Dee wrote: "The lobsters - Robert Silverberg (can't remember the exact title)
The mist - Stephen King
Snow, glass, apples - Neil Gaiman

These are the ones that come to mind right now - I'm sure there are othe..."

Uh, when was The lobsters written? I have most of his best stories in my collections and don't remember this story.

Ricky wrote: "Dee wrote: "The lobsters - Robert Silverberg (can't remember the exact title)
The mist - Stephen King
Snow, glass, apples - Neil Gaiman

These are the ones that come to mind right now - I'm sur..."

Sorry, it was called Homefaring.

Here's a few by Ellison that have affected me:

A Boy and his Dog
"Repent Harlequin", said, The Ticktock Man
The Whimper of Whipped Dogs
Basilisk
The Deathbird
Jeffty is Five

Also Passengers by Robert Silverberg is one that got to me also.

All You Zombies, by Robert Heinlein

There is another short story I really liked but I really can't remember the author - I think it was either Stephen King or Robert Silverberg.

I think it was called "Jaunt" - all about a world where people could teleport to different places through these big airport-type places. A little boy was going with his father to another planet and was warned that he had to keep his eyes shut the whole way, but somehow he didn't, and the end results were disastrous.

I think it might have been King, now come to think of it...

Dee wrote: "There is another short story I really liked but I really can't remember the author - I think it was either Stephen King or Robert Silverberg.

I think it was called "Jaunt" - all about a world wher..."

Sounds very much like Alfred Bester's novel "The Stars My Destination"...

It was King. The premise was that consciousness cannot be 'quantized', so the mind, without a body during the almost instantaneous process of teleporting, experiences eternity. At a teleport, they put passengers to sleep before transit, but a young boy fakes it, and comes out the other end...rather different.
I found the idea so interesting that I used something like it in A Warrior Made, when the gods 'borrow' a mortal. They can keep her elements in order, but her human self is outside the realm of the elements. It comes along, but the experience is not pleasant for the mortal. Or for the gods.

Yep, definitely King. It's called "The Jaunt" and it's in Skeleton Crew... although the term and basic idea is from Bester originally.

Tangents by Greg Bear is one of my favorite short stories ever.

I recently read The Best of Gene Wolfe A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction and consider it the single best collection of short stories I've read.

ONe short story that really impacted me and started my interest in SciFi/Fantasy lit was The Lottery And Other Stories by Shirley Jackson. Read The Lottery in high school - it's never really left my mind. Wow.

Recently, a favorite is The Price by Neil Gaiman which I think was in Fragile Things Short Fictions and Wonders. It's about a mysterious black cat and the sacrifices he makes to protect humans. Really good.

"Dreams of Armageddon" by H.G. Wells.

I can't say that I really "liked" it, but Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" creeped me out so badly I had to give away the entire book so it wouldn't even be in the house.

Laura wrote: "I can't say that I really "liked" it, but Harlan Ellison's "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" creeped me out so badly I had to give away the entire book so it wouldn't even be in the house."

What book was this story in? This is one of the first stories I read by Harlan. I think it's one of his great ones.

Ricky wrote: "What book was this story in? This is one of the first stories I read by Harlan. I think it's one of his great ones...."

It's in I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as well as The Essential Ellison A 50 Year Retrospective, both collections of his short stories. I agree that it is one of his - or anyone's - most chilling & haunting stories. Years before Terminator, too.

There are so many short stories that affected me strongly, it seems a shame to only mention two or three. Here goes, anyway.
At or near the top of the list is one that is neither science fiction nor fantasy: O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi."
I've always liked Arthur C. Clarke's "The 9 billion names of god" but I'm not sure it affected my life, exactly.
Brian W. Aldiss's short story "A Romance of the Equator" may have helped me to appreciate and celebrate the differences in people. I have always tended to treat others as they presented themselves to me, while looking underneath the facade for the real person; I love them for their faults as well as for their strengths. The Aldiss story is a parable about something like that.
I have no time to add more right now. There are so many.

Jim wrote: "Ricky wrote: "What book was this story in? This is one of the first stories I read by Harlan. I think it's one of his great ones...."

It's in I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as wel..."

I just wondered which book she gave away. I have most of his books and some of his early ones are hard to find. Ellison's stories profoundly affected me because they made me realize things about myself. And although they are dark, they're far from nihilistic. To affect a change or to better the situation usually requires a sacrifice from the individual or individuals involved. Nothing is free and there is always a price to pay.

I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream

Ricky - I honestly don't remember which book it was. I know it was blue, which isn't much help. This was back in the early-mid '80s and I haven't re-read it since.

I'm voting for Diana Wynne-Jones' short story "Dragon Reserve, Home Eight", printed in several anthologies. Not so much because it was life-changing for me, but because it was SO incredibly intriguing! Unfortunately, after building the world and ending on a cliff-hanger it just frustratingly STOPS! I WANT a full-length book set in this world and for the story to continue! But DWJ never has done anything more with it. Ooooh, the frustration.

The suspense and the 'wanting to know' haunts me!

I have not read many short stories but I really enjoyed " A Song for Lya" by George R.R. Martin

I just read Judith Merrill's "That Only A Mother". Holy cow. Haunting.

