Short Stories
Usually written in prose, often in narrative format, this format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction. Many short story writers define their work through a combination of creative, personal expression and artistic integrity.
The Man Who Would Be King [en] (1888)
Rudyard Kipling
Two former British soldiers who were sent in the early 19th century to British controlled India to search for adventure end up becoming kings of Kafiristan. This story is inspired by Josiah Harlan, an American adventurer who claimed the title of Prince of Ghor after leding a military force...
Genres: Action/Adventure, Short Stories
Soldiers Three [en] (1888) 
Rudyard Kipling
Soldiers Three is a collection of short stories by Rudyard Kipling. The three soldiers of the title are Learoyd, Mulvaney and Ortheris, who had also appeared previously in the collection Plain Tales from the Hills. Soldiers Three and other stories consists of three sections which each had...
Genre: Short Stories
The Lilac Fairy Book [en] (1910) 
Andrew Lang
The twelfth in Andrew Lang's Fairy Book series containing 33 tales from Portugal, Ireland, Wales and points East and West, among them "The Brown Bear of Norway," "The Enchanted Deer," "The Story of a Very Bad Boy," and "The Brownie of the Lake". First published in 1910 and includes 51...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Olive Fairy Book [en] (1907)
Andrew Lang
The Olive Fairy Book contains eight Punjabi tales, five from Armenia, 16 other stories from Turkey, Denmark, the Sudan, and more. An enchanting world of flying dragons, ogres, fairies, and princes transformed into white foxes with illustrations by H.J. Ford.
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Orange Fairy Book [en] (1906)
Andrew Lang
In this volume there are stories from the natives of Rhodesia, collected by Mr. Fairbridge, who speaks the native language, and one is brought by Mr. Cripps from another part of Africa, Uganda. Three tales from the Punjaub were collected and translated by Major Campbell. Various savage tales,...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Brown Fairy Book [en] (1904)
Andrew Lang
The stories in this Fairy Book come from all quarters of the world. For example, the adventures of 'Ball-Carrier and the Bad One' are told by Red Indian grandmothers to Red Indian children who never go to school, nor see pen and ink. 'The Bunyip' is known to even more uneducated little ones,...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Crimson Fairy Book [en] (1903)
Andrew Lang
Each Fairy Book demands a preface from the Editor, and these introductions are inevitably both mono-tonous and unavailing. A sense of literary honesty compels the Editor to keep repeating that he is the Editor, and not the author of the Fairy Tales, just as a distinguished man of science is...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Violet Fairy Book [en] (1901)
Andrew Lang
For this collection, Andrew Lang gathered African, Scandinavian, Egyptian and even Babylonian stoires. While they may not be familiar to you, they are an excellent insight into various cultures, to show that despite our skin color, we all share similar belief systems and family values.
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Grey Fairy Book [en] (1900)
Andrew Lang
The tales in the Grey Fairy Book are derived from many countries -- Lithuania, various parts of Africa, Germany, France, Greece, and other regions of the world. They have been translated and adapted by Mrs. Dent, Mrs. Lang, Miss Eleanor Sellar, Miss Blackley, and Miss hang. ‘The Three Sons of...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Short Stories, Young Readers
The Pink Fairy Book [en] (1897)
Andrew Lang
For this collection, Andrew Lang gathered Danish, Swedish, Sicilian, African, Catalan, Japanese, German, and French stories. While the stories may not be familiar to you, they are an excellent insight into various cultures, to show that despite our skin color, we all share similar belief...
Genres: Fairy Tales/Folklore, Fantasy, Short Stories, Young Readers
Flatland [en] (1884)
Edwin A. Abbott
How would a creature limited to two dimensions be able to grasp the possibility of a third? Edwin A. Abbott's droll and delightful "romance of many dimensions" explores this conundrum in the experiences of his protagonist, A Square, whose linear world is invaded by an emissary Sphere bringing...
Genres: Satire, Science Fiction, Short Stories
Micromegas [en] (1752)
Voltaire
Micromegas is an inhabitant of the star Sirius, 120,000 feet tall and accompanied by a dwarf from Saturn who is 6000 feet tall. During a grand tour of the universe they visit Earth in 1737 and, using makeshift microscopes, they detect a boating party of tiny human philosophers.
Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories
The Big Trip Up Yonder [en] (1954)
Kurt Vonnegut
Vonnegut's short work, "The Big Trip Up Yonder," is a genre science fiction tale originally published in the magazine "Galaxy Science Fiction" in 1959 -- "If it was good enough for your grandfather, forget it ... it is much too good for anyone else!"
Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories
In the Yule-Log Glow, Book I [en] (1891)
Various
If gentle reader you will step across this threshold now as the moon rises in the keen Christmas air and will find a place by the ruddy ingle within doors you may hear if you will a Babel of voices from many lands telling over the adventures of the road and falling into the good fellowship of...
Genre: Short Stories
Operation Haystack [en] (1959)
Frank Herbert
It's hard to ferret out a gang of fanatics; it would, obviously, be even harder to spot a genetic line of dedicated men. But the problem Orne had was one step tougher than that! Field Agent Lewis Orne must contend with genetic manipulation and dig deep into a complex political situation to...
Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories
The Christmas Books [en] (1879)
William Makepeace Thackeray
A collection of several Christmas stories including Mrs Perkin's Ball and The Rose and the Ring. Great reading over the festive holiday's.
Genre: Short Stories
Betty's Bright Idea [en] (1875)
Harriet Beecher Stowe
And this holy time, so hallowed and so gracious, was settling down over the great roaring, rattling, seething life–world of New York in the good year 1875. Who does not feel its on–coming in the shops and streets, in the festive air of trade and business, in the thousand...
Genre: Short Stories
The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain [en] (1848)
Charles Dickens
Redlaw is a teacher of chemistry who often broods over wrongs done him and grief from his past. He is haunted by a spirit, who is not so much a ghost as Redlaw's phantom twin and is "an awful likeness of himself...with his features, and his bright eyes, and his grizzled hair, and dressed in...
Genre: Short Stories
A Kidnapped Santa Claus [en] (1904)
L. Frank Baum
Santa Claus lives in the Laughing Valley. On one side of the Valley is the mighty Forest of Burzee, home of the fairies. At the other side stands a terrible mountain that contains the caves of the daemons: Selfishness, Envy, Hatred, and Repentance. The daemons, thinking they have great cause...
Genre: Short Stories
Some Christmas Stories [en] (1911)
Charles Dickens
In this charming collection of short stories, Dickens presents a galaxy of beautifully drawn characters. He presents the branches of Christmas tree as ladders which one climbs in the journey from childhood to youth. Going through the book evokes the sweet memories of childhood.
Genre: Short Stories