johal I think 'Eveline', a story about immigration from Joyce’s 1914 collection Dubliners, could just as easily...
Sep 23, 20228 min read
‘The Storm ' by Kate Chopin
Introduction by Shome Dasgupta Kate Chopin’s “The Storm” is a story which reverberates throughout time—past, present, and future—it’s a...
Sep 17, 20228 min read
'Bliss' by Katherine Mansfield
Introduction by Clare Reynolds I think it’s important that I’m honest with you all from the start. I was never a huge reader of short...
Sep 9, 202219 min read
'The Blind Man' by D.H. Lawrence
Introduction by David Rose Alongside the celebrated masterpieces of Modernism's miracle year were two significant story collections:...
Jul 22, 202227 min read
'The Queer Feet' by G.K. Chesterton
Introduction by Jessie Greengrass. To begin, let’s say straight up that Chesterton was an Edwardian englishman, a Catholic convert, a...
Jul 15, 202230 min read
'The Worries of a Head of Household' by Franz Kafka
Introduction by Claire Carroll. It was in February 2020, on the cusp of the pandemic, that I re-read Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and...
Jul 8, 20224 min read
'Je Ne Parle Pas Français' by Katherine Mansfield
Introduction by Matthew Turner. A writer living in Paris named Raoul Duquette, who is interested in English literature, meets another...
Jul 1, 202240 min read
'Kabuliwala' by Rabindranath Tagore
Introduction by Susmita Bhattacharya. It is a hot Sunday afternoon, and my little sister and I grab our seats in front of the television....
Jun 24, 202213 min read
'The Moth' by H.G. Wells
Introduction by J.S. Barnes. In spite of his numerous abilities and considerable literary versatility, H G Wells - science fiction...
Jun 17, 202217 min read
'A Meeting' by Guy De Maupassant
Introduction by Linda Mannheim. I can’t remember the wider context of my life when I read “A Meeting” by Guy de Maupassant, but I can...
Jun 10, 202215 min read
'Letter to a Young Lady' by Julio Cortázar
Letter to a Young Lady in Paris (Carta a una señorita en París) Introduction by Kit Caless. I wish I could choose multiple Julio Cortázar...
Jun 3, 202215 min read
'I And My Chimney' by Herman Melville
Introduction by Avee Chaudhuri Herman Melville is rarely thought of as a comedian, but only someone as somber, moral, obsessive, and...
May 27, 202242 min read
'The Story of An Hour' by Kate Chopin
Introduction by Sarah Dobbie The short story is perhaps one of the most compelling forms of creative expression available to writers. The...
May 20, 20225 min read
'The Tell-Tale Heart' by Edgar Allan Poe
Introduction by Melissa Wan Along with Roald Dahl’s fantastic ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’, Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’ is one of...
May 13, 202210 min read
'The Doll's House' by Katherine Mansfield
Introduction by Robert Stone Ending things is difficult for everybody not least for story writers. Eudora Welty said, ‘It’s really part...
May 6, 202212 min read
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