"The Persistence of Vision" by John Varley -- very unique

Vintage Season - CL Moore/Henry Kuttner
E for Effort - TL Sherred
Child's Play/Betelgeuse Bridge - William Tenn
The Man Who Came Early - Poul Anderson
The Cosmic Expense Account/The Silly Season/Marching Morons - CM Kornbluth
And Now the News - Theodore Sturgeon
Keyhole - Murray Leinster
Jay Score - EF Russell

all of the above were found in books left behind in a box in the attic when my father split. I was 11 or so and I've been fascinated by that era of SF ever since.


almost anything by Avram Davidson

...Poeticly... Asimov's 'NightFall'.......Philosophicly....Asimov's 'The Last Question'...

"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury. A poignant, bittersweet story.

I was reading a Ray Bradbury story In college. I cant recall the title but it's about a Boy whose father has trained him his whole life to obey him without thought or question. Any small error met with extreme punishments and he was constantly testing him.

The boy was at attention and the father fell into a pool and drown. the boy could have saved him but didn't because the last order given was to stand at attention.

very good story.

Ray Bradbury wrote a short story about a Loch Ness monster creature who is the last of his kind. He responds to a fog horn from a lighthouse, believing he has finally found another of his kind. Realizing his mistake, he goes mad with grief, attacks the lighthouse and dies from his injuries and emotional wounds. It's a heartbreaking story and I've never forgotten it.

I have to second the reccomendation of Card's masterpieces of science fiction. Whenever I think of science fiction stories that I truly love, they are almost all from that collection.

(But not quite!)

Personal favorites:

Dr. Mortimer Grey's History of Death

A Sound of Thunder

Robot Dreams

Repent Harlequin, Said the Ticktock Man

A story along the lines of "10^26000" (I can't quite recall the name)

I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream

The collected works of Ted Chiang in general, and in particular:

Hell is the Absence of God(more of a novella)

Exhalation(easily one of the best stories I've ever read)

Liking What You See

and one which is named something like "The Things We Must" or something about a device that has a negative current delay.

Otherwise, outside of science fiction, some of Lovecraft's work and absolutely anything by Borges.

Right, and also a Stephan King story about a boy by a river getting attacked by the devil. Easily the scariest thing I have ever read. I want to say it's the man in the black suit, but I cannot be sure.

a Loch Ness monster creature who is the last of his kind. He responds to a fog horn from a lighthouse, believing he has finally found another of his kind. Realizing his mistake, he goes mad with grief, attacks the lighthouse and dies - yes.

Repent Harlequin, Said the Ticktock Man

I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream - yes.

Borges and Kafka, intellectually stimulating, also Primo Levi, but not affecting - but maybe that's just me.

Novella - I Heard the Owl Call my Name - don't be lazy, look it up.

The Green Mile

Becky wrote: "Robin, "All Summer In A Day" is my all time favorite short story... I don't know of many people who have heard of it, and less people who enjoy it, so I am glad that you did. "

It was in my sixth-grade reader. I read that story over and over, mesmerised.

Another story I'd add is "It's a *Good Life," by Jerome Bixby

My ultimate favorite short story ever has to be:
"- And He Built A Crooked House" by Robert Heinlein.

runner up is:
"The Big Front Yard" by Clifford Simak.

Both enjoyable, not-too-serious and yet extremely memorable reads. It makes me smile just thinking about reading them again, which I think I will do...

What a great topic! Here's a few:

"Snow" John Crowley
"Chance" Connie Willis
"Last of the Winnebagos" Connie Willis
"The Lake" Ray Bradbury
"This Tower of Ashes" George R.R. Martin
"The Last Rung on the Ladder" Stephen King

Most of these I haven't re-read in years but they've all stayed with me.

Gary

I was recently reminded of this in another group.

Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold though it might be considered more of a novella than a short story. Heartbreaking on so many levels.

Another one that isn't SF/F is The Lottery by Shirley Jackson. An example of blind acceptance of tradition and what it does to people.

"The October Game," by Ray Bradbury

I would have to say two short story collections by Charles de Lint -- Dreams Underfoot and Moonlight and VInes. Before reading these, I really did not ever enjoy short stories, but somehow these collections really got under my skin. I think the key is the fact that he develops strong characters that appear throughout several stories, and a true community develops. So although they are short stories each is connected by a thread to all the others. I also connect strongly to his urban fantasy, so it seems more plausible to me while retaining the whimsy of fantasy. His characters seem like people I would know, or would like to know. Their personal style, lifestyles, and artistic bents all ring true with me.

Way too few Ray Bradbury stories on this list. I have to add:
The Veldt(two children are given the ultimate playroom where their imagination becomes "almost" real. The parents get concerned and then eaten.
The Small Assassin
Everything from Illustrated Man and Martian Chronicles.
There Will Come Soft Rains
A Sound of Thunder

I had the chance to meet Mr. Bradbury a few times here in SoCal and get several books autographed. He is a gentleman and just a very nice man. I wrote him once asking about out of print books of his, and he wrote me back a hand written letter, wow.

Jim wrote: "Mike Resnick - Travels With My Cats
Robert A. Heinlein - And He Built A Crooked House
Neil Gaiman - October in the Chair
Ray Bradbury - The Lake
Malin M. Larsson - Stranger than Fiction
Saana ..."

Chris Jackson - "Riders on the Storm" is definitely one of my favourites as well. I haven't read many 'officially published' short stories - I never seem to find anthologies. I don't think they're very popular in Swedish bookstores.

And can I add that it feels weirdly wonderful seeing my own name like that... ?

I'm not a huge fan of short stories. I read maybe 2 anthologies/year and pick over occasional issues of Analog and Asimov. I'd have to go back a decade worth of treasures. Too many great stories to mention here